Pets chit chat thread

[Rae'ya]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Our pit Lexi is bigger then our old dog Poppy. She's only 5 months!

She's beautiful We don't have many true Pit Bulls in Australia, 'cos they are a restricted breed and you have to jump through some hoops to get them here. About the closest I get on a daily basis is Am Staffs, and I love Am Staffs.

[Medusa]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Our older dog has ticks. I've seen 3 now come off of her in the kitchen. I actually wear shorts in there so I can see if any get on me. One last night got on my foot. And I quickly went on a smashing spree to the little buggar. What is the best way to get rid of ticks? Medicinal baths, pills? I need some advice oh smart ones.

[Rhaethe]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

There are all sorts of remedies and baths and whatnot out there, but those aren't prevention. RMSF has spread greatly in the past 20 years, and lyme disease is always a worry. So, when it comes to ticks, I spring for the stuff on the link below. I personally use K9 Advantix II

http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/tick_control

Whilst I do not live in Rhode Island, the whole site is an excellent resource. There are tips there on how to tick-proof clothing and yard and such.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Our older dog has ticks. I've seen 3 now come off of her in the kitchen. I actually wear shorts in there so I can see if any get on me. One last night got on my foot. And I quickly went on a smashing spree to the little buggar. What is the best way to get rid of ticks? Medicinal baths, pills? I need some advice oh smart ones.

We don't have ticks in Adelaide, so I'm afraid that I'm actually not that much help on this one.

When my clients go into tick areas, the standard recommendation is either Frontline Plus or Advantix, because they are readily available here. Vets in tick areas may have a wider range of recommendations. At vet nurse school we're pretty much taught about ticks, their life cycle, how to treat paralysis tick and that you should use monthly or fortnightly (depending on the product) prevention. So while I can tell you a bit about ticks themselves... yeah... not very helpful.

[Medusa]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

We don't have ticks in Adelaide, so I'm afraid that I'm actually not that much help on this one.

When my clients go into tick areas, the standard recommendation is either Frontline Plus or Advantix, because they are readily available here. Vets in tick areas may have a wider range of recommendations. At vet nurse school we're pretty much taught about ticks, their life cycle, how to treat paralysis tick and that you should use monthly or fortnightly (depending on the product) prevention. So while I can tell you a bit about ticks themselves... yeah... not very helpful.

i guess your big ass spiders and snakes eat all the ticks.

[Shahaku]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Ugh.. how do I keep coming across all the creepy-crawlie Aussie posts? (do Aussie's mind being called Aussies or is it a faux pas?)

I was thinking about adopting a parrot and then I read, "Similar to having a special needs child for the rest of your life." Maybe I'll just volunteer occasionally at the parrot rescue...

[Heka]

Ugh.. how do I keep coming across all the creepy-crawlie Aussie posts? (do Aussie's mind being called Aussies or is it a faux pas?)

I have no issue.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Ugh.. how do I keep coming across all the creepy-crawlie Aussie posts? (do Aussie's mind being called Aussies or is it a faux pas?)

I was thinking about adopting a parrot and then I read, "Similar to having a special needs child for the rest of your life." Maybe I'll just volunteer occasionally at the parrot rescue...

Hey I was saying that we DON'T have ticks! Blame Medusa for bringing in the others

(And actually... only Adelaide doesn't have ticks. The rest of the country has some... and Queensland has deadly ones).

And we call ourselves Aussies, so it's fine.. Only it's pronounced 'Ozzies'. That's the important part... I was called an 'Aahssy' far too many times when I was in the US.

Parrots... they have the social and mental needs of a 2 year old. Only you may have them for between 10-80 years, depending on the species.

[Rhaethe]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Are you sure it's two? Not saying you are wrong ... I'd read a recent-ish set of studies that placed dogs (on average) around the intelligence and social/mental needs of a 4-5 year old. I know parrots are an entirely different species, but I always considered them at least as developed as dogs. Hmmm ... something to research today! LOL

[Rae'ya]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Are you sure it's two? Not saying you are wrong ... I'd read a recent-ish set of studies that placed dogs (on average) around the intelligence and social/mental needs of a 4-5 year old. I know parrots are an entirely different species, but I always considered them at least as developed as dogs. Hmmm ... something to research today! LOL

Brain development doesn't really happen in a linear fashion where the older you get, the 'better' your mentality is. It's more about the ability to learn, the need for stimulation, problem solving ability, social recognition, the rate and strength of new learning pathways and the ability to change and adapt to new stimuli. In some cases, 'younger' brains have much higher abilities in these areas than 'older' ones.

The human-age figures aren't exact, and it's a kind of arbitrary association that we try to attach to animal species in order to 'understand' them better. There are all sorts of 'studies' that 'prove' all sorts of things when it comes to animal behaviour. But the reality is that animal brains are much more complex than we truly realise. In actual animal behaviour circles, we don't really use those figures aside from as a sort of colloquial guide... kind of like the age-old myth that for every human year a dog ages seven. Yeah that's arbitrary too. lol. The 2 year old figure is a useful one when speaking to laypeople (as would a 4-5 year old figure), simply because it indicates the sort of intense engagement that you need when taking on something like a parrot (particularly medium and large species).

[ChainLightning]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

Hell, when I was looking into getting a Greater Sulpher-Crested Cockatoo, I rather assumed the bird would be more mature than me. I mean, they use the example descriptor "special needs", where the main one for me, at the time, was "midget tard".

I always seem[ed] to surround myself with friends that notice my shortcomings.

[kalynraye]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

I have sick puppy.. someone left a slice of pizza on the coffee table and he being taller than the table walked by and grabbed it. Brexton has thrown up three times and I'll leave the rest to the imagination. Now I have a 40 pound baby laying in my lap.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

I have sick puppy.. someone left a slice of pizza on the coffee table and he being taller than the table walked by and grabbed it. Brexton has thrown up three times and I'll leave the rest to the imagination. Now I have a 40 pound baby laying in my lap.

Is he okay now? If he's still not well then you should take him to the vet.

A single slice of pizza shouldn't cause a major problem unless it had lots of onion or lots of cheese on it. If it was super cheesy, then it could potentially trigger pancreatitis (which is potentially fatal, so if he continues being sick it's important you take him to the vet).

If he has stopped vomiting, feed him bland, easy to digest food for a few days (boiled chicken and white rice is usually fine) and then slowly add his normal food back in over a few days. If vomiting and/or diarrhoea continues past 24 hours then he needs to see the vet.

[Willow]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

I got myself a rather nasty burn on one of my fingertips 2 nights ago, which necessitated a bandage for me to be able to function at work yesterday. My hedgehog thought the bandage was the most amazing thing on the planet.

[kalynraye]

Re: Pets chit chat thread

He is doing much better. He spent the last two days in my lap and not really eating. Today when I got home from work and he was back to his normal self!!!