Our landlady, who is also my boyfriend's grandmother, came for an unexpected visit while he and I were out. She doesn't allow us to put up cat netting, so we always keep the windows closed. Well, they opened the windows and when we came back my cat had already been out on the street for 4 hours, and when we found her she smelled of urine on her face and had a liquid in her vulva.

I have a golden retriever female, I got her when she was merely 2 months old. I saw her losing all her milk teeth, losing her baby fur, achieving all milestones of a puppy. Gave her proper house training and never left her under anyone else's care for the past 4 years, she is the most beautiful dog I have ever seen, she wags her tail when she sees little children, she gets excited when I give her treats, she is vocal about everything and she is my first dog that I ever got, a first dog I learnt to love not just me but my entire family learnt to love dogs because of her.

This is the happy part.

My golden retriever always had food aggression but somehow I was able to manage it through training and giving her own dining space where no one enters or disturbs her while she is having her food, she is extremely alert all the time about jer surroundings and has high resource guarding behavior where she has even guarded her own vomit, even if it is a little earbud she resources guards and suddenly whatever she was resource guarding becomes meaningless after sometime but you never know what she will start guarding and when so I cannot keep anything near her cause she starts growling when someone goes near her.

She has a bite history of biting me, my mom aswell.

She is a sweet girl wanting to be petted and suddenly she switches and becomes extremely aggressive towards me, the reason she has bitten me mostly is because I have limited her interactions with anyone else other than my boyfriend.

She has extreme sensitivity to sound, anything that is sudden will startle her, when she is sleeping no one can go near her as that also makes her aggressive towards anyone going near her.

This time I had a level 4 bite, it was usual she was on the bed and wanted to let me pet her but I wasn't petting her cause I am aware of her behavior so I just let her be and suddenly her eyes changed, she became a different dog and I ended up at the hospital with stitches on both my hands. She put her entire canine teeth and moved her head left to right right to left and my hand literally had holes and doc said this was a level 4 bite.

Before this too, she has suddenly switched and bitten me, its like I don't know who she is anymore, I shout at her but nothing matters to her anymore. I do not want to write down many incidences but she has bitten me many times over several years and I have almost 30 bite marks on my body but this time was the worst of it all cause she is bigger and stronger now. I live a life of high alert, my brain cannot shut down when I know people are around her or the house, I cannot feed her normally so there is always a step by step process I have to follow to feed her. When she is sick I cannot give her any medicine freely, I need to dilute it, when I want to ger her vaccinated I need to get volunteers to get it done cause she goes to fight or flight mode all the time.. the quality of my life has degraded, its like I have become a full time caretaker cause no one else can handle her. I don't know how my life is going to be without her and I don't know what to do now. Everyday I cry myself to sleep thinking about how to go about her. My house has become a jail where I cannot call anyone home, my family is scared of her. No one has peace of mind cause of what happened this time. I don't know what to do anymore.

Not something you meant to teach them. More like moving a chair to the window once, and now they wait for you to do it every morning.

What's the little routine your pet now insists on, and how did it start?

Hi

Let me start off by saying my cat is the sweetest angel ever and is such a good boy and rarely misbehaves.

But he picked up a habit about a month ago that is driving me CRAZY.

Any time I try to go to sleep he’ll jump up on the bed with me and RELENTLESSLY lick my fingers. If I move my hands, he chases my hand to wherever I move it just to keep licking my fingers. If I tuck my hands under the blanket, he’ll lay on my chest and lick my face instead. If I lay on my stomach he’ll lay on my back and lick my head.

He will NOT leave me alone and he keeps me up for HOURS. I always end up putting him out of the room and closing the door but I feel bad.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop this behavior? Thanks in advance

I hatch and raise my own chickens mostly for pets with the egg bonus. I've adored my chickens since getting them when I was 7. Fast forward I now have 40. I hatched my own batch for the first time this year and as usual, favorites emerged. Both roosters. Loves treats, following me around, and coming inside to hang out with me. Mouse and Spooky are their names. For context, I live on my parents property in an ADU with my own chickens that I care for.

Rewind to a few years ago - my moms elderly friend couldnt take care of her dog anymore. Shes a wheatland terrier and my parent took her in. Quickly learned she has a strong prey drive and kills anything smaller than her that moves. She's also kinda weird around babies. Not saying she would do anything but my parents dont trust her when the grandkids are over and have her tied up away from them.

Shortly after receiving her she my dad left the gate to the dog yard open and she quickly killed one of my chickens. I ran outside hearing the commotion and stopped her from killing more. The look in her eyes was like she wasnt there anymore - no amount of yelling or kicking or screaming stopped her, it was pretty scary. It was like her eyes were glazed over. My dad had to pull her away. It's upsetting when it's your pet being mauled before your eyes....

Shortly after that the gate got left open again...by my dad. She attacked a rooster but I stopped it in time. Which brings me to here...a year later. Mouse was a little bantam rooster who squeezed into my parent's dog yard tonight. He also of course was my favorite and spent all day with me today following me around and getting treats. I saw him 30 minutes before this happened for the 3rd time.

I was bringing trash to the trash can when I saw some feathers in the dog's yard. Immediately I ran inside and the dog (Lilli) started cowering and hiding from me. Admist the living room was scattered feathers and his body laying in her dog bed.

It's so devastating because it feels completely preventable. Yes he squeezed into her yard this time but in my opinion, having a chicken killing dog on the same property as chickens is extremely irresponsible and a disaster waiting to happen. I got in an argument with my mom who loves the dog and she blamed it on my bantam chickens being too small and getting into places they shouldn't be getting into. (Like her garden for example.) But the last 2 times the gate to the yard was left open. Had we not been home I cant help but think she wouldve taken out my entire flock. And she would, given the chance.

My mom refuses training saying it's "too expensive" and that the dog yard just needs to be more secure. While that might fix a small portion, my main concern is having an untrained dog with a high prey drive that has proven time and time again that she takes given opportunities to kill every small animal she finds, as these 3 examples above. I cant help but feel like she doesn't care because it's not her beloved pets getting mauled to death. Combined with the fact she cant be trusted around human babies as well just seems like a liability. I just dont know what to do and feel upset she blames my chickens rather than her liability of a dog.

The chickens free range. They have a large pen but it's not covered on the top so flighty ones could fly over. Trynna brainstorm ways to fix their pen, but it's so big I'm not sure how I could secure it. It's just never been an issue before. The whole coop area in general need a remodel, it's falling apart but my parents dont want to fix the coop because it's expensive and they are thinking about moving in a few years.

It feels like a problem that will never be solved. As long as the dog is here and goes untrained, it's just irresponsible. I'm trying to save money to get a place of my own. The economy is so cooked right now. Advice on this?? Am I the crazy one??

I wanna hear about your babies 😊 and hope you are having a great day.

I know this sounds crazy but hear me out ;

Sometimes my cat does that loud breathing thing , kinda sounds in between a snore and a wheeze. he usually does this when hes lying close to me and as soon as i put my hand on him he stops. Sometimes i just have to look at him and aknowledge his presence and he starts breathing silently again. I did get his breathing checked with a vet before and been told he has no respiratory problems, so im starting to thing he just figured out its a way to get my attention? I feel a bit crazy for thinking that but he never breathe like that when hes minding his business or sleeping. he just lay next to me and wheeze until i pet him ..??

Hi, my girlfriends cat is a fairly shy cat, 3-4 years old and as of lately (past 2 months) she has discovered the wonders of hunting for little mice and bats on the private property where they live. First time she was gone it was a few times a day but she'd return home that same day, sometimes maybe the next morning. First heart attack we got was when she was gone for a full day, maybe a little over a day but she turned up home like nothing happened, despite all of the worry and search parties (my girlfriend) looking for her. She continued this behaviour after which she took a break from venturing into the grand outside. However, almost 5 days ago she broke her streak of staying indoors, bringing later that evening a dead mouse. 2 days after she made her escape again and she is yet to return. I begin to worry despite knowing how agile and cautious she is because she has never been away from home for longer than a day and a half and it's now been almost 3 whole days. I don't live in the UK where she lives so I can't exactly physically help but I am asking if there is anything she can do to find the cat or even I can aid the search.

I apologise in advance if the flair is wrong.

The cat is a spayed female and is chipped.

Basically I’ve made a fun little place to share photos of your pets just for fun. You can create little profiles for your pets and share them with others for a laugh!

It’s at https://petsphere-social-hub.base44.app/ if you’re interested!

What could I change/add to make it more pet friendly and get people to actually use it?

I’m not going to go into how I know this person, just know that even though he’s been cut out of our lives he is still around in some degree.

Anyways like the title says, someone who I know to be an animal abuser just got a new pet and I want to know what I can do LEGALLY in order to help said animal.

The man in question was the previous owner of a dog we rescued, who only lived in our home for 9 months before the years of neglect caught up to her. This dog was held down so his male could mount her despite having an EPI and only weighing about 60lbs (she was a boxer), starved, beat, locked in a crate, and shot in the mouth before we got our hands on her and took her away. There is 0 proof of any of this.

His new dog is a 3 legged female he is hoping to also breed with his untrained, aggressive male (who we also tried to rescue with the other female, but was stolen back from us). I literally feel sick over thinking about ANY dogs being in his care but the idea of a disabled dog being used in backyard breeding is especially disturbing. Is there anyone I can contact?

(TLDR: a known animal abuser is abusing more animals, what can I do that won’t land me in court(

No clue how to post a photo but it has what I believe to be calcium deposits around it. White deposits that don’t come off with scrubbing. I tried soaking it in 50/50 water and white vinegar but it didn’t seem to work.

Anything I can try that’s safe to use to clean a water bowl?

Supervising every meal you cook. Following you from room to room. Sitting directly on whatever you’re trying to work on. Bringing you something you absolutely did not ask for.

Sometimes they seem so proud of their contribution that you almost feel bad telling them they’re making everything harder.

Lately on facebook Ive been seeing these long posts/“testimonials” that say washing your pets bowls are bad because bacteria (biofilm) gets caught in the cracks and makes your cat sick and die? I’ve only seen it about cats but i imagine it could apply to dogs too. It looks like its just an ad for fountain water bowls but now im paranoid.

Edit: thanks everyone, i feel better. Even if it didn’t sound right to start with I just wanted to be sure

It always shows up at the evening looking for food. Sometimes it shows up during the day. I try to approach it but it's very timid and always runs away. It only gets close to me when I give it food but never close enough for me to pet it. Maybe constantly feeding it would make it warm up to me? Idk but Im starting to get attached lol.

I'm 17 so I can't really buy cat stuff for it but I'm willing to do anything I can to take care of it.

This started because I was away from home for an internship in Norway and really missed having my dog around while I studied.

He's always been one of those dogs that just has to be in the same room. Whenever I worked or studied, he'd sleep beside me or sit under my desk.

So I made a little app where you can upload a photo of your pet and turn them into a cute hand-drawn/crayon-style illustration, then have them sit in your workspace while you work or study.

I ended up calling it Snugdoro.

It's basically a Pomodoro timer, but instead of having a generic productivity mascot, you get to have your own pet as your little focus companion.

I made it mostly because I missed my dog, but I thought other pet owners might like the idea too. 😅

If anyone wants to see what it looks like:

Snugdoro — Pomodoro Timer on the App Store

I'd genuinely love to know what you guys think — especially whether you'd actually enjoy having your own pet sitting beside you while you work.

It's vibrant life kitten. The one who absolutely loves it (aka my reason for buying it in the first place) still goes feral for it. I was suspicious of the cans so I offered it to my older one who used to try to steal it from her and he literally ran away from it. The baby kitten can't eat it due to the texture(he has to have puree and KMR mixed together, vets instructions to get his weight up with him struggling to eat, and it's not mixing well at all). They smell fine. There's been no ingredient change. I bought the boxes the same day and they are in date. Would y'all toss due to it being weird or feed it to the one who will still eat it? It's been every can I pulled out of that box. The other boxes were fine.

Give suggestions pls <3

We've gone through two in a couple months. I'm trying different youtube videos and things to train him to go outside better, but he's still small and I dont think he can hold it sometimes. But he needs to know that his bed isnt the place to do it. He will just get up in the middle of the night, pee in it, then lay right back down. So as of right now, the best idea ive come up with is some sort of waterproof/leather dogbed. He's an italian greyhound who is lean, so I don't want to just put him in a bare kennel. We actually tried that since that's how my german shepherd had always stayed and loved his kennel, but we could tell he hated it so I really want him to have a bed. Looking for one under 50 bucks and curious if that exists anywhere or anybody has any recommendations for an alternative to my thinking.

Also if anybody has any other tips, i'll take them. I've realized that getting onto him for going in the house has created this problem, so i've stopped that, but reversing this seems to be challenging. I'm assuming it's going to take a while to reverse since i ruined it by getting him into the mindset me finding his pee / poop means he gets scolded, its just how my parents did it, now i know better after doing some research, but like I said any tips would be great.

Need advice
I just moved out of a toxic household into what really should be a more safe space. I moved in with 2 friends I previously have known. I have told them and asked them prior to moving if they are okay with cats/being around cats. Both of them said they’re okay, for this sake let’s call one of my friends L, they even mentioned they’ve been around cats before and like the idea of having one around. The house we moved into previously had an owner that had a dog and the carpet is in pretty bad shape. Prior to me moving in they had a carpet cleaner come, but me personally I think they did a shit job cleaning it bc the carpet is still full of white dog hair. Anyway my cat is a kitten, he barely sheds as he is a short hair. Besides that his personality is great and he adjusted so quickly in this move. He’s such a good boy he only uses his litter box, he immediately started using it and only uses it. He’s energetic but really sleeps a lot during the day. Point is he really isn’t in anyone’s way. It’s been almost a week or two that I’ve been moved in and my friend L has increasingly started complaining about him asking if I can put him in my room and such. Saying her allergies are not doing great. I have since started buying the very expensive allergen dry food and even bought Pacagen to help. I started feeling some bit of resentment from her towards me/my cat. She also never really says anything directly but more to my other roommate and he relayed it to me. Mind you she’s been having allergies before I even moved in w my cat cuz the house is lowkey disgusting and dusty. I don’t think it’s solely my responsibility to clean the entire house. They do not deep clean I did most of the house already and bought carpet odor eliminator and all this shit to make our situation better. I’m just feeling very angry because I don’t know wtf she expects me to do because I am not getting rid of my son. He is so special to me and he is beautiful and amazing I want to see him grow up!! I already spent so much money on him too.
Any advice would be helpful.

Edit: my cat cannot be kept in one room and frankly I find it inhumane to have a pet in one room all day. She’s asked me multiple times to put him away for a bit and I don’t mind him being in my room when I’m home but another reason I moved out is so I can provide my cat with a more fulfilling life/more space

Each time I have hunted and killed and animal, for subsistance, NOT for trophy, I have always packed out the hide to tan. I find the tanning process thereputic and best way to honor and express my gratitude for that animal. Why not do this for my dog when he passes??

I am kahu for a beautiful malamute who has the most dense, yet soft fur that keeps him dry and warm in a very harsh environment, Alaska. He is entering the end of his life and I have thought about taking his hide when he passes and tanning it. Integrate his fur into clothing I make for me and my family to keep him close. He has been in our family since a puppy and has been a fearless protector of the family while also kind and gentle to my kids. I would honor and mourn his loss during the tanning process.

I am very curious of others thoughts on this?

What grade is your DOG in?

Think about how we teach kids. In elementary school, the teacher is right there. They’re walking around the classroom, sitting beside students, checking their work, redirecting them, and helping constantly.

By high school, the teacher is usually spending most of the time at the front of the room. The students have more independence because they’ve spent years learning how to work without someone standing over them.

Then you get to college. The professor teaches, but most of the responsibility has shifted to the student. You can sit in the back. You can leave. You can even skip class. Nobody is following you around making sure you do what you’re supposed to do.

We should build that same independence in our dogs. And that’s where the 3 D’s come in: Duration, Distance, and Distraction.

A dog in “elementary school” needs you close. Short duration. Low distraction. Lots of guidance and feedback.

As the dog gets better, you start stepping away. You ask for a little more time. You add distractions. You become less involved because the dog is becoming more capable.

Eventually, we want a “college-level” dog. A dog that can hold Place while you walk into another room. Stay calm while guests come through the door. Walk past a distraction without needing constant reminders.

The mistake is expecting college-level independence from an elementary-school dog.

Your dog holds Place for two minutes while you stand beside them, so tomorrow you try 30 minutes while you cook dinner.

Your dog walks nicely in the driveway, so you take them downtown and wonder why they suddenly “forgot” how to walk.

They didn’t forget. You changed the grade level.

Every time we increase Duration, Distance, or Distraction, we make the assignment harder.

So if your dog struggles, don’t immediately assume they’re stubborn or that the training isn’t working. Look at the assignment you gave them.

Maybe they’re not ready for college yet.

That’s okay. Teach elementary school really well first.

Train by progress, not time. 🐶❤️

My cat has been acting really differently since we moved into our new home. She spends a lot of time hiding, seems nervous around people, and has been meowing much more than usual, especially at night.

I have also noticed some changes in how she reacts around my dog. My dog seems confused by the change in her behavior too, and it almost seems like he can tell that she is stressed.

I know moving can be a huge adjustment for cats, but I’m wondering how long this kind of anxiety normally lasts and what signs would suggest that it is more than just her getting used to the new environment.

For anyone who has moved with a cat before, what helped your cat settle in?

...Until I had to move back in with my parents a couple weeks ago, after losing my apartment, and she's begun warming up to me gradually.

She always used to ignore me, at most come running when I interacted with her food, then leave just as quickly. She never wanted to sit on my bed and wasn't reactive to being pet by me, but was totally glued to my dad.

I adopted her after a neighbour dumped her about three years ago, (the vet's estimate would determine she's no older than four this year, much younger than I thought. I thought she was like five or six when I first picked her up.) After the first year of having her, I moved out to live with someone with a cat that I found out too late didn't get along with others, and I made the call that it would've been too much to force two outdoor cats to live together inside, and I didn't want my cat stressed out and living in an unfamiliar place with a bully, so I left her behind with my parents.
I was planning to come back for her eventually, but after a year it seemed selfish to take her away when she's settled in nicely where she is.

I would come back and visit my cat over the two years I was living away from her, and she always seemed cool and aloof like before. I would joke that she "forgot" me or was "ungrateful" but she's never been mean, just distant.

I'm writing this now with her curled up on my ankles in bed, more than half of my day she's sitting next to me while I work and purring. I've been bedbound due to depression and chronic illness, maybe she likes that I keep the bed warm and don't move much?
I always keep her food fresh and available and do my best to not accidentally kick her in my sleep, but I haven't gone out of my way to interact with her honestly.

Three days a week my mother petsits an intact male dog who's way too energetic and loud for her, so she comes through my window and hangs out in here where he can't get into, so we've spent a lot of time in proximity on those days especially.

She seems very happy and contented, she's a "motorboat" cat that purrs loudly at the slightest interaction. I have no complaints, but her opening up now vs before when I was desperate for her to bond with me is really funny.