All About Our Pets(Pics, Advice, Etc)

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CanHardlyWait said:
I need some advice:

I've had my dog for 2 years, we got him from a shelter. The shelter said he was surrendered from his owner of 3 years b/c the owner had to move in with someone (lost his job) and the dog didn't get along with the other dogs in the household.
He's always been anxious and hyper vigilant, like barking at every noise, although he has gotten better the longer we've had him. He is super protective of me, even with my husband, but never aggressive. In fact with people his is a super sweet, friendly 50# lap dog.
But, with other dogs it is an entirely different story. The day we got him, a neighbor dog was over and he was fine with her, even fine with her eating out of his food dish... until she tried to come up to me, then he tried to bite her. We lived next to that neighbor in a duplex for a year, and the dogs shared the yard. We did our best to keep them apart, but a couple of times we would slip up and the dogs would be in the yard together alone-and nothing ever happened.
When I walk my dog, he lunges, growls and his hackles go up whenever he sees another dog. Same when dogs walk by the (fenced) yard, but to be fair, he reacts the same way to people walking by (only when he is in the yard, otherwise he loves people).
However, we had a cat and he was fine with it. Also-my in laws have morkies (yorkie/maltese) that he reacts to not at all, even if they bark at him first.

My question is this: is it crazy to get a puppy? A couple people I know, including a vet with a dog aggressive dog, have suggested it as a way to help him with not just his inability to get along with dogs, but for his anxiety as well. The vet did just that for hers, getting a 8 week old puppy, since it was so small thus non threatening or whatever to her dog. My dog doesn't seem to react to small things, dogs or cats and isn't a squirrel chaser or anything. I see the logic and have been in favor of trying it, but now my husband is on board too, and I'm wondering if it is a crazy recipe for disaster.
What do y'all think?
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I think it all depends on your dog. I would recommend it though. My stepmoms dog is very dog reactive and aggressive. When I got my lab mix she was 8ish weeks old and my dad got his dog when she was 8ish weeks too. Stepmoms dog was great with them as puppies, and they are the only two dogs (they're both grown now) that she tolerates. They actually all play and cuddle and groom each other, too.

I'm not sure if you're planning to rescue or buy, but I would deff do a good dog intro before you bring the puppy home.

When we brought my puppy home there was a good few hours of supervised controlled visit time in a quiet room.
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MommaFox said:
I think it all depends on your dog. I would recommend it though. My stepmoms dog is very dog reactive and aggressive. When I got my lab mix she was 8ish weeks old and my dad got his dog when she was 8ish weeks too. Stepmoms dog was great with them as puppies, and they are the only two dogs (they're both grown now) that she tolerates. They actually all play and cuddle and groom each other, too.

I'm not sure if you're planning to rescue or buy, but I would deff do a good dog intro before you bring the puppy home.

When we brought my puppy home there was a good few hours of supervised controlled visit time in a quiet room.
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We would definitely rescue and even if it didn't work out, I would keep the puppy until I could find a new home. (I volunteer for a dog rescue doing shelter pulls, foster placement and adoptions, just fyi)
When we brought the cat home, we supervised closely for weeks, just to be sure and never left them alone unsupervised during that time. I would do the same with the puppy, crating it in a room alone when we're not here.
I really appreciate you responding! This is a great time for us to do this, I'm about to have the summer off :) and my gut tells me it would be good for my dog, emotionally and behaviorally, eventually if not right away. I just can't shake the fear that he'll hurt the puppy. I don't want my fear to hold his development back. Luckily my husband has a more level head.
 
I just found a tapeworm segment on my cat's butt. :eek: Same cat that we thought had FIP two weeks ago. Logically I know that the segments can't infect me/the other cats but they keep coming out and it's giving me the heebie jeebies :scared:
 
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CanHardlyWait said:
I need some advice:

I've had my dog for 2 years, we got him from a shelter. The shelter said he was surrendered from his owner of 3 years b/c the owner had to move in with someone (lost his job) and the dog didn't get along with the other dogs in the household.
He's always been anxious and hyper vigilant, like barking at every noise, although he has gotten better the longer we've had him. He is super protective of me, even with my husband, but never aggressive. In fact with people his is a super sweet, friendly 50# lap dog.
But, with other dogs it is an entirely different story. The day we got him, a neighbor dog was over and he was fine with her, even fine with her eating out of his food dish... until she tried to come up to me, then he tried to bite her. We lived next to that neighbor in a duplex for a year, and the dogs shared the yard. We did our best to keep them apart, but a couple of times we would slip up and the dogs would be in the yard together alone-and nothing ever happened.
When I walk my dog, he lunges, growls and his hackles go up whenever he sees another dog. Same when dogs walk by the (fenced) yard, but to be fair, he reacts the same way to people walking by (only when he is in the yard, otherwise he loves people).
However, we had a cat and he was fine with it. Also-my in laws have morkies (yorkie/maltese) that he reacts to not at all, even if they bark at him first.

My question is this: is it crazy to get a puppy? A couple people I know, including a vet with a dog aggressive dog, have suggested it as a way to help him with not just his inability to get along with dogs, but for his anxiety as well. The vet did just that for hers, getting a 8 week old puppy, since it was so small thus non threatening or whatever to her dog. My dog doesn't seem to react to small things, dogs or cats and isn't a squirrel chaser or anything. I see the logic and have been in favor of trying it, but now my husband is on board too, and I'm wondering if it is a crazy recipe for disaster.
What do y'all think?
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Personally, I would try it.
I have a rescue dog with similar behaviorisms. He's a monster on leash when he sees other dogs. With most dogs that he knows, he's a good boy. In the backyard, he throws a fit when people/dogs walk by "his territory." He terrorizes the poor mailman with his barking and howling.

It takes him ~20 minutes to settle down when being introduced to a new dog. I'll either have him in a crate or off his territory. Once he settles down and gets a good butt sniff in, he's usually fine. He just has no idea how to politely say hello :laugh: If I bring a new dog into the house slowly and give them time to both settle down, it works pretty well. He's better with females than males. He's best off leash in a public place, but I don't entirely trust him that much, so unless its someone else's yard we try to avoid that method of meeting other dogs :)

He's been a great influence on my people-shy dog because he loves all people. She's been a good influence on him when it comes to playing with other dogs, although she does bark and try to boss him around when he's playing. They're horrible influences on each other when it comes to barking in the back yard at people, dogs, squirrels, birds, leaves blowing, whatever lol.

You know your dog best! If he can make friends with other dogs and you are willing to go slow in introducing him to a pup and keeping them separated as much as necessary for the first little bit, they could turn out to be best buds :)
 
Took my dog in on Friday because he was feeling crappy last week. Blood tests came back that there is now bone marrow involvement of the cancer.

I'm really worried... in addition to this, we are moving from the farm he has lived on for his entire life in one week, putting all my stuff in storage, and moving in temporarily with my grandparents. He's already stressed from the boxes, and I know its going to be even worse when we are somewhere unfamiliar that we don't have any of our stuff or normal routine. And I'm going to be back to working full time after the move, so I'm afraid he's going to feel like I abandoned him.
 
CanHardlyWait said:
We would definitely rescue and even if it didn't work out, I would keep the puppy until I could find a new home. (I volunteer for a dog rescue doing shelter pulls, foster placement and adoptions, just fyi)
When we brought the cat home, we supervised closely for weeks, just to be sure and never left them alone unsupervised during that time. I would do the same with the puppy, crating it in a room alone when we're not here.
I really appreciate you responding! This is a great time for us to do this, I'm about to have the summer off :) and my gut tells me it would be good for my dog, emotionally and behaviorally, eventually if not right away. I just can't shake the fear that he'll hurt the puppy. I don't want my fear to hold his development back. Luckily my husband has a more level head.
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I think it's definitely worth a shot and it sounds like you have a solid plan in place. You're not crazy from my point of view :)

I took our 10 year old kitty (the one we just adopted) into the vet hospital with me on Saturday for an exam. Urine, blood, blood pressure all completely normal but she has a very mild gallop rhythm of the heart. 2 docs listened and they both said the same thing - schedule an appointment with Dr. Cardio at ABC Specialty Hospital for an echo. It's very mild and likely was caught soon enough that it's not a problem yet but she may have early heart disease :(
 
Thanks everyone! It's nice to hear from unbiased people in the vet field, just to check myself. Thanks again!:):)
 
Meet Luna & Tonks! My new ratties :D

Luna:
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DSCN0567_zpsb1a72d20.jpg


Tonks:
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Edit: Anyone know how to make these smaller?
 
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I snapped this one of our newest family member last night :love:

Jaclyn.jpg
 
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Well, with the cold weather gone for good, the little honeybees and wasps are coming out. This week was full of puffy faced puppies and dogs! I came home Saturday to my own corgi/husky mix looking more like a square muzzled lab! Benadryl is such a good investment for spring!!!!
 
ky261682 said:
So cute! I love senior cats so much. I should not be working at a shelter, so many sweet senior kitties that need homes. I must resist as I already have 3. It's so hard, though!
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I know! My husband and I are suckers for seniors - they're the best :D
 
Found some bloody urine on the floor last night during piggy floor time. I'm assuming it's from Solstice given her history but I'm not 100% on it. The bf did say he think he saw her spray Mowgli and that it was a little red tinged. Looks like we might be making a trip back into the vet for either repeat rads or an ultrasound. I'll definitely give her some Tramadol tonight for pain. I never really thought about it since she's always been weird since I adopted her, but she kind of squeals when you pick her up and from doing more research it online, it does sound like a pain squeal that I've heard is associated with stones.

Kind of a bummer thought cause I was planning on taking both piggies home tomorrow and set them up in their new 22 sq ft cage since I'm getting a classmate's cat this weekend to watch for a couple weeks. Looks like she might not be going with tomorrow though.
 
EngrSC said:
I know! My husband and I are suckers for seniors - they're the best :D
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I love senior cats. We have a new resident at my SA clinic and he's TWENTY-ONE. He's amazing. His owner was moving to Isreal and didn't want to/couldn't take him (not sure of the specific reason - quarantine? not sure he would survive the flight?) so the practice owner said he could live at the clinic. He is so wonderful - deaf and siamese so all he does is cry and yell when he's awake but he's so lovey and just doesn't give a **** about anything (large dogs included). He's been losing weight and had a seizure the other day so we're all a lot worried about him because he's just so great. :oops:

Our other resident cat is 15+ and after being hit by a car, can no longer pee/poop by herself. As I carried her to the tub today to express her and give her a butt-bath she peed all down my scrubs... but I love her something awful. :laugh:
 
orca2011 said:
Found some bloody urine on the floor last night during piggy floor time. I'm assuming it's from Solstice given her history but I'm not 100% on it. The bf did say he think he saw her spray Mowgli and that it was a little red tinged. Looks like we might be making a trip back into the vet for either repeat rads or an ultrasound. I'll definitely give her some Tramadol tonight for pain. I never really thought about it since she's always been weird since I adopted her, but she kind of squeals when you pick her up and from doing more research it online, it does sound like a pain squeal that I've heard is associated with stones.

Kind of a bummer thought cause I was planning on taking both piggies home tomorrow and set them up in their new 22 sq ft cage since I'm getting a classmate's cat this weekend to watch for a couple weeks. Looks like she might not be going with tomorrow though.
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ahh that poor pig! and poor you for all of this mess!! :(

MommaFox said:
Destroyed Chapstick : Suspect #1
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:laugh: my parents' younger dog started chapstick thieving. the first time, my mom "accused" my father of being careless of it on his night table. then she was robbed the next morning :smuggrin: turns out the thief was jumping on the bed (not allowed!) and stealing as she pleased :laugh:


my obsessed and pig crazy dog got to sit in the same room with Penny and me tonight. she had a basket muzzle on to keep her honest (because she'd probably like nothing more than to sink her teeth into that pig :() and she did really well. shes enthralled with Penny (who doesn't really care). I'm hoping this is a working solution :xf: because it's really hard to give penny the attention she deserves without lucy becoming totally obnoxious. :luck:
 
jmo1012 said:
my obsessed and pig crazy dog got to sit in the same room with Penny and me tonight. she had a basket muzzle on to keep her honest (because she'd probably like nothing more than to sink her teeth into that pig :() and she did really well. shes enthralled with Penny (who doesn't really care). I'm hoping this is a working solution :xf: because it's really hard to give penny the attention she deserves without lucy becoming totally obnoxious. :luck:
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I'm going to have to put a cover on my cage at home and probably raise it off the ground (which is going to be a fun time cause of it's size) because our new dog tried to jump in the one cage when he was here visiting. I had his leash short, so obviously it wasn't successful, but I could tell he really wanted to. Lap and floor time will also be a challenge. I can probably do both in my room once the cat I'm watching is gone, but until then, not sure how it's going to work out.
 
Piggies' new home for the summer!

I spent all evening working on it instead of studying for a final but I feel so accomplished now. Took way longer than I thought and I still have to come up with a better way to attach the fleece in the middle. My piggies like to burrow, so any lose ends or openings, and they're underneath the blankets.

New Home!
 
orca2011 said:
Piggies' new home for the summer!

I spent all evening working on it instead of studying for a final but I feel so accomplished now. Took way longer than I thought and I still have to come up with a better way to attach the fleece in the middle. My piggies like to burrow, so any lose ends or openings, and they're underneath the blankets.

New Home!
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That looks awesome. I've found if I put an extra fleece blanket on top, tented a little so they can easily get under it, then they leave the bottom fleece intact.
 
orca2011 said:
Piggies' new home for the summer!

I spent all evening working on it instead of studying for a final but I feel so accomplished now. Took way longer than I thought and I still have to come up with a better way to attach the fleece in the middle. My piggies like to burrow, so any lose ends or openings, and they're underneath the blankets.

New Home!
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ooo thats so pretty!! penny would be jealous!
 
orca2011 said:
Piggies' new home for the summer!

I spent all evening working on it instead of studying for a final but I feel so accomplished now. Took way longer than I thought and I still have to come up with a better way to attach the fleece in the middle. My piggies like to burrow, so any lose ends or openings, and they're underneath the blankets.

New Home!
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C&C cages are seriously the best! :thumbup:
 
Solstice now has a funny hair cut from her appointment today.

Did an ultrasound and didn't find any stones, but she definitely has some sort of sludge in her bladder. He bladder wall is also thickened and inflamed. We're doing a culture to rule out an infection since the bloody urine is sporadic and she has never squeaked while urinating and we haven't seen any sort of stones. Kind of hoping it's an infection because we can treat it and get rid of it. Too bad bladder infections aren't very common in guinea pigs. She's on pain meds and abxs in the meantime.
 
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8PmMEsJ.jpg




This reminded me of all you crazy pig people. Lol. So cute.
 
orca2011 said:
Solstice now has a funny hair cut from her appointment today.

Did an ultrasound and didn't find any stones, but she definitely has some sort of sludge in her bladder. He bladder wall is also thickened and inflamed. We're doing a cultural to role out an infection since the bloody urine is sporadic and she has never squeaked while urinating and we haven't seen any sort of stones. Kind of hoping it's an infection cause we can treat it and get rid of it, while stones will likely come back. Too bad bladder infections aren't very common in guinea pigs. She's on pain meds and abxs in the meantime.
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Crossing my fingers for Solstice. My piggie had recurring sludge/stones and I really hope yours just has an infection
- for your sake and hers.

I have a random kitty litter question for feline lovers out there. I despise clay litter - partly because it makes me sneeze nonstop when scooping it, it's not the best thing for the environment, and I'm paranoid about my cat ingesting it. I've been using World's Best Cat Litter and it seems to retain odor after a few days. I scoop my lady's box twice daily but it still seems like I need to completely empty and clean the box once weekly. Anyone have a non-clay litter they like??
 
EngrSC said:
Crossing my fingers for Solstice. My piggie had recurring sludge/stones and I really hope yours just has an infection
- for your sake and hers.

I have a random kitty litter question for feline lovers out there. I despise clay litter - partly because it makes me sneeze nonstop when scooping it, it's not the best thing for the environment, and I'm paranoid about my cat ingesting it. I've been using World's Best Cat Litter and it seems to retain odor after a few days. I scoop my lady's box twice daily but it still seems like I need to completely empty and clean the box once weekly. Anyone have a non-clay litter they like??
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Thanks! I'll be sure to keep you all updated on what's going on with her. She's resting right now since today was probably extremely stressful for her. She's now known as the guinea pig that tries to throw herself out of cages and off tables because she hates the vet's office so much.
 
EngrSC said:
Crossing my fingers for Solstice. My piggie had recurring sludge/stones and I really hope yours just has an infection
- for your sake and hers.

I have a random kitty litter question for feline lovers out there. I despise clay litter - partly because it makes me sneeze nonstop when scooping it, it's not the best thing for the environment, and I'm paranoid about my cat ingesting it. I've been using World's Best Cat Litter and it seems to retain odor after a few days. I scoop my lady's box twice daily but it still seems like I need to completely empty and clean the box once weekly. Anyone have a non-clay litter they like??
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Swheat Scoop. :love: LOVE it! Clean twice daily, and completely change once a month.
 
jmo1012 said:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE i want them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :love: :love: :love:
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I second this. I'll probably be looking for another pig in the next six months to a year. I'm hoping I can find another female around the age of my little one, since she's only 2 and 1/2, while my old lady is nearly 7 now. I just don't want the little one to be too lonely when the older one is gone, but I also want to avoid the vicious cycle of always having pigs. I mean I love them, but I don't want to have them forever.
 
felinelvr44 said:
Kind of a weird question - does anyone have a good storage system for cat toys? I have tons of wand type toys with a ribbon or feathers or feather/mouse attached by a string. (http://tt.cofreeonline.com/attachment/view/nobby-feather-teaser-play-wand-cat-toy_129079_800x800.jpg) No matter where I put them they always end up a jumbled, tangled mess (kind of like earbuds).
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I usually twizzle the string around the wand part and that keeps them nicer. Other thought includes making some sort of stand out of the cardboard tubes from wrapping paper and storing them inside.
 
I am really worried about my chronically vomiting cat. I took her back for her ultrasound re-check and apparently the ultrasound vet didn't know what he saw and sent it off for an expert evaluation. Now I am really worried about IBD and lymphoma. He isn't back in the clinic until Wednesday so there's nothing I can do about this now and I know that worrying isn't going to help me. But I can't help it--she's the first pet I ever had and is very special to me.
 
lexypanini said:
I am really worried about my chronically vomiting cat. I took her back for her ultrasound re-check and apparently the ultrasound vet didn't know what he saw and sent it off for an expert evaluation. Now I am really worried about IBD and lymphoma. He isn't back in the clinic until Wednesday so there's nothing I can do about this now and I know that worrying isn't going to help me. But I can't help it--she's the first pet I ever had and is very special to me.
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Poor kitty :( Did the ultrasound guy give any indication of what he saw that didn't look right? I'm just trying to think of what would show up on an ultrasound with IBD/lymphoma... My guy with IBD's ultrasound didn't really show anything although it enabled us to cross some things off the list obviously. If you want to chat about IBM, don't hesitate to PM me! My cat is doing great on his treatment plan. He's put on weight and hasn't thrown up in about three months. :)
 
wildcatj said:
I usually twizzle the string around the wand part and that keeps them nicer. Other thought includes making some sort of stand out of the cardboard tubes from wrapping paper and storing them inside.
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I like the cardboard tube idea! I was originally thinking of sewing up some over the door shoe-organizer type thing only with longer pockets to accommodate the long wands. I guess I am sort of a crazy cat lady. :oops:
 
felinelvr44 said:
Poor kitty :( Did the ultrasound guy give any indication of what he saw that didn't look right? I'm just trying to think of what would show up on an ultrasound with IBD/lymphoma... My guy with IBD's ultrasound didn't really show anything although it enabled us to cross some things off the list obviously. If you want to chat about IBM, don't hesitate to PM me! My cat is doing great on his treatment plan. He's put on weight and hasn't thrown up in about three months. :)
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I wasn't actually there for the ultrasound recheck. I asked about it the next day and the vet techs just told me that he said that something looked weird and sent it off for expert evaluation. The next step is probably biopsy but unless he's willing to do it at cost it will be prohibitively expensive :( There was too much gas in her intestines for the first ultrasound so he wasn't able to say if her walls were thickened or not. I am just hoping that it's food or something--she wasn't well fasted and may have sneaked some food (she's VERY good at stealing food).
 
felinelvr44 said:
Kind of a weird question - does anyone have a good storage system for cat toys? I have tons of wand type toys with a ribbon or feathers or feather/mouse attached by a string. (http://tt.cofreeonline.com/attachment/view/nobby-feather-teaser-play-wand-cat-toy_129079_800x800.jpg) No matter where I put them they always end up a jumbled, tangled mess (kind of like earbuds).
Click to expand...

At the cat cafe in Japan they had these hanging things on the walls that you could stick the pole into and it seemed to work out pretty well. I don't know how to find them, though, and I'm not sure I'm describing them well. It's kind of the same as this thing for holding riding crops:
whip-amp-crop-holder-2.jpg


only made out of some rubbery material.
 
equineconstant said:
At the cat cafe in Japan they had these hanging things on the walls that you could stick the pole into and it seemed to work out pretty well. I don't know how to find them, though, and I'm not sure I'm describing them well. It's kind of the same as this thing for holding riding crops:
whip-amp-crop-holder-2.jpg


only made out of some rubbery material.
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omg that is perfect. Thank you! Riding crops... who knew? (Not me, I can count the number of times I've touched a horse on two hands).
 
So I'm moving somewhere in July that doesn't have exterior trash cans or dumpsters. Any suggestions on handling dog poop so it doesn't stink up my apartment?
 
dyachei said:
little baggies and walk by the dumpster on the way back from walks? Diaper genie?
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no dumpster in the large cul-de-sac, thus the problem.

diaper genie! do they hold smells well enough?
 
kakurubird said:
So I'm moving somewhere in July that doesn't have exterior trash cans or dumpsters. Any suggestions on handling dog poop so it doesn't stink up my apartment?
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I don't understand how this is possible... You can't have your own trash barrels outside?
 
wildcatj said:
I don't understand how this is possible... You can't have your own trash barrels outside?
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no, there's like nothing out there. apparently residents just leave bags out the morning of/evening before trash pick-up and then they take them away. I really didn't even notice driving around until someone else pointed it out. but it does make everything look really nice on the outside. maybe a little Stepford-ish but it's pretty.
 
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