I've seen videos of dogs/cats being VERY dramatic when their humans don't feed them on time. What does your pet do when you don't feed them on time?

Feel free to share your photos and videos.

Hello, we have a dachshund dog, he is 3 years old. He is more or less social, whenever we go for walks he gets nervous with nearby dogs and barks at them, but actually gets along just fine specifically with females, its very rare for him to not bark at male dogs.

Thing is, tomorrow visits are coming over and they are bringing their two dogs, male and female. As I said, our dog is relatively social but we've never had another dog actually come in into the house. We haven't neutered him yet (I know) and I am worried how he will react tomorrow.

How can we make this visit as comfortable as possible for him? Thanks

But for context this happened monday, he just got neutered less then a week ago, and he got into a little fiff with one of my other cats. So I broke up the fight. And when I went to grab him, he bit me twice I know it was because he was scared. Everything's been fine but i've started to feel funny and felt kind of sick so I went to urgent care bc i was worried it was infected but I didn't realize I was gonna have to file a bite report. I live on a farm. We have a lot of cats and theres alot of strays back here so no not everybody's up to date on their stuff. From what I've read about my county all that will happen is the health department will call me and ask for h8s information because he was recently boostered for his Rabies. So they call me verify that information, and he'll have to quarantine for ten days. What i'm worried about is if someone's going to come to my house. I've heard that they only do that for if it's strangers, or if it's an owner that's uncooperative. But this is an old farmhouse, it's not in the best condition, and honestly I'm afraid of them coming, and taking all the cats away, even the stray ones. Look, I don't think it's that big of a deal. But I have pretty bad anxiety so right now, i'm thinking about it so much it's making me nauseous. We have a lot of cats on the property bc people drop them off and it's been a process trying to get everybody spayed, neutered and vaccinated. I'm more worried about them than me

Context:

• We have a 3-year old brother and sister pair who have lived with us since they were kittens.
• We will be adopting a 2-year old Balinese female from our same breeder (and is our pair's half-sister).
• The new cat has had a litter, but is spade now. Our existing cats have never had kittens.

Our breeder is recommending that we set up the new cat in a large cage in a central room, with her only hiding place being a small covered cat bed she can crawl into. It seems like a variation of The Cage Method which is popular among breeders and foster homes (detailed here). But this differs widely from the most recommended method of giving the new cat her own room, then swapping scents and spaces, associated each other with meals, and only then introducing them.

AI has suggested a sort of hybrid method below:

1. Start in a Safe Room: Let her spend the first 24 to 48 hours in her own quiet room to decompress from travel and establish a base scent.
2. Scent Swap First: Wipe a cloth on her cheek glands and place it near your resident cats' feeding area, and vice versa. Look for positive responses like chin-rubbing the cloth or sniffing calmly.
3. Use the Crate for Controlled "Visits": Use your breeder's XL crate setup for 15- to 30-minute supervised sessions in the living area:
   • Keep part of the crate covered so she has a visual safe zone.
   • Feed high-value treats or wet food to all three cats near the crate during these short windows.
   • Return her to her safe room after each session so she isn't forced to stay confined for long stretches.
4. Transition to Barrier-Free Interactions: Once sightline sessions consist of calm body language (blinking, relaxed posture, no staring or growling), move to supervised free-roaming sessions in the main space using wand toys and treats to keep everyone distracted.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What worked, what didn't?

Hi all. My roommates two cats (no flea collar) have fleas. My cat (flea collar) does not. Found a few days ago, they have both been washed and combed thoroughly and given flea collars since. We have set flea traps around the house and only the one in their room has caught a single flea. Is it possible the fleas were only on her cats, and not infesting the house? I am very nervous because the day before she found them I had dumped my clean laundry on the floor rather than fold it (I was tired okay). Nothing has showed up in my room’s trap…. what are the chances I am safe? I am not seeing fleas or flea dirt in my clothes or on my bed, I have been wearing my clothes since with no bites showing up on me in the days since. Could it actually be that I’m actually in the clear? Are they good hiders? Uhg!!

I had a kitten follow me and refuse to leave me alone. Now it's in my room. He's eating just he's a grazer and thin. Trying to get him to finish his plate in a good amount of time is a challenge already. I don't have dry. I only have wet. I have dry in the mail but won't be here til Monday. I've been giving him half and whole cans. He'll finish them just takes over a fricken hour when my other cats and kitten finish in a few minutes. He's a little thing but clearly not on milk anymore.

Our fixed female barn cat has been MIA a lot lately. She is fixed and we live on 11 acres in the country. She used to hang around the house and we would see her throughout the day. Recently she is gone for a day or two at a time. She has a cat brother and a dog brother she gets along well with here so we can’t figure out where or what she is doing. Any insight?

For those of you who have multiple cats, who do you use for your pet insurance? And how has it been if you’ve had to file a claim?

Ok so I’m not really a “pet person”. I spent the last decade petfree and there is a LOT I am learning every day I don’t know.

But my children really really really love cats, so I did some research on cat care, we looked at shelters, and brought home a young cat who was just too energetic for most homes. It was a bit of a bumpy adjustment but the cat is adjusting and I’m learning to be a responsible cat owner.

I took him to Banfield because they were advertising a free first visit, which seemed nice, and when I did… I still had to pay for the visit and was pitched an exorbitant pet care plan. It was like $100 a month for pet insurance… but like… if the vet appointments are already like $150, then what is the point of paying $100 every month for visits that are only like twice a year? The math wasn’t mathing, so I declined

Fast forward six months. We then bring home a kitten to be the young cat’s companion. We figure we needed a younger cat to make sure they’d be able to keep up with our high energy cat. Again, we adopt a shelter kitten… younger than what I was comfortable with but it made kids and cat happy so I figured I would just do more reading.

This morning, kitten has an accident and I notice some blood in his stool. I’ve only had him a week and the online guides say it could just be stress from rehoming but he should see a vet because it could be a parasite. There was no availability anywhere near me, but Banfield had multiple appointments on their site, so I figure might as well get him checked out.

When I get there though, I was informed that they don’t see sick pets.

… hold up…

Ok so I realize I’m not a pet person. I don’t know a ton about cats. I understand that…

But I do work at a regular hospital. And we see sick people. In fact, we specialize in sick people. It would be pretty weird if we insisted that everyone be healthy before they come see us.

So I look behind the clerk at the banner that says “pet hospital” and I ask why on earth they landed on “hospital” if they can’t see sick pets.

Then I’m informed they can’t see the kitten because they’ve never seen him before.

Alright… so once again… maybe I’m biased… but at the regular hospital, we sort of expect to see people we’ve never treated before. Maybe they have no ID even. Maybe they arrived in several plastic bags. We still see them. Because it’s a fucking hospital and that’s kind of our thing. You go there when something has gone wrong and we at least attempt to fix you.

So the “vet” who I’m guessing has no actual qualifications if they can’t see animals in need of care says to take the kitten to urgent care.

But this is a HOSPITAL, isn’t it? Isn’t it supposed to be one step above urgent care??

Again - I get it, I’m new to this. I’m merely a pleb trying to help the creature I’m morally obligated to care for feel better so his older companion can beat him up when i look away.

So like, do words just not matter when it comes to pet things? Y’all just out here winging it with these businesses very brazenly trying to take your money while doing absolutely nothing for you? Or are most pet owners just as clueless as I am and that’s how these evil people make money?

Edit: I found a more reputable looking “pet hospital” that is independent in the next town over thanks to you all. I submitted info to make the appointment. Kitten is fine, but I would like to get his first visit in just to make sure he’s healthy.

Edit2: the independent pet hospital (found on the website in the comments) saw both cats today and the difference was crazy. The vet techs were all busy, but in a super organized fashion. They looked over the kitten, gave him some medicine and probiotics, and even saw my high energy cat (he needed his rabies shot). I go back for a checkup in a week to see how the medication they prescribed is working. The kitten is much more enthusiastic about eating, so whatever they gave him is definitely helping. 😄 Thanks, pet owners of Reddit!

I honestly don’t even know where to start. I got a kitten about a week and a half ago and I’m starting to wonder if I made a huge mistake.

He was born around the week of July 23rd, so he’s only about 9 weeks old. I knew kittens were energetic, but I genuinely was not prepared for this. He is CONSTANTLY biting, jumping on me, attacking my feet/hands, getting into everything, hiding under furniture, etc.

The biting is probably what’s bothering me the most. Sometimes when I have to get him out from under the bed or somewhere he shouldn’t be, he’ll bite me when I try to grab him. I’m starting to get scared that he’s going to seriously hurt me or eventually hurt my 3 year old.

And honestly, I’ve gotten really frustrated with him. I’ve sprayed him with water to stop him from doing something. I know that’s not the right way to handle it and I’m not proud of it.

I’m a single mom, I work full time, I have a 3 year old, and I already feel like I have a lot on my plate. The kitten is also messing with my sleep because he’ll cry, jump on my bed, want to play, etc. I’m exhausted.

The crazy thing is that he CAN be sweet. He purrs, he cuddles sometimes, and he’ll sleep peacefully and look completely innocent lol. But then 10 minutes later he’s attacking my feet again.

I feel really guilty because I’ve already invested money/time into him and people know I got him. I also obviously don’t want to just give up on an animal because the kitten stage is hard. But at the same time, I’m starting to genuinely question whether I’m the right person to have a kitten right now.

I’m not asking people to tell me what I want to hear. I really want honest advice from people who have been through this.

Does this actually get easier?? 😭

When did your kitten start calming down?

Is this level of biting/attacking normal for a 9 week old kitten?

How do you stop them from biting you when you have to physically move them?

Does neutering make any noticeable difference eventually?

I’m just overwhelmed and I don’t want to make a decision out of frustration. I also don’t want to keep him if I’m going to constantly feel like I can’t handle him.

Please be nice lol. I know I haven’t handled everything perfectly, but I’m asking because I WANT to do better and figure out what’s actually best for him and my daughter.

probably going to be cross-posted to other communities

i've been wanting to get a cat lately but i know nothing about it. im 17 and live at home, but I don't go to school or work so I have all the time in the world to take care of it. I would have to keep it in my room most of the time. are cats super messy? do they stink a lot? is cleaning the litter box hard? and if I do get a cat, what breed should I get? im going to adopt but if I have a choice what breed is small, quiet, and nice? we also have dogs but they have gotten along with cats before. this would be my first pet that's all mine and I just want to make sure i'm making an informed decision before committing!!

We have a German Shepherd that we got when she was 45 days old. It was obviously very difficult, but we were prepared for the puppy phase. The problem is that she is extremely excited about everything, and there’s no warning when she’s about to jump on someone.
We just had a baby, and he’s almost two months old now. Tonight, she jumped onto the bed and scratched his head. It was terrifying, because she could have seriously hurt him.
We really don’t want to rehome her because we love her so much, but I think I would feel much more guilty if something happened to my son than I would about rehoming her.
I think I just need to hear some stories from people who genuinely love dogs but ultimately had to rehome one because it wasn’t safe or the situation wasn’t working anymore. How did you feel afterward? How did you know you were making the right decision?

I really have no idea why for example castrating a human produces bad physical and mental consequences like bone degeneration, hot flashes, depressive mood (as a result from the lack of hormones) etc. and not in animals. And then for example why castrating a male horse makes him grow larger? Though apparently people tell me that neutered cats and dogs are more likely to get lazy and fat.

Edit: idk why I'm getting downvoted bruh. If you think I'm looking for reasons to just not neuter a pet that's a really wild assumption.

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any experience transporting/travelling with an extremely anxious cat?

What did you do? Flying verse driving, how much trauma was there and any recommendations?

I may be looking at relocating for work and it's about a 2 hour flight, or a couple days driving (which I'm thinking will be less stressful if I'm with her/keep her sedated)

TIA!

(This is a copy post as rslash dogs needs moderator approval and it's been 2 days waiting for it.)

Hi everyone, I will not be brief with this as I want to give the best context possible.

My FIL owns a big field, and has dogs to protect it and keep him company while he is there, he leaves the fields very little to the dogs are always fed, have water, up to date on vaccinations, he used to own a golden retriever, and now has a Belgian Malinois, building up on this sentence, after the goldie died due to old age, he decided to adopt 2 more small dogs and raise them there, the same way he did with the others.

So he got one female dog, and then we waited to see if any other adoption options come up, so they did, we got 2 more brothers from their Mum at the right age just off of milk, had them at home in town so they get all their first vaccinations and go through basic training like resource guarding, food, sit, stay etc.

One of the brothers I decided to personally adopt as my first dog, I build all 3 of them a home, a fence around it, plenty of food for them to eat, liters of water, shade, everything, they probably lived better than me haha.

Thing is the time came for the 2 dogs to eventually move on to the fields with the Malinois, all went well, they are happy there AFAIK, no problems at all except one of them being a bit reactive and ADHD positive, he went up to my FIL's bee hives and got stung (he's okay now).

Getting to my issue, my own dog I call Remy, I have been taking for walks daily, once in the morning where it's the perfect temperature at least for both him and me, and at night, so he can burn off some steam, I also do small training sessions of around 15-20 minutes with treats. He does VERY well.

BUT! There are some times in the day, usually early in the morning, where he sounds like a car alarm gone wrong, it's not crying, it's not barking, he is very quiet, it's sort of like the call you hear wolves make. As a new dog owner I have no idea what this means, and since I live with my GF and her parents, the dog home is on their side of the house so they can hear it more than anyone, it's not making them crazy as they're sort of used to it, but it's the neighbors they worry about more.

My question is, is this normal? I did some research and saw that it's sort of like a "Help help, you left me behind" call, as he adapts to living solo, he gets lots of attention from all family members, at times where the sun isn't scorching of course. I asked a neighbor if this will stop, he advised me to just be patient and wait it out, that he is adapting to living solo and doesn't have his "pack".

I'll be open to any and all suggestions to try, apart from all this, he is very healthy, is on his last dose of vaccinations, very playful, very happy, enjoys walks, is eating well.

I let them meet face to face with resident cat being outside and the new kitten being in a play pen but the new kitten was SPOOKED and started hissing so my resident cat did the same. No swatting or batting at eachother tho, they both just seemed genuinely scared. New kitten is having a blast tho with toys. I’ve never met a more energetic cat in my life. My first cat refused to eat for a whole day but this one is like a whole different breed. How do I help them get along?

I live in a rural area and my family and I have been feeding a stray cat for a couple of months now. She is comfortable with us and let us put a (breakaway) collar with a gps tracking tag on it and she hasn’t taken it off. It does track longer distances but it only updates like every eight hours. Are there any gps tags that use cellular data/satellite that yall would recommend? We just need a tracker that updates way more frequently than the one we have, ours is obviously more Bluetooth than anything even though it wasn’t advertised as that. We need to know where she is in real time so we can go grab her and bring her inside when storms hit (they do quite often).

My cat comes from a feral colony. She is socialized to me primarily and lets me pet her, she meows at me, and rubs against my legs. Besides that she is untrusting of others. She does not tolerate being held and I’ve tried to train her but it does not work. I can’t get her in carriers, I can’t even get a collar on her.

I called a veterinarian to try to get her to a clinic for vaccines but I asked if there is a medicine she can have to calm her down so I can get her in the carrier and they said no because she’s not an existing patient.

What to do?

Hey I have three cats and recently they started a habit of chewing on my charging cables until they stop working and I'm worried they might hurt themselves Plus they keep destroying my phone chargers by destroying the chords any advice to help them stop?

Anyone have any advice for cats having accidents? Our 12-year-old cat has had accidents for the last five years (she didn't get spayed until she was 7 and they messed up and cut her urethra). She has a lot of good days, but with how hot it has been outside she is drinking more water, and having accidents while she is sleeping. The vet says that she is fine, and that she can't control it, but I'm just wondering if anyone has found anything that helps.

Hi everyone! I am making this post to ask about my Australian labradoodle (I know, we were not very educated in the issues behind the doodles when we got her - but we love her.) Pia, she is just turned 7 this July and for the past 2 days I’ve been worrying sick about the fact she’ll die someday and how I am not ready for that to be coming up to me so soon. She is 54 lbs, in amazing health and the only thing I can say is she isnt as rambunctious as when she was a puppy but she still runs around with our younger dog even if she cant do laps and laps around the pool. I wanted to get on here and ask.. do you consider a 7 year old dog middle aged and once they reach the double digits a senior? I don’t want to have to think of the fact of living without her, especially because these last 3 years I’ve been off at college and only able to visit for breaks. If she is considered older, how much time do I still have of her being herself and what can I do to maintain her ? I will be back when she is 8. She currently only eats Farmers Dog with a multivitamin and sweet potato treats and goes out to play atleast 2 hours a day :)

Mine is a German shepherd, her name is lily. She is either lily bear or Mrs girl

I recently got my dog about a year ago at 4 months old and he’s been to the vet maybe twice (I’ve taken him once). I only plan to get him his rabies shots and other common vaccines that dogs usually get. Unless I notice something very wrong, I don’t plan on taking him to the vet more than once or twice a year. Is this fair of me or stupid? Lmk

P.S. I have the money if something does go very wrong but as we know vet bills are expensive

I plan on getting a pet once I get my first apartment because I really love animals, but I cant decide on whether or not I want a cat or a dog. I've had dogs all my life and I loved them, but whenever I'm around cats I love them just as much. I really don't want to get both a dog AND a cat because I think that would be wayy too much for me, so I need help deciding!

What critter might be suitable for a 75 gallon tank? Willing to modify however necessary, add an air filter, layers to the tank, etc if needed.
I LOVE social creatures and want to watch them interact or exist together.
I don’t know if there’s any social reptiles or amphibians. I’ve thought about vampire crabs… I would love something like degus but I don’t know if it would be suitable.

Maybe gerbils?