Sorry about your loss.

I remember being out with friends when I was 16 and getting a call from my sister that they had to put the cat down after 15 years. It really sucked not getting to say goodbye after having the cat around for my whole life.

Cowboy and Carlos have to go the vet for their one year checkup soon and we're pretty worried about how much Cowboy eats. In previous visits, we have told the vet about it and he basically just said that Cowboy is the food dominant brother, he always eats before Carlos and tried to nudge Carlos out of the bowl so he can get seconds.

Anyone else had experience with "food dominant" cats?

Yeah. Best thing to do is feed the cats in separate places, or lock up the greedy cat. The less dominant or just less spazzed out about food cat may see the other one racing for her bowl and just forget about it until the other cat is done. But by then the food may be gone or it may just be unappetizing to them.

If there's a good way to get the dominant cat to leave everyone else's food alone, I guess I don't know it. I've just tried to work around it when I've had problem cats. Which I think were usually friend's cats I was boarding for a while when they were on vacation, who were used to being dominant at home.

This my three month old Bassett Charlie! Trips over his ears and he is a big hit with everyone he meets.

Very cute! And not all snot-drenched yet like those guys can get.

Charlie is so cute Booger! I love your pictures.

reminds me of the bassett we had.
funniest thing I ever saw was him biting his own ear while eating.

This is my dog Kaz. He is an American Bulldog with a little Pit in him. One of the most loyal dogs I have ever met. He just turned 3 last week.

Oh the ear-manity!

Recently got my gf a kitten for Christmas. Said cat is now approx 6 months old and is a trouble maker to say the least. He runs laps at night, bites through cords (New laptop charger, HDMI cable) scratches carpet by doors when closed, if you are laying on couch sometimes he will run and lunge at your face.

My gf is really attached to him, and I would like a pet. Any advice on how to settle him down a bit? Would getting him neutered calm him down?

Also I avg a new shower curtain/month. we put him in my bathroom when he's being real bad, he runs and lunges at curtain and rips it apart, awesome I know.

Any help would be appreciated. thx.

This is my dog Rocco. I adopted him as a 1.5 year old but knew him from 11 months old at the shelter. I was a volunteer at the Humane Society and took him out every time I would go down there (twice a week). He was there for 6 months and was going to be put down. I told them my lease was expiring and I would take him once I found a place that allowed dogs. They gave him to a lady to foster for one month until I found a place. He is stoic, loyal, sometimes obedient, and loves to lick peoples faces. He is like my blood brother. Last March on St. Patrick's day he was diagnosed with Lymphoma, terminal cancer. He was only 4.5 years old so it was a shock. The vet said he would be dead within a month if we didn't do anything. We did a costly chemotherapy program which they said would put the cancer into remission 6-12 months. 14 months later and his cancer still is in remission. He is on borrowed time but dogs live in the moment and he is doing great for now. He even has a sister to play with too now. I made a book about him for the shelter....here is the link to that.....

http://preview.picaboo.com/Webview/C...00000000BC050C

This is my cat, Charlie. Six years ago, he was a stray hanging around my little brother's neighborhood, and my brother kept his garage door open a couple of feet at night and put some food/water/blankets out for him. One night he showed up with a bad wheel, either from being hit by a car or attacked by another animal. My brother paid the $ for surgery to get his leg amputated, at which point he could no longer live outside, obviously. My brother had a full house already so he asked if I could take him (at the time I was still in law school, newly single, and needed some companionship in my little studio apartment).

He is the kindest, gentlest animal I have ever met, and is adored by everyone who meets him, even so-called "cat haters". He has the most beautiful eyes, long whiskers, and white chest and boots. He gets around just fine (the vets say cats have "3 legs and a spare"), just needs to lay down for some breathers every few steps (at least when people are in the room so you feel sorry for him). It's pretty tough not to love him.

I'm a reasonably normal, 32 year old straight male, with a new girlfriend, house, and job since law school, and my (our) life revolves around this damn 3-legged cat.




A picture of Charlie showing off his stub.

Great last couple of stories. Love this thread

Neither of us had ever owned a pet before, but within 2 months last summer, we somehow ended up with a cat and a dog.

The cat was the first one to join the family... we got her from a friend of my wife's whose cat had a litter. Here she is on the day we got her at 3 months old:




I'm a weatherman, so to come up with a name, I asked viewers to send in weather-related names and I'd pick one after a week. We ended up deciding on "Bolt" because she sprints around the house like crazy for no apparent reason. I don't think we've called her anything but "Cat" since we got her.

This cat is one of the most social cat's I've ever been around... extremely vocal, and loves to play.

Then one day a few weeks later, we were at the state fair and swung by the Dog Warden's tent where one big, nice, quiet dog was sitting amongst a bunch of yapping lap dogs. We had been talking about getting a dog for a bit, so we decided to just jump in and take him home. Here are some pics of his first day at our house:




He looks like a pure-bred Chesapeake Bay Retriever, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is somewhat of a mix...

This dog has the most unbelievable amount of energy I've ever seen, and has a heart of gold. He's never shown a shred of aggression and is very loyal. He's been through training and is now a "Canine Good Citizen." I've recently entertained the idea about getting him into retrieving because that's what he's bred for.

The only major problem we still have with Dexter is his excited jumping on me when I get home from work... he's like a linebacker. I've tried kneeing him in the chest, but I always forget that Chessies are bred to break through ice with an extremely large/pointed chestbone... needless to say my knee loses that battle every time.

The first few months of cat/dog relations in our house are pretty much summed up by this pic I took a few months ago:



Cat teases dog, usually gets away, but dog catches her once in a while and gives her one hell of a bath.

Just a few nights ago, for the first time, they cuddled up next to each other on my lap. VICTORY!


(yes, they are aware of each other's presence)

Overall, glad to have the pets in our life... and it's just a start... found out yesterday that we have our first baby on the way!

Sneakyferret, great couple of pals there. Looks like you got a couch that doesn't stain too easily, which is pretty good news when you have pets. Glad you got a really social cat. Cats are always a bit of a wild card, but most of the time IMO a lot of a cat's personality comes down to its owner and whether it was socialized young.

Snakeeyes, great story about your stubby cat too. He looks very distinguished with that white moustache.

lukaluka,

great story. i just had this same thought about my dog today, since i know that boxers are prone to cancer. i'm happy that your dog is cool for now.

also, awesome book.

lukaluka - that's an awesome-looking dog you have there. Very cool.

snakeEyes - I love Charlie! Agree with Blarg that he looks very distinguished.

sneakyferret - great pictures. You are very lucky. Sounds like you have 2 wonderful pets. I am envious.

thanks..... nothing you can do about cancer except try and catch it early. just gotta enjoy your dog (and vice versa) while they are with you.

So my folks decided to keep one of the puppies. I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl. This is the big black one you may have seen in the earlier puppy pics ITT.



I'll just call him "he" for now. Here he is with his pal, Buddy. Maile, his mom, is relaxing in the background, doing the usual arm candy stuff, probably texting friends.



Looks like he has really bonded with Buddy:



I can see why. Buddy's not their dad, but he is very energetic and ridiculously friendly.

Here is the new addition with one of his sisters, who looks a lot like her gorgeous mom, IMO.



Looks like Buddy can't resist this puppy either.



Buddy is coming into his own.



My advice to him?



What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind

Blarg, you gotta put those dogs on TV! They are all so cute.

Oh damn, you dropped the Wordsworth at the last!

OK, looked back through the old pics, and that's apparently Malia. So that "he" is a she.

Hey sugar, take a walk on the wild side ...

Welp, they decided not to keep her after all. My mother is out at work most days, and my father is too old and unsteady to housetrain the puppy or clean up after it religiously and with alacrity. My dad is a bit bummed, but he still has the other two to keep him company.

Considering how active such dogs are, it's not a bad idea to keep a tight lid on their numbers at my folks' advanced age. I don't want my mother struggling too much with them as her aging picks up speed. She likes cats okay but is not particularly a cat person. But I think she should taper down on responsibilities at this point in her life rather than picking too many new ones up.

My 16-year old cat that I wrote about in the original post had a stroke last night. She's all messed up. The vet says there's still a chance she might recover, but it's not looking good right now. I hate to see her like this. Bad situation.

Uh oh. That doesn't sound good. Sorry to hear that, kioshk.

To me, one of the hardest things about cats dying is that they tend to want to be alone when they do it. What's most compassionate can be what feels least compassionate -- just leaving them alone.

This thread is great. Fantastic pictures, especially by Blarg, and some great (and sad) stories. Can't wait until I'm out of school and living on my own with a dog.