Thanks vike, your golden is adorable as well. I was shocked how much the breeders were getting for the labs too. Some were even going for $2k+. I wound up paying $800 for mine. Lil high but better than paying $500 for a rescue dog thats already messed up in the head and was living as a stray for a few weeks or so. He does have papers though and his parents are both beautiful dogs.

BTW, I named him Irie.

Irieguy will be flattered.

What, El Diablo was taken?

This will be a sad animal story so skip if you don't want to be depressed.

Ok this is a story about the kindest cat I know, Apollo.

In order to show his kindness, I need to tell a sad story. I need to talk about Dozer, who passed away in May.

Cliff notes at bottom.

Back in May of 2008, our cat died after living over 18 years. The vet said she was anywhere between 18-22 years old. No one was sure as we were its third house she lived in. We had her ten years. So, in July of that year, we went to the local animal rescue store (they pick up animals from various organizations and sell them) and brought home two cats. Lyla, a black female cat who was 2 years old at the time (she had been at the shelter since birth) as well as her condo mate Dozer, a male white and orange around 4 years, who was picked up from the Summit County Animal Shelter.

When we brought them home, Dozer acted like he had been there forever. No hesitation on going anywhere in the house, just made himself at home. He also had a habit of patrolling. He would go in the den, hop up on a table, look out the window. Living room, same thing, bedrooms also. It was part of his routine. I told people he was our security guard, joking, but not. Whenever a strange noise happened outside, he would go investigate. Strange or not, that felt reassuring.

On Thanksgiving that year, he was in the den, and started growling. Really growling. Loudly. So, I went to investigate. Turns out, the neighbor’s son was visiting from Michigan, and was in their back yard smoking. The Doze (his nickname) had never seen him before. So, our watch cat told us something was amiss.

Around that time, we went to the rescue store for something, food or toys, not important, and saw this cat just having a good time playing. That was Apollo. Nice orange tabby about one and a half, who was born there. A few days later we decided to buy him.

With Lyla and Dozer, we just let them out and let them explore, which according to literature is a big mistake. Common practice says, one room for a few days, then gradually let them explore. Well, we let Apollo out and he just ran into the den and hid under a chair. And stayed there.

Around nine that night, we are in the living room watching television, and The Doze starts doing his best Lassie routine. For those under 50, that means he came running into the living room, meowing to get our attention, going towards the kitchen, then back to us meowing until we got up to investigate. Apollo had gone from the den to under the kitchen table. Dozer then got behind Apollo and pushed him towards the basement where we feed them and where the litter boxes are located. Apollo went down stairs, ate and was fine after that. Apollo and Dozer were inseparable after that…. Sometimes to a point of irritating Dozer, but this will only accentuate the positives. Somewhere we have a picture of Apollo sleeping next to Dozer and Dozer looking into the camera as if to say ‘Why was I nice to this guy? I can’t even get any sleep now’.

So, those two hang around and Lyla developed an attitude problem when either one was around, by growling or hissing. Our solution? Another cat. This one, Minnie. And all is good in the house.

Fast forward a year to December of 2009. There are now six cats in the house. We inherited two brothers around 7 years old who mostly keep to themselves. The older one (by a few minutes) just started eating near the other cats. It only took us a year to get him to do that. Jeesh. Another story for another time.

One December Saturday morning, as per routine, the cats were waiting outside our room. The routine is this, they wait until we wake up, we go downstairs, they follow, they go into their food positions (they have their spots where they eat) and we feed them. Walking down the hall we noticed Dozer. He was walking in circles, head towards the ground, his eyes were bloodshot and his back legs were quite wobbly.

Luckily, the Akron area has an excellent animal hospital only a few miles away. We took him there. He had had a stroke, caused by too much red blood cells, oh and now he was blind in his left eye. They said he may have 4-6 months to live if he was ‘bled’ every week or so, to get rid of the excess that was being developed in his system. Not sure of the technical diagnostic, I forget, but it is somewhat rare, and fatal.

A week later we brought him home. He was still very weak The back legs were somewhat wobbly and he couldn’t stand too well for any length of time.

So, Dozer is blind in one eye, can barely walk, but insists on going downstairs to eat and do his business, even though we have a set up for him in the bathroom.

Apollo now takes it upon himself to take care of Dozer. Whenever he goes downstairs Apollo stays on his left side to make sure he doesn’t fall into the basement. While it takes the other cats 5 minutes to eat, it takes Dozer 30 minutes or more and because his sight is off or his coordination is off he makes a big mess. But, Apollo stays at the bottom of the steps and waits. Apollo even covers up The Doze’s fecal matter in the litter box. when Dozer misses or forgets.

Dozer does improve some, regresses a bit, gets a little better, and then regresses more. Apollo is almost always there whenever he needs to eat or use the liter box.

Between December and May, Dozer was probably hospitalized a dozen times. My wife, who has a nursing degree, would bleed him, but the blood became too thick and after a failed attempt and a trip to the hospital, she was informed that he would soon pass.

Evening feeding time was when I arrived home from work. Dozer didn’t come down that day, which was understandable. Around seven that evening, he made his trek from the bathroom, where he now stayed 23 hours a day, down the hall through the dining room and kitchen and down the stairs. Since I was with him, Apollo watched from the top of the steps.

Once downstairs, The Doze tried to eat but couldn’t. He made some funny faces with his mouth and tongue and collapsed. Picture if you will the usual police outline of a dead body on a television show with the limbs askew. That is what he looked like. He lay like that for probably 10 minutes. In the meantime, wife called the hospital and made the arrangements and got everything ready (putting the 90% cooked dinner away), so we could take him in.

Dozer did get back up, but it was time, you could tell. Apparently so could Apollo. He came downstairs and started licking Dozer’s face quite vigorously. Then he left. Not a minute later, Apollo returns, with Lyla and Minnie behind him. They all took a turn in licking his face, then they left. I wrapped The Doze up in a towel and we went on a very depressing five mile ride.

It amazes me to this day, how Apollo treated The Doze. In the animal world I thought the strong preyed on the weak. Not in this case. And of course, if I wasn’t there I would not believe that Apollo went to get the girls. Unreal.
Apollo is a sweet heart.

Cliffs: Cat looks after younger cat. Older cat gets sick. Younger one assists in taking care of mentor.

That's a great story, crawl49. I reminds me how how our white cat used to take care of the gray one I mentioned in the original post. He took care of his little sister who was always getting into trouble, and he'd do that Lassie thing to let us know.

Also on the sad front, 1 of my parents' 3 cats died last week. He was 18 and had diabetes, needed a shot every day, but my parents treated him like royalty, and he had a good life.

I'd just like to say that I am glad my cat does not have this condition:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81156648/

It doesn't look like it really bothers them, but damn, it's pretty crazy.

Sorry to hear about your parents' cat. I'm surprised how old some of these cats are. My sister's cat died at the age of 19! That's really old! What was your parents' cat's name?

On a tangent, my sister has 3 cats. She and her husband really enjoy them a lot. One day I received a phone call from my mom who was all stressed out and concerned about this sister of mine. She feared that my sister was becoming a "cat woman." I couldn't stop laughing. I mean what do you say to something like that? It seemed a little rude to say "don't you have anything better to do with your time than to worry about dumb stuff like that?"

Thanks, Katy. His name was Patches, a calico. Yeah, they can get up over 20 sometimes. He had it great, especially considering the diabetes. And I felt bad because my mom had told me in an email I hadn't read yet when I called them Sunday night.

Yeah, way silly with only 3. Although I've seen news shows of the actual animal hoarders that have dozens, and it's really sad for both them and the animals.

They have both now died sadly

Jeez. That sucks. Now I feel bad.

Poor things.

I didn't think it was sad. I thought it was kinda beautiful in its own way. Nice story, crawl49.

What luck, too, that your cats seem to have formed a kind of family instead of constant scrapping.

I don't think 3 cats, especially while you're married, is cause for alarm. Cause for alarm is when it's looking like the cats are becoming an obsession and/or a replacement for human interaction, IMO.

I told Fluffy about this, and she said you are full of ****. Then she said I should put you on ignore.

----------------
Crawl,
thanks for posting.

I guess I kinda had this coming, from Fluffy. She's probably still mad about my squirt gun advice on the first page.

I'll talk about myself, I guess, since I'm a puppy. I'm a moderator on 2+2. I've been alive for about 11 months so far, and I became a moderator when I was about 8 months old. Moderating is tough work, but it needs to be done. I give people points when they say racist things or post inappropriate images, or troll - the usual. I hope to someday become a police dog, and I feel that this experience moderating 2+2 will lead to great opportunities in the future for me.

So far, I've banned eight established users - three permabans and five tempbans. But my true area of expertise lies in banning spam accounts. As a puppy, I can sniff out the offending accounts and ban them quickly. The human mods need to rely on coincidence and use of the report notifying system. I, however, have a nose for them. So, I'm happy to say that in my three months of service, I've banned 138 spam accounts, which is a record. The previous record for bans over a 3-month span was at 84 spam accounts, so I've obliterated that record.

Anyway, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them because I'm a puppy. ROOROOOROOO!

Mod Pup,
Why don't you have a colored name?
What forums do you mod?
Do you have a favorite forum?

I know someone who just got a boxer. It looks sort of different from other boxers I've known. This breed is interesting because there seem to be so many different looks and personalities. Does anyone here own a boxer? Anyone else ever notice how there seem to be different Boxer looks? Where is Daryn?

OSCAR, THE MINI DACHSHUND SENT BACK IN TIME TO TERMINATE YOU.

WITH PUPPY KISSES.



My new puppy! I haven't had a dog since my family's german shepherd died in 06. Since I got Oscar (he's 11 weeks old now, got him a week ago) I cannot believe I went so long without a dog.

I've been trying to get him into his halloween costume but he's been none too happy about it. He prefers to play with it.

I like these dogs, gobbo. Let me ask you this, how difficult is it to housebreak a dachshund? Their feet are very close to the ground. Can they hold their pee for very long?

My situation is a little strange because I'm in the panorama towers in Vegas and I'm training him to use the pee-pads inside. He's very good about using them though at 11 weeks so we are pretty lucky I guess.

I'm pretty in love with him right now. I tweeted before actually about how much he's made me feel like a dad since I got him because I feel so responsible for him.

He loves my roommate more though. Sigh.

actually i dont think theres much variation in how a boxer is supposed to look. if one looked dramatically different id be inclined to think it was a mix. people love to call their dog a boxer even if it isnt

MOAR PICTURES.

Aww! Such a handsome little guy. I love little Oscar

My 2 dogs, boxer Sam 6 years old and the other one Snuffle ... either a west highland white terrier or a bastard poodle/maltezer mix ("maltipoo") actually not sure though, but he's 18 year old.

And he almost choked on his food today, ugh I gave him leftover steak but didn't cut it well enough (his teeth are not very numerous anymore, or sharp). he was walking around having an astma attack (he also has astma, if we show him his leech to go walking he will have an attack if we don't calm him), thankfully after a good 2 minutes (i was in tears) he choked it out. He's also not aware when he needs to pee/poo. So cleaning his mess up is a daily job. He needs to go outside atleast once an hour. And oh yeah winter is coming and when its snowing he refuses to go outside, so we have to carry him all the way to the backyard and make sure he does his business. His favorite food is spaghetti (the only food where he will start to drool) and he loves milk (either poored in his water or just a glass of milk).Sam and him are best friends though, they will literally eat from the same food bowl at the same time with no problem whatsoever.

The boxer actually was from my grandfather, but he passed away last year and my grandmother couldn't take care of her alone so we took her in. Night my grandfather died she howled like crazy all night, she could feel it. When we go visit my grandmother she will always lie down on the carpet where the bed of my grandfather was (hospital bed in the living room), pretty touching.

Oh your dogs are cute, Thijs. I've always wanted one of those West Highland Terriers, but I think yours definitely looks like it has poodle in it. Very very cute. That's pretty funny that he likes spaghetti and milk.

How much does your boxer weigh? He looks really strong!

Thank you!

I think she weighs about 60 lbs, can be quite problematic because she thinks she's a lapdog! She gets really jealous when I hold Snuffle .

She's also probably one of the last boxer without a tail, I think shortly after we got her it became illegal, I've seen quite a few with a tail now and I don't really like it as much.