My Great Dane is a rescue and she is 1.5yrs old. We have her scheduled for a vet visit this weekend…she is primarily a family dog and loves people (anyone she meets in our home) she dosent leave the house unless it’s outside and she is on a yard leash because we don’t have a fence and she dispises any dog that walks by (which could just be territorial)… needless to say thank gosh my husband will be with to hold onto her leash at the vet but I’m TERRIFIED. I think she will be happy with all of the people and nervous about new location but I am SCARED for if there will be other dogs there WITH her. I don’t know how she’ll react with other dogs because she’s only been with the dog in our house and they’re best friends but they’re both Great Danes. She is very growly and barky at any dog to pass our house. I think that would be very different if she was off a leash but I keep her on one for her safety because she is very large and could come off as scary to Karen’s. And I wouldn’t want to risk anyone’s pet getting an injury because as little as playing with her has broken my bones literally before. She’s just huge. How can I overcome this? She has never been to the vet and she needs to go and mainly have a physical and vaccinations. Will they automatically muzzle her for precaution?! Just scared. And I wouldn’t want her to give the wrong note to anyone else’s dog and her to get hurt.

Hi, was hoping to get some background information, I am concerned about my female orange tabby named Saffron, for the last 2 weeks she has been sneezing and having some mucus come out of her nose(clear colored)and some black eye boogers, but I have noticed she seems to be breathing heavily today too, I googled labored breathing in cats and she isn’t showing the obvious symptoms like open mouth breathing or blue gums, she is eating normally and moving around, but I do feel like her breathing seems a little rapid and shallow, as well as some exaggerated stomach movement when she breathes. I am wondering if I should take her to the vet, I don’t have a lot of money to spend and I live paycheck to paycheck so before I make an appointment I want to make sure I’m not just over reacting or something, I wish I could post a video here but I can’t figure out how, any information would be extremely helpful right now thank you so much 🙏❤️

Edit: a little more background information she is 13 years old we’ve had her since she was 3, rescued from the pound, has been healthy and never has issues, goes to the vet once a year and just had bloodwork that came back good. If any of that information helps, thanks

This probably sounds a bit dumb but my dog eats better when I leave him alone. If I stand there waiting to see if he likes the food, he sniffs it, looks at me, walks away, comes back, makes it a whole event. If I put the bowl down and go do something else, he usually eats.

Did I make meals weird by hovering every time he skipped food or do some dogs just eat better when dinner is not a big deal?

What do you do when your dog won’t stop barking?

I recently had a surgery that prevents me from lifting anything or major movement for a couple of weeks. I have a dog walker coming to walk my two big dogs while I can’t. Of course… both dogs decide to have medical issues this week. My golden got a hotspot from scratching, so I decided to use get a membership to vetster to see if they could help, before I had to risk taking the 90lb beast to the vet while I’m recovering. The appointment was scheduled quick, the vet was great and prescribed prednisone, antibiotics and apoquel to take after his hotspot cleared up. I was told I could fill the prescriptions any where, through their pharmacy or locally. I opted for locally to get them quicker (and cheaper) and I could have them delivered same day.
I find out after the visit when I went to fill the scripts that they charge $15 per prescription to send to any pharmacy other than theirs as a processing fee. That seems ridiculous. Ok, fine, whatever.
That night, my mixed breed girl gets stung by a bee under her and overnight it gets infected and her eye is swollen shut. I make my second vetster visit in 2 days, and I ask pointedly “should I figure out getting her to an emergency vet?” He looks at her over video, says it’s infected and she definitely needs antibiotics and a topical cream but not the emergency vet. He said to fill the script locally ASAP to get her treatment started and get her some relief.
My appointment was at 10:00am, at 11am I had still not received the prescriptions, so I message the vet through the visit portal (you have 48 hours to communicate with the vet free of charge), no response. I message again at 1pm, nothing. I call Vetster at 2pm and get that run around and never speak to anyone. I message customer support at 2:30 and am told to message the vet through the portal.
At this point I am not able to send more messages because the portal says I need to wait for my vets response, and essentially not blow them up with messages before they have a chance to reply. It’s now 8 hours since my visit and I don’t have a prescription and I have no response from Vetster. I have a cone on the dog and am trying to keep her comfortable but I am going to end up calling a friend to take us to the emergency vet so she can get some relief.
I’m really unimpressed.

We just found out today that our dog has a minor obstruction and is going to need several thousands of dollars in surgery which we absolutely do not have. We do have insurance through Lemonade which we have used a couple times with no issue which should cover 80% the bill (with the exception of the $250 deductible). I occasionally use afterpay (used it for her diagnostics actually), but I've never had my own credit card in my adult life. I have a great credit score that my mom helped me build when I was younger and I'm afraid of tanking it and I'm terrified of debt. Would I be able to pay off everything or at least most of it when the insurance claim goes through? I got preapproved for a very high limit, are there any problems if I don't use all of it? I'm kind of freaking out and not really thinking clearly, so sorry if I'm not making a ton of sense haha

Please be ACTUAL red meat not a 90% chicken can food with an atom of red meat. I do not understand how a can can be labeled as beef and contain very little beef.

No restrictions besides a few preferences. I don't like to feed rice in the house at all and prefer a wet food can not have corn. (I do not get why these would be in canned food anyway you aren't binding anything like in dry food)

I thought about weruva but all contained rice or were adult food. Please do not ignore the rice restriction. I tried asking Facebook and they ignored it and all I got recommended was Purina one(which also contains too much chicken for me to say it's beef)

Puppy has an iron problem due to malnourishment before I got him that we were treating and the vet hasn't retested the iron level yet so I'm trying not to fill him full of chicken and stay with red meat like I was told to until I'm told he can come off. I'm trying to give him enrichment with a frozen Kong so I need wet food. Kibble doesn't stay inside it.

She’s been to the vet, she’s a very happy kitten despite the circumstances. Shes kinda goofy, aloof to things that usually scare a kitten. She follows me around while I vacuum, she doesn’t play she prefers to just snuggle, and she walks around kneading because she’s so full of love. I found her outside, she was starving and came right up to me. We have already taken her to the vet the day we got her, no uti and was extremely malnourished, had fleas and worms. We’ve had her for less than a week and she’s struggling with using a litterbox since day one. She poops in there but will not pee. She doesn’t pee in the same areas, just kinda goes wherever is always on the wood floor. Today she peed behind our fridge. I have caught her doing it and put her in the litter box every time I can. I have cleaned it up thoroughly every time. I have tried keeping her in a small space with the litter box, but she escapes and goes to other areas and pees anyways. What more can I do? This is exhausting

tl;dr: Got a new puppy, help me with my existing dog’s fee-fees.

We already had two dachshund mixes (call them A and C) and a pit bull/Great Dane mix (B), and back in December, we added a border collie puppy (D), now 10 months old, via a failed attempt at fostering. Pack-wise, all the dogs are fine with him. They’ve all accepted him, they’ll play with him, they sometimes get annoyed by the puppy-ness of him (girl, same), but dynamics have been established and we have no issues there.

The only challenge is B, who is 5 years old and has been velcroed to me for 4.5 of those years. He acted out some when we first brought D home, but he worked through those behaviors pretty quickly. And he’s been great with D — B is an all-pro puppy socializer, and D has basically learned to dog from him. He’s just never stopped being stressed out to some degree. He’ll be (extra) clingy or moody or anxious, he *smells* stressed, and when I take D out for a walk or training, B will go nuts in a way he never has with the other dogs.

*And* it’s all complicated by the fact that D’s favorite things in the world are B and me, so he’s a constant presence and it’s hard to carve out solo time for B. (The dogs have kind of self-segregated — the little ones hanging out with my partner, and the bigger ones following me around like enormous, emotionally needy ducklings.)

Any advice? He isn’t *doing* anything wrong — he’s not destructive, aggressive, territorial, food-guarding, anything like that. I just hate that he’s been bathing in cortisol this whole time.

Senior doggy has a tiny bit of blood when his bladder is empty and then he pees. The first couple of times when he pees I don't see any blood but in the 3rd then there's a couple of drops .To be clear he hasn't needed to go potty extra, it's just that he has always liked to mark a lot of things in our backyard. We took him in for an appointment and they did a blood and urine test, both came back good. The doctor said she did see a little blood in his urine but wasn't concerned. He has another appointment soon. He has had great energy and appetite. He seems to feel fine. I am not asking for advice. I'm just seeing if anyone else has had a similar issue.

Ok, so I have a cat who’s going to be 10 in December. I’ve had her since she was 4 months old, and she’s my ESA. She can be very chill and relaxed but only in a quiet, calm environment. She hates loud noises unless it’s music (I don’t know man, she just likes music). She doesn’t like things or people that move fast or are loud. I’ve been able to keep our environment free of these things, not including parties and some loud friends of mine, for a majority of her life. My partner of 6 years has been begging for a dog for, say, 6 years. Originally I said we had to put it off because our apartment was way too small and it wasn’t enough space for both autumn and a dog. Important to mention they want a big dog specifically. I also openly am very worried of my cat’s reaction as she can be very territorial and jealous. We got a hamster a few years back and my cat pee’d on me in my sleep😂 I laugh now but I was not laughing then. I woke up with her making dead eye contact with me sitting on my chest before peeing while maintaining eye contact. Message received, I belong to her and not the hamster, but what happens when we get a fucking dog is my question. Anyway, if you have a cat similar to this and got a dog later, what are your tips? It’s becoming clear this dog is coming into our lives within a year maximum so I need to be ready. I know we need to keep them separate for a while and introduce their smells gradually. I heard to give my cat higher spaces to be but she doesn’t use any high perches idk why but my cat is scared of heights. I know to swap toys to expose them to their smells, etc, but these are the only tips I have. My cat is set in her ways and I don’t see her liking a dog. I actually see her hating a dog. Any tips?

TL;DR
My cat is older and will not like a high energy big dog running around but we will definitely have one joining our family soon. My partner feels my cat being prioritized and doesn’t want her to be. How do I keep my cat happy and incorporate a dog?

I have an 11 year old lab - towards the end of last year they started exhibiting behavioral changes which have since progressed rapidly - Near constant anxiety, scratching and desperately trying to open doors to get into other rooms or outside only to come back in, whining, panting, excessive shedding. Most recently it seems like all inhibition is gone - constantly jumping on the counter, opening cabinets, eating from the garbage, chewing things around the house. We’ve tried many different kinds of anxiety and pain meds but every day seems worse than the next. My husband thinks it’s time, I’m not sure because she’s still eating, her last health exam was normal, no bathroom issues etc. I just don’t want to rush the decision because she’s become “work” for lack of a better term. But I also don’t want her to suffer if that’s what is happening. Thanks in advance for any insight!

Hi everyone! Has anyone flown recently to MIA with their dog WITHOUT an appointment with Pet Limo? Were they still able to meet you and take the dog? Is there a way to avoid all of this?

We have received applications, but they are for separate homes. We received one application for both, but the person stopped responding when we reached out.

We are worried that if we cannot find someone willing to adopt them together, we may lose these possible homes too. 💔They are bonded.😿
We are completely out of capacity. The rescue is currently caring for more than 150 cats, and I am personally fostering 21 cats. More cats are needing help every day.

When her other kittens were adopted, she cried for days. She is a devoted mama and still needs to be with her baby. They play together, love each other, and share a special bond. My heart is breaking at the thought of separating them… 😿

Pet finder link:

https://www.petfinder.com/cat/kali-bonded-with-her-kitten-pebbles-9fbbba3d-53db-43eb-a0b8-09e7a7b509e9/nc/charlotte/sunkissed-acres-rescue-nc1270/details/

Mama Kali (not even a year old) and her little daughter Pebbles are a bonded mother–daughter duo under Sunkissed Acres NC looking for their forever home.

Kali & Pebbles are:

Vaccinated, Spayed/fixed, Dewormed,deflead , Combo tested negative and Microchipped

Adoption fee: $150 for both (one adoption fee is sponsored, so you are getting two amazing cats together ❤️)

Adoption application required:

https://form.jotform.com/221983264497165?fbclid=IwAR2Nr4_R9uw9ljOXNG8daDEU5DTa2IWDNPNtM1Fnd816-A2LtE8HciK2OJM

Adoption agreement required:

Vet reference required

Her Story: ❤️🥹

I didn’t find Kali… Kali found me.

I will forever be grateful to this sweet young mama for trusting me and bringing her babies to me.

Kali was abandoned when her family moved away, left behind wearing a collar that became painfully tight as she grew. Alone and vulnerable, she gave birth to her kittens under a deck during harsh weather.

She and her babies were never truly safe. They were chased away by people and were at risk of being relocated.

Every day, Kali came to my porch for food. I noticed she was nursing and started asking everyone to check their decks and garages for kittens.

Then one day…

She brought her babies to me.

She chose me.

She trusted me. ❤️

While rescuing her kittens, some were brought inside while others were still outside waiting for their chance at safety. This incredible little mama made double shifts…staying with the kittens who were safe indoors, then returning outside to nurse and care for the ones still waiting.

Her love never divided.

Her heart never gave up.

Kali is the sweetest, most gentle mama. Pebbles shares a very special bond with her, and after everything they have survived together, they deserve to continue their journey side by side.

Kali deserves a safe, indoor-only home where she will never be left behind again… only loved, protected, and cherished.

Kali is pure love. Pebbles is her little shadow. Together, they are a beautiful story of love, trust, and an unbreakable mother–daughter bond.

If you feel a connection with Kali and Pebbles, please message me.

Please share to help this beautiful mama and daughter find the forever home they deserve.

My details are on the system - the vet can see them. However I'm getting emails saying the 'connection is incomplete'.

So we have 2 puppies (6months), they’re brothers. One of them has started a disgusting habit (it started after one of them had diarrhea in their kennel overnight and they ate some 🫩) but one stopped the habit while the other has genuinely gotten WORSE. I’ve tried searching but no one has the same situation.
He’s not eating it off of the ground, he literally eats it as it’s coming out of his brother. We usually separate them or call him so his brother can poop in peace but any time they’re outside unsupervised I see him doing it again. He also has started to drink his pee as well. I have no idea why this habit has started and it’s exhausting because no amount of “stop” or “leave it” makes him permanently stop.
Please help, I saw the recommendation of adding pineapple to their food to make it unappealing (no idea what would be more unappetizing than literal poop but I digress…) but idk what else. His breath smells terrible because of it too 🫠

TLDR: two puppies who are 6 months old. One keeps eating his brother’s poop and pee fresh as he potties.

I've recently moved into a solo apartment, and having a little buddy around would do wonders for my mental health. Unfortunately, my lifestyle makes it hard to find a critter I can give a fulfilling life to - I've done some research on my own, but hoping to get reddit's advice on semi-independent pets that'd be feasible for me to give a good home to.

I'm in a one-bedroom city apartment and my job involves a lot of travel on short notice. Every few weeks I get a few days to 24-hour notice that I need to be away for 2-3 days, but could be up to a week (though that’s rare). I typically don't get to book my return flight until I'm already there, and even then I might same-day cancel and need to rebook. I can have someone stop by my place to feed/check on a pet and pay a petsitter, but the irregularity makes it tough to preschedule petsitting/boarding. When I'm not travelling, I work 8-5 in an office with situational telework and spend a lot of time at home on evenings and weekends.

I'm financially comfortable and very willing to fork over a few grand to get set up with automatic feeders, big enclosures, automatic temp/humidity control etc. I’m excited about the prospect of creating a spacious, safe environment with a lot of enrichment, and I have experience keeping up with bioactive tanks and terrariums.

I grew up with a dog, a large fish tank, and regularly petsitting a frog. I volunteer with rescue dogs and love taking them home for a weekend but for obvious reasons I'm not a good candidate to adopt or foster. Not keen on fish (lot of maintenance and not enough interaction). 

I'm thinking my best bet is an arachnid, reptile, or amphibian. My ideal is a pet that can be unbothered if left alone for 3 days at a time (any longer and I can have someone come by) but that I can still take out on occasion and interact with (even to just crawl around on a table). So ideally docile and wouldn't be super stressed with some mild handling.

I'd love to own a pair of rats because of how interactive they are, but I might need a reality check on how independent they can be if left for ~3 days with an autofeeder.

I'd prefer a critter with a shorter lifespan since I'm by no means settled down in life, but I'd be super pro adopting a senior animal and making it comfortable for a few years. No-go on cats since I've got loved ones with allergies who frequently visit.

Is there any pet who'd be happy living with me, or should I invest in a painted rock?

Heya yall.

I'm extremely overwhelmed with the amound of animals and things i need to keep alive. I currently have 4 aquariums with goldfish, pleco, snails, shrimp, pea puffers, guppies, platys, mollies, silver flying foxes and probably something else. I also have 2 terrariums with 9 african giant land snails in total. On top of that i have 2 indoor cats with gut issues and astma in my small home, 2 cats that are mine at my parents house next door that are mine to feed and take care off, 6 rabbits outside, 5 goats outside. When i got most of them ( all except a few fish) i was healthy as a horse. I was loving live and always loved animals and felt extremely guilty to the strays, shelter animals and abused animals. I took it personally that that happens to them. Now i have 4 chronic health issues and they are testing for more. I have days where i can barely walk and still all the animals need to be taken care of. I also have obsessive cleaning disorder so everything must be spotless cause in my mind all my animals will die and suffer if it isn't spotless. I know that most likely they would live but i cannot not clean everything for them. Due to my health issues im without a job. Thankfully i have always saved alot of money and if i keep going like this i can last at least 5 years. Thats including animal care and an emergency vet fund for the animals so thats fine. But i cant help but to feel guilty to my animals about not maintaining the same high level of care as i gave them before. Yeah ofcourse their diet needs, vet needs and hygiene needs are met but i feel like it isn't enough. Especially on the hard days. Im constantly thinking about rehoming them but to be honest i dont trust others with my animals since all of them came from really bad situations of abuse and neglect. Also the shelters are filled to the brim and i hate the idea of making that more since my original intentions were the opposite. Besides my animals i am also the main caretaker of my parents and the property. We have 5ha and thats alot of maintenance as well. I cant ask them to help either and dont have friends since they all left when i turned sick and couldn't be there for them anymore.

Does anybody have any tips on how to maintain this lifestyle?

I store several different 10-12kg bags of food in my garage. Looking for storage ideas that are rodent proof but aren’t just a ‘bin’ as they don’t make good use of space - is there a vertical storage option? That you can decant the different food into and scoop out what you want, but that are airtight when closed?

UPDATE
Thanks all for the advice and support. After lots of calls to various vets and animal control, our dog suddenly returned to himself. It was wild to watch. When we opened the back door to check on him again he was completely himself, wagging his tail, excited to see us. We were able to safely get him to the vet and now we’ll hopefully get some answers.

Hi all - looking for some advice. In January we adopted our 2ish year old hound mix. He has been healthy, full vaccinated, with no issues since. This morning, he threw up, lost control of his body and began seizing. The seizure lasted about a minute and he then became very aggressive. I understand that can be normal after a seizure, but it’s been about 2 hours and he’s showing no signs of settling down. He’s in our fenced in backyard, just sitting in the back corner not moving. When we approach from the back door he immediately starts barking and growling. We want to get him to the emergency vet, but have no way of safely doing so. My husband and I are extremely rattled. We have toddler at home and the sudden aggression was absolutely terrifying. It’s also clear our dog is in a lot of emotional distress and approaching him makes it worst. I feel like my only option is calling animal control and asking them to help with transport? I thought about going to get a sedative from the vet, but don’t even know how I’d give it to him. I feel scared, sad, and stuck. toddler is now at daycare so at least that safety issue is handled.

Anyone have any tips?

This is a question more directed towards people who own dogs in countries where spaying is only done for medical reasons, breeders and whatever other reason you might have to owning an unspayed dog

Im getting a female puppy soon and want to wait till shes about ~1.5-2 years old to decide to get her spayed

Ive done research on signs and symptoms of pyometra, but every source i find about prevention always just says spay them and thats it

Hello guys. I have a persian mix cat, male, 3-4 years old. He pisses anywhere in the house- bedsheet, floor, random stuff on floor, couch, etc, you get it. We have a designated litter box kept for him, but he rarely pisses in that litrer box. My mother is troubled due to this problem. Please give suggestions and advice 🙏

Context:

This week we had some things stolen from our back garden the lock has since been a little bit awkward to keep locked, it unlocks itself. Reported to housing and a weed the gate with what I could which was wood

My dog has got free in the moment and been hit by a speeding car

Long story short her hip dislocated and the vets said they have put it back in, internally she's fine and damage free she's not broke the hip either

Shes dislocated it and tore the associated ligaments and tendons

In short she hasn't pooed and I think 1 she doesn't know how to do it on three legs, and two I don't know I'm scared for her tbh.i have no idea how to help her poo

Online says support her rear end using a harness so I got a harness but she won't move at all the moment the harness is on

She moves freely to move around the garden

She won't leave my side so isn't taking herself to go poo on her own

She hasn't pooed and wee in one day

If she soils herself how on earth will I clean her, I can't have her stood up long and she can't jump into the bath.

The vet popped her hip back in and said three months no movement, we still need the treatment operation to toggle pin her hip

We are raising money for it at the moment that's why she's the disabled at the moment. :(

I did set up a go fund me for her if anyone cares I wont add the link as Im likely to get slated online somehow

So my sister has a dog thats allergic to chicken I've bought treats from Walmart for the dog that was supposed to beef but found out it has chicken ingredients i bought treats that were supposed to be fruit ingredients come to find out it has chicken ingredients. Is there anything that actually doesn't have any chicken ingredients?

Hello, I kinda just wanted to come here to vent and try to find some reassurance.

For starters, I had a bird when I was 7, and he lived about 6 years until I was 13. Im currently 18 now. I was gifted 3 birds for my 17th birthday last april as a surprise gift. I loved them very dearly, but I simply could not take care of them to my satisfaction anymore. I got my drivers liscence in february, so i've been spending far far less time at home. Sometimes I go multiple days without being there (of course I filled their feeder and I tried to make sure they had fresh water before I left.). I started my first job recently and I regularly get home at 2 in the morning, when I come home they would always wake up and start chattering and squaking and making a ruckus which was the last thing I wanted to hear at 2 in the morning while im just trying to rest. The noise they make also just had been seeming to get to me more and more, it just grated at me and did nothing but irritate me and give me headaches.

They were not my birds originally, my grandmother had gotten them from one of her co-workers, and to my knowledge her co-worker did not interact with the birds all too much. Over the course of time that I owned the birds I made neumorus attempts to get them used to me, even hang out with me or come out of the cage, but nothing. Even if I left their cage door open for hours they would not step outside it.

I had been considering rehoming them for a while, and I felt it was for the best. I found a family in a rehoming group that had other birds so I knew they would be in good company. I dropped them off today with their cage, and now I am suddenly struck with a massive wave of guilt and greif. Did I do the right thing?