To the Animal lovers

[mischiefgrrl]

Susie - My Aussie is short for "Australian Shepherd". Once you've fallen in love with the breed, you're addicted for life! They are serious herding/working dogs and always need to have a job. Some people get them because of their beautiful unique looks but don't understand that they need to have a job or else they go nuts. They are not dogs that can be left outside on a chain because they are interactive and always looking to make their people happy. Tanis is my 2nd Aussie. My first Aussie Buster was always work work work! We would go for a run every night and then play with the tennis ball or frisbee to wear him out. The job he assigned himself was protector of his family and that included his kitties. He was obsessed with our old kitty Champagne and would follow him everywhere - constantly cleaning him. It was the cutest thing ever. When Buster passed away, Champagne went into a deep depression and followed soon after. We'd had Champagne for about 10 years when we adopted Buster and he'd never lived with a dog before. He figured out very quickly that the dog was smart and able to reach things that he couldn't on the counters so he put Buster to work. Buster was actually afraid of the cats when he came to live with us but got over that when the cat gave him his first job.

Tanis was rescued from a ranch where he had been left outside to watch over chickens and goats. When a goat was killed (most likely by a coyote) Tanis got the blame and they were going to shoot him. Someone intervened and called the Aussie Rescue and that's how he came to live with me. He's the opposite of Buster - completely mellow and laid back. He hates to be outside and I think it's because he'd been out there as a pup alone. He's very empathetic and loves all small creatures and children. The one thing that is true to his breed, he takes care of his family - especially the kitties.

[Ryle]

Got a new pic of Cali.. snapped it tonight when I went for a visit.. Look how big she's getting! (couldn't get one with coco for comparison.. he was busy playing in the water with my bro)

[TJPatt72]

Glad to see so many animal lovers are vaping now, I'm sure they don't enjoy smoke any more than we love wearing their hair .

I live in the country now, but have had animals all my life. So I have 9 cats (1 not mine but has stayed around), 3 dogs (use to have more dogs than cats but took in 2 litters and the mother from a neighbor), rabbit, 2 donkeys, white mule and wildlife to boot. A couple of road runners still come around some and the coons probably every night still. Learned real quick to stop feeding the coons since they started an invasion force on me.

Sorry to hear of your loss to all of those that have, I've been there many times in life. Currently I have a 16 year old cat-Misty Blue, 21 year old donkey-Angel and 15 year old Benji type dog-Blue Girl that every day with is a gift. My Avatar is my one eyed adopted Cocker-Asia who is nearly blind out of her other eye, she had laser surgery for the glacoma, but a cataract is taking her sight. Picture was taken on her trip to the eye specialist which we still make every 4 months. The other dog is a Aussie mix that was rescued off a highway where a male she ran with was killed. I named her Blue Star since she was blue over her friend and came home under the stars, but had to just cut it to Star when Blue Girl got confused. I use to have another Aussie that looked exactly like Star named Lady that was a little taller than Star. She was so protective she would bark at red ants crawling on the cement and try to get them, also snapped at bees flying by. It took 2-3 years after her passing before I saw any other wildlife on the place except for the road runners which I did convince her to leave alone.

I'd have more than that now if I could afford it and my health was good enough to tote all their food, but thank goodness I have cut back some since I have been really hit with high vet bills. So far I haven't saved a lot from vaping with initial start up costs, but I expect to in the long run. As soon as I can amp up the mg in the juice, hopefully I'll be able to leave the analogs behind.

[ferretlovr]

Hi everyone. Just checking back with news about my little Bucky schnauzer. He's the one that had the lump on his neck. The vet felt around and pulled out a small deer tick! I had tried to feel the lump but was afraid to pick around it too much. I was shocked, especially since he's been on Revolution for ages. The vet told me that most of the flea meds don't work too well on ticks. I got him and Sadie (our Yorky/Papillon) each a tick collar. We live in the foothills with oak trees and pines all around us. Our yard doesn't have a lot of low grass or weeds. The vet says this is the time of the year that ticks are most active. I've lived here for 15 years, had lots of cats and dogs during that time and never seen a tick on any of them. Well, at least I'm glad that's all it was and not some nasty tumor. The lump finally disappeared yesterday and he's back to his old lazy self!

[mischiefgrrl]

Cali is a cutie!

I'm glad Bucky is all fixed up with no tumors!!! I've never had to deal with a tick... did they have to surgically remove it? I'm having flea issues. I spray everything down once a week and keep frontline on the pets but they just won't go away. I think the problem is Tanis can't help but crawl into every bush he sees while we out on our walks. I've sprayed him with eucalyptus oil before the walks because that's supposed to keep the buggars from jumping on him - but with all that hair he always manages to bring a few extra friends home.

[mixxy]

So happy to hear that Bucky had a tick, instead of a tumor!

[Allestaria]

Never have had a big problem with flea's.

But ticks are a different story. Dogs used to get covered in them. We would go through and pull them off the best we could. Even had tick dipps once a month.

We even ended up with fowl ticks. Now those don't care if your animal or human. My daughter had spent the weekend at my parents house. She was oh maybe 1.5 years old. Well I went to pick her up and she tossed her head back and had 4 of those nasty things on her neck.

After that we inspected often..
I now live about 5 miles down the road from my mom. And we have had a few ticks. Not to many to worry about. Plucked those sprayed the yard everyday for 2 weeks and haven't seen any in a year.


Though I will note. That we think (mom and I) that the tick dips that we did. Caused the dogs to get tumors. All of them ended up with tumers. That was 15 cocker spaniels at the time. Not just one or 2. But all of them ended up with tumers. That is the only thing that we can pin point them all getting the tumers from.

[ferretlovr]

You just twist the tick in a counter clockwise turn and it will come out. There's lots of other ways to get them out but that's what I always did. It's pretty gross, though. You just have to be careful not to leave the head in.

You can get rid of fleas in your house or carpet by sprinkling diatomatious earth around. ( I wouldn't put it on the pet directly). It's the same stuff you get at pool supply stores for filtering swimming pools. It's odorless and safe to use around pets, but I don't know about birds. It just dries the fleas right up. You won't have a flea left with that stuff. It's a lot cheaper than other stuff like sprays and powders. Leave it on the carpet then vacuum it up after a day or so. It worked for me when we lived in our last house.

[TJPatt72]

Be careful using diatomatious earth. Do not breath in any of it's dust while using it. What kills the fleas in it is it's razor sharp pieces of dust and it can cause lung damage in humans from what I read about it. I got some and used it on the yard, but decided if it could hurt me then it could hurt the animals too.

I've knocked out heavy infestations inside using the sprays that last up to 6-7 months that have the growth regulator in it. Then I used spot on's with growth regulators and chemicals on the yard. I don't like to use a bunch of chemicals, but nothing else works as well that I have tried. Some years I haven't needed a thing, and I mainly only use something when there is a big problem.

My adopted cocker has tumors also. My other dogs that had them got them in old age, like people do sometimes. What I did notice on the 2 that had cancerous tumors is they started in the area that shots where given in. My Yorkie I know got his in the same spot he had gotten a shot of steroids in for another problem. Then add in the tainted food we've been feeding them and out of all of it you have the perfect storm. When I was 18 I had 3 dogs that never had any medical problems unless they caused them, yet since then most of them have. I don't suspect just 1 item in their lives have caused their problems, but a combination of them all. Same thing is going on with people though since pollution levels have increase and old dumping sites or new ones are leeching into our food and water supply.

[MaryKay]

Natural food grade diatomaceous earth flea and tick treatment information.

Patt, I found this for you. It says to use "food grade" Diatomaceous earth. Not to use the pool supply type. Geese, you would think dirt is dirt!
The sharp edges are microscopic in the earth ..both types and do not affect us or animals, not even incects. It's the drying out effect that kills fleas.
Welcome to the Women's Room!