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Pets
Aug 2, 2009 11:46:02 GMT -5
Post by sapphiresavvy on Aug 2, 2009 11:46:02 GMT -5
ROFL. Isn't it cute and amazing how they all have their own personalities? My cat Cairo would FREAK OUT about nature shows. Suddenly she "was" a lion! Bouncing off walls, pouncing around! And you always knew when the show was over because suddenly she was back to normal. She never ever ever did get litter-trained, though. Yeah, I loved her THAT much, I would clean up after her. She preferred to use............ my bathtub.
*barf*
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Pets
Aug 2, 2009 14:14:58 GMT -5
Post by karlsie on Aug 2, 2009 14:14:58 GMT -5
That's the thing that annoys me about cats. They make their own choices on potty habits and you can't change them. My cats usually go outside to do their chores, but my oldest cat has declined over the last couple of years. I decided it was her age; she's nearly fifteen years old; so i begrudgingly brought in a cat box. The other two cats were happy to fill it up instead of going outside on cold or rainy days, but the old one simply did her toiletry to the side of it. I keep thinking i should give her the boot, but what the heck? She's an old lady. She's done her mouse duty, allowed herself to be mauled and dressed up by the kids while they were growing up, and has shredded her share of the furniture. I curse and call her a filthy animal every morning while i clean up her "accidents", and she runs to my room to sulk on my bed. It's become part of our routine. I glare at her. She glares at me, than taps me on the arm to let me know she wants to be petted. Rotten cat.
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Pets
Aug 3, 2009 8:56:27 GMT -5
Post by sapphiresavvy on Aug 3, 2009 8:56:27 GMT -5
One of my pets was a ball python. It freaked Cairo out, to no end. I had to get rid of the snake when my upstairs neighbor, who was just supposed to water the thing, decided to knock on the glass till the poor thing went mental. I came home and the normally docile snake tried to strike me. Ah, well. I tended to cry when I had to kill mice for it to eat anyway. His name was Squiggy and he was neat while he lasted.
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Pets
Aug 3, 2009 13:53:52 GMT -5
Post by The Late Mitchell Warren on Aug 3, 2009 13:53:52 GMT -5
Ohh I love snakes. Although, yeah, the idea of feeding them mice is disturbing. Being an animal pacifist, i don't think I could do it. I've only now gotten over my guilt of killing cockroaches. I still try to spare crickets and spiders, and just toss them outside when possible.
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Pets
Aug 3, 2009 18:25:23 GMT -5
Post by karlsie on Aug 3, 2009 18:25:23 GMT -5
Ah, poor python. He became traumatized. People who find amusement in teasing animals annoy me. They think they are just being funny; after all they aren't hurting the creature; but animals don't compute the word "tease" very well. Hell, humans don't even compute it well, so i don't know how they expect animals to understand they are simply being "humorous".
I think the spider is the only creature to gross me out in any way. There is just something about them i can't accept, the spindly, crooked, hairy legs, the fat, ominous bodies, their rapid, industrious cunning. They make me shudder.
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Pets
Aug 4, 2009 12:29:26 GMT -5
Post by sapphiresavvy on Aug 4, 2009 12:29:26 GMT -5
Yeah, "not hurting" an innocent animal who can't see glass, so bonks his poor nose and head bloody trying to strike through the glass. Guess what I wanted to do to that guy? He was supposed to be pet-sitting, for christ's sake. I guess he shakes babies when he baby-sits.
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Pets
Aug 4, 2009 19:00:04 GMT -5
Post by karlsie on Aug 4, 2009 19:00:04 GMT -5
It would be interesting to see a few informative articles on the good treatment of pets. People go over-board in both directions; pets so spoiled and showered with thousands of dollars worth of baths and treatments that could have housed a family of four for a year, they are neurotic masses of muscles and bones, and pets used for such vicious past times as ring fights and life threatening endurance tests. Animals, bred and domesticated for specific tasks, flounder in unnatural environments. We owe a great deal of responsibility to our domesticated species as most of them can't survive without us. What do in a society where even having a back yard is a luxury?
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Pets
Aug 5, 2009 17:21:32 GMT -5
Post by sapphiresavvy on Aug 5, 2009 17:21:32 GMT -5
That would be a good article!
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Pets
Aug 5, 2009 18:21:15 GMT -5
Post by karlsie on Aug 5, 2009 18:21:15 GMT -5
Yeah, i'm mulling this over, Savvy. Not that i feel energized to do a pet article soon, but another thought occurred to me, as often does in the twists and turns of conversations, and that was the complete incompatibility of society and its natural surroundings. We've run ourselves into a corner in our attempt to domesticate our environment. We've upset the balance and blame it on natural causes. We don't have just unwanted cats and dogs in shelters, we have unwanted live stock; horses, goats, pigs and fowl. What peculiar turn of our faculties has carried us so far into artificial reality, we can't discern what is natural?
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Pets
Aug 5, 2009 21:16:36 GMT -5
Post by GoblinQueen on Aug 5, 2009 21:16:36 GMT -5
Snakes are soo cool! Sorry to hear about yours Savvy. I might have hid in the bushes outside that guys house and tapped on the windows he was sitting by till he went crazy! Mawahahahaa!
I liked spiders ever since I was a kid watching Charlotte's Web. Roaches are evil though...along with the geese and the chickens.
I'm reading a book by Cesar Millan currently. It was amusing to read his perspective coming from Mexico to America. He was saying he was shocked to see how the people in the U.S. really thought their dogs were Lassie and can understand what we are saying, how we pamper them to extremes like they are mini people - humans in dog suits. And how all the "humanizing" them is what is causing most of the problems in the dogs he helps.
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Pets
Aug 6, 2009 0:28:18 GMT -5
Post by karlsie on Aug 6, 2009 0:28:18 GMT -5
Dogs have different levels of intelligence; just as people do. Some do understand an enormous number of vocal commands, but i doubt very seriously they can understand all the gibberish poured over the pooch's in clothes that is usually reserved for jabbering at new born babies. I think, when people are choosing a dog breed, they should bone up on the personality traits that generally accompany that particular animal. Some dogs, like German Shepard's, Rottweilers, Austrian Shepard's and Retrievers, have remarkable reasoning abilities, which is why so many dogs from those breeds are used as seeing eye dogs. Other breeds were originally bred to hunt, to race, to pull weight or to rescue. Although they may have been retired from their services, the inbred traits are there, and the dog can often become morose or neurotic because it isn't being used for what it instinctively knows how to do.
Another draw back to dog kingdom is over-breeding. Weak backs, hip displacements, over sized craniums putting pressure on the brains and causing head aches are all the results of over-bred dogs. Although AKA hasn't given their stamp of approval, many dog breeders are encouraging owners who plan to breed their dogs, to choose a compatible mixed breed to strengthen the bloodline.
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Pets
Aug 6, 2009 2:39:48 GMT -5
Post by GoblinQueen on Aug 6, 2009 2:39:48 GMT -5
Yep! you said it. People buy dogs based on which dog they like the look of, and not what would fit into their lifestyle best as to have a happy human and happy puppy. And then they all wonder why the dog is so "bad". Which is why I want a pug. Bred to be a companion! fat little rolly-polly comedians. Poor babies have breathing issues due to the short nose though. Short nose=short walks, so that works for me! LOL
Different levels of intelligence (and different types according to breed) but people in the good US of A tend to think the dogs understand what they are saying when they are screaming like a banshee to get off the couch, or when they stick pups face in his mess, as if he will understand WHY they are doing that. Dogs can read body language and tone of voice for sure though. They have some dogs sniffing out diseases even! I have always been a cat person....but my fascination with dogs has simply run away with me the last few months!
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Pets
Aug 6, 2009 3:10:34 GMT -5
Post by GoblinQueen on Aug 6, 2009 3:10:34 GMT -5
Anyone want to contribute to Heather's pug Fund? By reading this comment you are obligated to donate or you will be considered rude. lol j/k
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Pets
Aug 6, 2009 15:48:21 GMT -5
Post by The Late Mitchell Warren on Aug 6, 2009 15:48:21 GMT -5
Can we try you on first?
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Pets
Aug 6, 2009 15:57:04 GMT -5
Post by GoblinQueen on Aug 6, 2009 15:57:04 GMT -5
You can try on the Pug Fund if you want. I can let you read all the reasons and such I want a Pug. But now that you have responded you will get the biggest glare ever if you don't donate. My grandmother is French, so I get some of the glaring privileges, right?
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