Gateworld Members' Pets

[Patriot_Jackie]

She looks so pleased with herself. Very cute, and she knows it.

Yeah. She reminds me of that PetCo commercial where the dog, dressed in a little red vest, runs after the ball and just so happens to pass a mirror. He has to stop first and check himself out before getting the ball, and then when he's returning with the ball, he has to stop to look again! The commercial states, "Your pet knows when it looks good."

[L.A. Doyle]

I thought you guys might appreciate this.

[vatazes]

Hey all! Just found out about this thread! I've really enjoyed reading and looking at everyone's pets! Some real cuties and some very unique ones . I've got my zoo (though we only have cats and dogs) and I know I couldn't part with them. Here's what I posted at another thread about my babies:

Spoiler:

I'll go in order of age:


Cujo: A Yorkie Terrier who will be 11 in Feb. He is a crotchety old horn dog (seriously! He goes after my male cat like no tomorrow !) but is a much loved and respected member of the family. He was found by a neighbor on the train tracks, and he didn't want to pay the pet deposit at the apartmnet we were living at then, and we already had (my diabetic cat from hell, Fluffy. I miss her). He was named by Hubby, who always wanted a small dog named Cujo. It has been funny. We've actually scarred people with that, w/o meaning too! Right now he's also in pretty bad shape. He's a pure bred, as as many of them do, I don't think he will be with us much longer. He's blind in one eye, and his other one is begining to go. He has arthritits in his hind legs and barely has any teeth left. Right now he's sporting the AC/DC shirt Hubby found at Wally World.



Trouble: Calico who is very fat, and turns 9 in Feb. Ok, let me correct that, she's disproportionate. Little head, legs and tail, big, fat, middle! She's our little bhudda kitty, and Hubby's good luck charm for his football team, the Carolina Panthers. He promises her cavier (sp?) every year if they go tot he Super Bowl. She might just get it this year . She's also a special case. When we got her, I was cleaning house for this one lady who was turning intot he cat lady, only she was never home with them all. They were all breeding out of control and becoming feral. We rescued her from that bunch and I'm thankful. The others didn't end up so well. I think, if memory serves right, a few did die, but animal control helped the majority with an assist from the SPCA. But, Tubby, as she is afectionatly called by us all, is fat, happy and queen of the roost. She just lets me run the house so she can be lazy .



Ryoko: This is my baby cat. She's 8 and a Hemmingway cat (Polydactyl for the science inclined, and the cat with thumbs for those who aren't familiar with them at all). She's also a calico and is so gentle, kind, loving and the best hunter I have. We don't have to worry about mice or bugs, or anythng really. She takes care of them all for me . She wont hurt a human though. She's also a bit of a mother hen and fusses after all of us if we get off schedule. She helps me wake the kids and makes sure we remember to eat and feed the rest as well. She's also pretty shy. It's taken her almost 8 yrs to not jump at her own shadow. I adore her. Ryoko is also the only one of the bunch that we said we just wanted another pet.



Tiger (pictured with the new kitten): He's 5, about ready to turn 6 this next month. An all white cat and the butt of my Hubby's jokes. I don't know why he puts up with my Hubby. He's also the heaviest of the bunch (cats that is) weighing in at 22 lbs, but he's not fat. It's mostly muscle! He loves to be around the kids, and often can be found wherever they are, unless it's at night, then he can be found asleep on my head . I aquired Tiger from a former co-worker. Her husband couldn't stand cats and would often throw Tiger and the others she had out to his Pit Bulls. So her granmother took them in. Then her grandmother had to move and where she went to they wouldn't allow pets, so she found homes for the others except Tiger. I couldn't let the poor guy go w/o a place to live. So I opened the door for him, and it was rough at first (my girls didn't really like at first). Slowly but surely he made his way in and has found a happy home where he dosen't have to worry about dogs trying to kill him. More about that when I talk about the puppy.



Vader: My puppy, and shares an equal spot in my heart with Ryoko. Now, I often refer to him as a puppy and a baby, and he is about a year and half. When you see him, he looks nothing like a puppy and you would never guess that he and his sister Gizmo were two of four runts of a little of 13 (the other two runts didn't make it). Vader, or Derr, is a Lab/Huskey mix, weighing in at 60+ pounds. He'd weigh more if I let him, but he will gorge himself to death if we let him, so he gets controled amounts of food. He is a sweetheart, and even though a lot of people are intimitaed by his size, he wouldn't hurt anybody. I'd be more worried about Cujo hurting somebody than Vader. And, yes he is named after Drath Vader! He started out as the dog my Hubby was going to take on the road with him when he bought his own truck, but when we got him I was home that whole first week with him due to a syrgery. We bonded right away and Hubby wont let me forget it! And Vader was kind of rescued. The friends who had his mom didn't even know she was pregnent until she started giving birth, even though I asked them point blank after wondering why her tummy hung so low and her nipples were so huge (No, she's just fat!). And to top it off they had more animals than I ever did growing up, with no means to care for them. Like I said he was one of thirteen and the odds were stacked against them all. I'm glad we have him though. Even though he uses Tiger as a chew toy (and Tiger lets him!) and the idot wont walk like he's suppose to. We found out about two months ago that he stretched his ACL, a pretty common football injury. Only he dosen't play football. He runs! So he's taking meds and is on pain management therapy, which has been fun! But we're trying to keep him from tearing it and needing surgery. So far, so good.

And now for the newest addition:



Tux: The female black and white kitten who is about eight months old and a spitfire. She and her siblings (four all together) were abandoned by their mother and my Hubby failed his save vs. cute with a 1. A critical failure. She batted her little eyes and mewed and it was all over. Even though I said my mantra: No more pets! No room! Yup, I was voted out. And her name comes from the fact that we didn't know if she was male or female, but she looks like she is wearing and tuxedo, complete with the white gloves. She is adorable, but slowly adjusting to life inside. We were gonna let her be the outdoor kitty since our little place is already over run. But then one Oct. day, Hubby had me on the phone from his truck and he's worried becasue the weather for our area was to be cold and rainy. He begged me to bring her inside. I did. Merry Christmas honey! So she's been doing well in the house, terrorizing only in the way kittens can . My desk has never been the same with her, and it has forced me to organize it better, thoguh. And the other animals are adjsuting to her better. Not as many upsets, thankfully. She's a daddy's girl, though. She wont have too much to do with the rest of us, but when daddy's home on the weekends, she's all over him! Though she has an affair going with my computer!

I could go on and on, and its a good thing I've put this behind spoilers, but damn I'm long winded ! Can't help it, I love my babies! I consider them kids right along with my daughters. I grew up on a farm and we always had at least one animal around all the time. I have too big of a heart, or is it that 'sucker' tatoo on my forehead .

[Bee11]

Outdoor cats tend to not live as long in the city because of all the dangers they encounter. My cats never get to go out because the traffic would kill them in no time, and I don't even live on the main road anymore.

Thats why in my personal opinion people who don't have a garden for them to run around or live in a busy area shouldn't have cats
alot of cats will stay in the garden and not venture much further
our male cats will go a bit further but never go near the road they seem to ahve worked out cars aren't safe


our two males cats keep fighting - i thought this had stopped

i broke up a fight and went to cuddle one and he started hissing and trying to attack ME
if i scream at them "naughty" in a deep voice they soon stop they know "the voice"
i don't know how to stop them fighting before it gets more serious
they'll sleep next to each other on the bed but if they walk past each other they go for each other
mabye they are just trying to work out whos boss?

[vatazes]

Thats why in my personal opinion people who don't have a garden for them to run around or live in a busy area shouldn't have cats
alot of cats will stay in the garden and not venture much further
our male cats will go a bit further but never go near the road they seem to ahve worked out cars aren't safe

We used to have a nice fenced in yard for the dogs to go and play in (this was several yers ago when we only had the two female cats and Cujo with a Chihuhua named Juanito) and I would let the cats go outside with me as I did some yard work, hung the laundry out or just wanted to be out. It was lots of fun, and I miss being able to do that. My older two females will still go outside with me on occassion, but with where we live now, they don't like it and stay in most of the time. My male cat wants to be outside, but everytime I offer he chickens out. The kitten, well, my little spitfire has had no interest in going out since she came in. She'll look out the window and if she spots one of her siblings, it's like she's picking at them and showing off! It's cute. I wish I could have my dogs out more often, rather than a walk every two hours or so. Poor things. But we don't have a fence and the landlord wont let us put one up, and I don't believe in chaining a dog up outside. I just can't do that. Especially since I have gotten a few suspicious offers for Vader. Dog fighting is a huge thing around here, even though its illegal as hell. The guys that made the offers for him I have no doubt, are into the fighting. And I just can't see that happening to my puppy. He's too sweet. They'd end up killing him just becasue he wouldn't fight back. So the kids are not allowed to walk the dogs alone and I have already alerted the police of these people.

our two males cats keep fighting - i thought this had stopped

i broke up a fight and went to cuddle one and he started hissing and trying to attack ME
if i scream at them "naughty" in a deep voice they soon stop they know "the voice"
i don't know how to stop them fighting before it gets more serious
they'll sleep next to each other on the bed but if they walk past each other they go for each other
mabye they are just trying to work out whos boss?

It sounds like they are going for that. It's also tricky having more than one male around, escpecially if they aren't fixed. Though I rememebr my sister's two males (she had a bunch of females at the time too) were fixed and were still trying to beat the tar out of each other. Have you talked to your vet about this with your kitties? They may have a suggestion or two that would be helpful, or at least know which direction to point you for the answer.

[Pocus]

I thought you guys might appreciate this.

That was great!! It looks similar to my boys when we get home, well the swirling mass of canine at our feet does anyway. Hubby gets the jumping and "pet me" greeting. In fact that is how the stove front got broken last year 2 days before Thanksgiving. He was petting and rough housing with the dogs and his wedding ring (made of tungsten carbide) flew off his hand, bounced once then hit the glass on the stove and shattered it. **side note - it just got fixed this year, a week before Thanksgiving!

My greeting when I get home is a swirling mass of dogs with Connor wiping his nose on my legs and Rem jumping at me. Then both dogs decide they must go out. Even if Daddy's already home and they were out already.

Vatazes - Great to see you here. It is a fun place to play!

[Bee11]

We used to have a nice fenced in yard for the dogs to go and play in (this was several yers ago when we only had the two female cats and Cujo with a Chihuhua named Juanito) and I would let the cats go outside with me as I did some yard work, hung the laundry out or just wanted to be out. It was lots of fun, and I miss being able to do that. My older two females will still go outside with me on occassion, but with where we live now, they don't like it and stay in most of the time. My male cat wants to be outside, but everytime I offer he chickens out. The kitten, well, my little spitfire has had no interest in going out since she came in. She'll look out the window and if she spots one of her siblings, it's like she's picking at them and showing off! It's cute. I wish I could have my dogs out more often, rather than a walk every two hours or so. Poor things. But we don't have a fence and the landlord wont let us put one up, and I don't believe in chaining a dog up outside. I just can't do that. Especially since I have gotten a few suspicious offers for Vader. Dog fighting is a huge thing around here, even though its illegal as hell. The guys that made the offers for him I have no doubt, are into the fighting. And I just can't see that happening to my puppy. He's too sweet. They'd end up killing him just becasue he wouldn't fight back. So the kids are not allowed to walk the dogs alone and I have already alerted the police of these people.




It sounds like they are going for that. It's also tricky having more than one male around, escpecially if they aren't fixed. Though I rememebr my sister's two males (she had a bunch of females at the time too) were fixed and were still trying to beat the tar out of each other. Have you talked to your vet about this with your kitties? They may have a suggestion or two that would be helpful, or at least know which direction to point you for the answer.

aww poor doggy - my bfs dog was dognapped from their front garden so i don't blame you for being careful
i don't see a problem in a housecat if it's the cats choice to stay in but when they are forced to - i dunno i just think poor kitties, our old cat won't ever leave the house now she just sleeps all day so it's nice in the summer to go out and sit with us if we are sunbathing or something


we had our new male fixed and hoped it would help and it hasn't he's going to the vet this week so i'll get my dad to see what they suggest
poor kitty kinda wish we hadn't kept him if i'd known they were going to fight but it's not fair on him now if we dumped him on someone else he's made this his home
he did after all pick US to move into out of all the houses where we live it was ours he would come to everyday

[tayradio]

aww poor doggy - my bfs dog was dognapped from their front garden so i don't blame you for being careful

That's horrible. I can't imagine - that's like stealing someone's child. I have Coda microchipped but it's always a worry to me that someone would take him since he's so darned friendly. He's a lab and most labs will just... go with anyone who has a tennis ball or a treat in hand. We have a 6-foot high cedar fence around our property but I still never just let him out without keeping an eye on him. My shelties (now dearly departed, both of them this year) would have torn apart anyone who tried to 'nap them, but Coda.... oy.... "Where's the ball? In your car? Okay! Let's go!"

[scifithinker]

I thought you guys might appreciate this.

You gotta love how the big, bad warrior is brought to his knees by a couple of dogs!

[scifithinker]

Thats why in my personal opinion people who don't have a garden for them to run around or live in a busy area shouldn't have cats
alot of cats will stay in the garden and not venture much further
our male cats will go a bit further but never go near the road they seem to ahve worked out cars aren't safe

When I was in college, my family had a whole bunch of cats because three had kittens at the same time. My mom decided to keep them since she could afford it. We lived in a nice neighborhood with big yards (gardens) far from much traffic, so they lived outside. They seemed to like it.

Only one of those sixteen cats lived to be as old as my indoor cats have, and she was brought indoor permanently after about eight years. Not only did we have cats killed in traffic (what little there was), we also had cats die from illness and injury from fights with other cats (all our cats are fixed but the other neighborhood cats probably weren't) and a few just outright disappeared. One chose to move in to another house down the street, which was fine with us, but none of the others did so well.

My second cat is a rescue cat, and you have to sign a contract with the SPCA that if you adopt one, it will never be an outdoor cat. The reality is that outdoor cats rarely live as long or are as healthy as indoor cats. My family owns a dairy farm in a rural area, and even those outdoor cats didn't live very long.

My cats live good lives that they would not have had had I not adopted them. I don't feel the least bit guilty for not allowing them to go outdoors.

[vatazes]

That's horrible. I can't imagine - that's like stealing someone's child. I have Coda microchipped but it's always a worry to me that someone would take him since he's so darned friendly. He's a lab and most labs will just... go with anyone who has a tennis ball or a treat in hand. We have a 6-foot high cedar fence around our property but I still never just let him out without keeping an eye on him. My shelties (now dearly departed, both of them this year) would have torn apart anyone who tried to 'nap them, but Coda.... oy.... "Where's the ball? In your car? Okay! Let's go!"

I know the feeling. One of my fears is I come home from work to find my puppy gone. Not so worried about the others and Cujo would just go after them if no one else was home that he didn't know. But Vader... well my Derrr-puppy is part Lab and they are very trusting dogs when it comes to food and toys. They can be loyal, but they get distracted too easliy, even with constant training. And he loves everybody. Some have taken it the wrong way that he wants to hurt them becasue he can get over zealous with his love (we are working on it, but its not easy when he's so sensitive!) and he is a big dog. But I love my big lug. I pity the fool that decides to take him... Yup I do. You aren't kidding when you say they are like one of your kids. Since I've got both kids and pets, they are all my kids. Even the Hubby treats them all like it too.

[trupi]

When I was in college, my family had a whole bunch of cats because three had kittens at the same time. My mom decided to keep them since she could afford it. We lived in a nice neighborhood with big yards (gardens) far from much traffic, so they lived outside. They seemed to like it.

Only one of those sixteen cats lived to be as old as my indoor cats have, and she was brought indoor permanently after about eight years. Not only did we have cats killed in traffic (what little there was), we also had cats die from illness and injury from fights with other cats (all our cats are fixed but the other neighborhood cats probably weren't) and a few just outright disappeared. One chose to move in to another house down the street, which was fine with us, but none of the others did so well.

My second cat is a rescue cat, and you have to sign a contract with the SPCA that if you adopt one, it will never be an outdoor cat. The reality is that outdoor cats rarely live as long or are as healthy as indoor cats. My family owns a dairy farm in a rural area, and even those outdoor cats didn't live very long.

My cats live good lives that they would not have had had I not adopted them. I don't feel the least bit guilty for not allowing them to go outdoors.

I have thirteen cats indoors. All were rescued outdoor cats which were sick when I brought them in and now are healthy and very friendly. You can't let cats out in NYC especially domesticated ones because of all the human and car traffic. There are people who grab stray cats and dogs to sell to labs for drug testing experiments and with 10 million people in a small space surrounded by water there are lots of rats. It's very easy for a cat to get poisoned. I have windows and a screened door so they can look out all summer. But since my cats came from outdoors, they don' seem to be in any rush to go out into the real world again

[tayradio]

I have thirteen cats indoors. All were rescued outdoor cats which were sick when I brought them in and now are healthy and very friendly. You can't let cats out in NYC especially domesticated ones because of all the human and car traffic. There are people who grab stray cats and dogs to sell to labs for drug testing experiments and with 10 million people in a small space surrounded by water there are lots of rats. It's very easy for a cat to get poisoned. I have windows and a screened door so they can look out all summer. But since my cats came from outdoors, they don' seem to be in any rush to go out into the real world again

Oh, yeah, Manhattan isn't exactly the place you want to have outdoor cats!

Animals are pretty adaptable. They get used to whatever environment they're in, and as long as they have food, water, attention and exercise they're pretty healthy and pretty happy.

[L.A. Doyle]

I think the ads on this page were reading my mind. They were for cat repellent. I was thinking 'how can I get my cats to stay out of the Christmas tree?' I'd already read about the repellents, and a few other things I may try. But what do you guys do to ensure your tree survives?

[tayradio]

I think the ads on this page were reading my mind. They were for cat repellent. I was thinking 'how can I get my cats to stay out of the Christmas tree?' I'd already read about the repellents, and a few other things I may try. But what do you guys do to ensure your tree survives?

Oddly enough I never had an issue with cats and Christmas trees. Whenever I've had kittens I've refrained from using tinsel on the tree and I don't put ornaments down on the very bottom branches, but.... for the most part I haven't had any real problems. I've never come home to find the tree toppled over or anything.