All About Our Pets(Pics, Advice, Etc)

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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dovelover said:
My kitten's had mild diarrhea since I got her... pretty sure it's just stress/diet change induced. But I'm studying for my infectious disease final tomorrow and one of the categories is enteric diseases... and every single one I get to I'm like, "omg, what if she has this?" It's almost as bad as trying to diagnose yourself via Dr. Google and becoming paranoid that you have some serious chronic and/or fatal illness, haha.

PS... She's been officially named Artemis. I know that wasn't the popular opinion (either here or on my facebook, haha), but as fitting as Cricket was to her personality, when I tried it out I just felt awkward calling her that out loud. Of course, she'll probably end up getting called something completely random and unrelated a year from now.
And... just because she's so cute and I want to torture you all with the desire to get a new pet:
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Jealous!! She's adorable! I love the name Artemis.

I hope she gets over the stress/diet change soon.
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dovelover said:
My kitten's had mild diarrhea since I got her... pretty sure it's just stress/diet change induced. But I'm studying for my infectious disease final tomorrow and one of the categories is enteric diseases... and every single one I get to I'm like, "omg, what if she has this?" It's almost as bad as trying to diagnose yourself via Dr. Google and becoming paranoid that you have some serious chronic and/or fatal illness, haha.

PS... She's been officially named Artemis. I know that wasn't the popular opinion (either here or on my facebook, haha), but as fitting as Cricket was to her personality, when I tried it out I just felt awkward calling her that out loud. Of course, she'll probably end up getting called something completely random and unrelated a year from now.
And... just because she's so cute and I want to torture you all with the desire to get a new pet:
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Glad you went with Artemis - since that's what I was planning to call her while you're gone either way :D
 
I should not get another cat. I don't need one. One is enough. She gives you plenty of attention, so why shouldn't that be enough? You're going to have to see lots of cats for adoption and can't take one every time......
 
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Escalla said:
I should not get another cat. I don't need one. One is enough. She gives you plenty of attention, so why shouldn't that be enough? You're going to have to see lots of cats for adoption and can't take one every time......
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But I bet your one cat is lonely when you are away....
 
And two cats isn't much different than one cat! I don't at all regret having two!
 
Escalla said:
I should not get another cat. I don't need one. One is enough. She gives you plenty of attention, so why shouldn't that be enough? You're going to have to see lots of cats for adoption and can't take one every time......
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Umm I have three cats and periodically take on a foster. I do not regret having three at all they entertain each other I don't feel bad leaving them alone all day or for a long weekend. If you cat is social by all means you need another cat.
 
Ahhhh. I'm trying to talk myself out of being smitten. I do want her to have a friend...:D
 
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WelshCob said:
Umm I have three cats and periodically take on a foster. I do not regret having three at all they entertain each other I don't feel bad leaving them alone all day or for a long weekend. If you cat is social by all means you need another cat.
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The reason I finally broke down and got another cat was so that my other cat would have someone else to annoy, er I mean interact with, other than me.
 
dovelover said:
The reason I finally broke down and got another cat was so that my other cat would have someone else to annoy, er I mean interact with, other than me.
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That is nothing to be ashamed of. I just build a box fort for mine so they will leave me alone while I study. =) More then one lets you take cute pictures like this.

 
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Yeah the black cat was supposed to be a foster but I got him so so small at 5 weeks and he grew up following me around. He just had to stay.=)
 
WelshCob said:
Yeah the black cat was supposed to be a foster but I got him so so small at 5 weeks and he grew up following me around. He just had to stay.=)
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Loved your pic and it reminded me of a picture of my 3 cats so I had to share mine. :)
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I hope this works - first time uploading a picture to any forum, ever.
My cat has a dog instead, but I definitely want 2 more cats!
 

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catnips said:
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I hope this works - first time uploading a picture to any forum, ever.
My cat has a dog instead, but I definitely want 2 more cats!
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I like that phrasing "My cat has a dog"
My cat doesn't like other cats but she likes dogs, so I was telling my mom we should get her a puppy
 
WildZoo said:
I like that phrasing "My cat has a dog"
My cat doesn't like other cats but she likes dogs, so I was telling my mom we should get her a puppy
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Yes!! Do it! I just love cat-dog friendships. (Although my cat definitely does not see this as a friendship, but at least my dog does!) I have no idea how my cat would be like with other cats, but he is very bossy to the dog. :laugh:
 
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So excited. I think loose leash walking has finally started clicking with Geordie. A lot less stopping or doing circles and he's gotten a lot better of sitting in "heel" when I stop. Still not perfect, but it's much better than it was a few weeks ago. I think using a clicker just made him more excited while on his walks so he'd run ahead. I think a more calm and simple "yes" seems to be doing the trick. The clicker is great for other things though.
 
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Starting to keep track of frequently my dog vomits now. It's not super frequent, but it's starting to feel like it's happening on a somewhat regular basis that I want to see if I've noticed a trigger/need to take him in for BW or radiographs or something. I'm probably being a little paranoid, but since I don't actually know his age or history, I'd rather try to keep track of things.
 
orca2011 said:
Starting to keep track of frequently my dog vomits now. It's not super frequent, but it's starting to feel like it's happening on a somewhat regular basis that I want to see if I've noticed a trigger/need to take him in for BW or radiographs or something. I'm probably being a little paranoid, but since I don't actually know his age or history, I'd rather try to keep track of things.
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Dogs aren't cats. They shouldn't vomit that much IMO.

That is not paranoia.
 
StartingoverVet said:
Dogs aren't cats. They shouldn't vomit that much IMO.

That is not paranoia.
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It's maybe like once a month. Although that last time I can recall was 4/26 (only know because my roommate texted me) and he did it twice that today and just vomited about a half ago. Before then, not sure on the frequency really. Maybe I'll shoot Primary Care an email and see what they think.
 
orca2011 said:
It's maybe like once a month. Although that last time I can recall was 4/26 (only know because my roommate texted me) and he did it twice that today and just vomited about a half ago. Before then, not sure on the frequency really. Maybe I'll shoot Primary Care an email and see what they think.
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hmmm. once a month seems kind of marginal to me.. .but I am just a regular old joe who spends a lot of time in vet hospitals as a client.
 
StartingoverVet said:
hmmm. once a month seems kind of marginal to me.. .but I am just a regular old joe who spends a lot of time in vet hospitals as a client.
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And I'm only going with once month since I know he vomited last month. I know it's been a few times this semester, but that's about all I can pin point. I just get overly concerned..partially because I think I missed signs of heart failure, etc in our first dog and kind of feel guilty about it, even though I hadn't been working in a vet's office for that long so I didn't really know all the signs. And the vet student curse doesn't help either.
 
orca2011 said:
And I'm only going with once month since I know he vomited last month. I know it's been a few times this semester, but that's about all I can pin point. I just get overly concerned..partially because I think I missed signs of heart failure, etc in our first dog and kind of feel guilty about it, even though I hadn't been working in a vet's office for that long so I didn't really know all the signs. And the vet student curse doesn't help either.
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I have one dog that spits up all his water if I don't monitor how much he takes in. He has access to water all the time but when he drinks too much up it comes. I have done bw and radiographs and can't find anything wrong with him. All is normal except for his vomiting the water which happens at the very least once a day. Again I've had him checked and we can't find anything wrong and as of now I don't have access to a specialist for it and he is healthy, plays, eats, and sleeps fine. It's a pain to clean up but thankfully it's just water :/
 
So this happened the other day :)
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StartingoverVet said:
Happy Birthday. My kitty's birthday was exactly a week ago!
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I love celebrating her birthday, though she is largely uninterested. To me, every year is a miracle because she came very close to not living to see her first birthday.
 
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Strictly an academic question to satisfy my own curiosity because someone asked me and I didn't know the answer:
Can using steroids (like Depo) to combat allergies cause liver problems in dogs? Especially if they're used over a long period of time?
 
So torn. Classmate of mine sent me a picture of a piggy that is up for adoption from someone in the Penn Vet community. She's developed severe allergies to him, so she can't keep him anymore. He looks super cute and I do have an open cage now since Mowgli and Solstice are living together, but I'm not sure I have the time for a 3rd piggy and would feel bad that he'd be living alone. Mowgli and Solstice's cage is only really big enough for two piggies and I think adding a third would definitely destroy their new relationship. Maybe I could foster him for a little though...
 
Just did the 2nd follow-up bloodwork on my old man Dobe--everything came back perfect! So relieved to see that 2 months after finishing the ursodiol, his liver values are normal. So it was just a fluke!

The only abnormal values were slightly high pH and a few struvite crystals (4-10 phpf). This was urine collected first thing in the morning after he'd been holding it all night (~8 hours), so it was very concentrated. The doctor didn't seem concerned, but I will be doing another urinalysis in a month. I really don't want to change his food...I'll try to increase his water intake--I know he doesn't drink a lot during the day. :/
 
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orca2011 said:
So torn. Classmate of mine sent me a picture of a piggy that is up for adoption from someone in the Penn Vet community. She's developed severe allergies to him, so she can't keep him anymore. He looks super cute and I do have an open cage now since Mowgli and Solstice are living together, but I'm not sure I have the time for a 3rd piggy and would feel bad that he'd be living alone. Mowgli and Solstice's cage is only really big enough for two piggies and I think adding a third would definitely destroy their new relationship. Maybe I could foster him for a little though...
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foster him! i fostered a pair in undergrad (Penny HATED them) for a month and they ended up being adopted by a family with 2 young girls to live out their happily ever after :) they were released research animals so they really deserved the loving life they got!
 
jmo1012 said:
foster him! i fostered a pair in undergrad (Penny HATED them) for a month and they ended up being adopted by a family with 2 young girls to live out their happily ever after :) they were released research animals so they really deserved the loving life they got!
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I might see if they'd be interested in that cause then he's at least out of the house while they/I help look for a new home. I'll also give them the name of the rescue I got Solstice in case they want to go that route. I checked with a friend to see if she wanted to adopt him (she'd been thinking about a piggy in the past). I also just thought of someone who asked where I got one of my piggy's because a friend was interested in adopting one soon, so I might see if they're up for one now. If I do foster, I'll share pictures. =)
 
After a number of attempts at ausculting one of my parents' cat's heart murmur when I've been home on breaks, I finally heard it! First time he didn't nervous purr the whole time. Happy that I'm finally learning to recognize the sound of a murmur. I guess I shouldn't be so excited that given that my cat has a heart murmur, but he's lived with it for 11 years, so...

And by the way, anyone know, is the word ausculting, or auscultating? I always learned the first one, but the second one is spell checking correctly, and I found both on google...
 
Owner of the piggy doesn't seem willing to let me foster even though she's been having asthma attacks (for the past 3 weeks) and needs him out of the house ASAP. I just don't want to say I can commit to a third piggy 100% since I have two of my own and a dog. I think I could potentially help find him an owner as my mom also potentially knows of someone looking for a piggy and a classmate is potentially interested but just can't take him over the summer. I also feel like I could reach out to the incoming first years since piggy's make great pets while in vet school.

And I definitely don't want to lie and say I'd adopt him and then try to find him a new home. But I really want to help out cause it's a piggy and I'm sure waking up in the middle of the night with asthma attacks for almost a month sucks. I'm just not sure how many other students are going to see the flyer since all the classes are done for the year now.
 
My babies are so spoiled..... :D

Sampson got 4 bags of treats and 2 new toys (will get a bag of food when we track down the coupon haha)
Penny got 2 bales of hay, a bag of banana chips, bedding, a new water bottle, and a box of hay stackers (basically compressed hay)

---
@orca2011 have you heard of/fed the new oxbow hay stackers? i thought it might be a fun treat for Penny since they're timothy hay. i'm SUPER allergic to TH but this claims to have 80% less dust, so i figured she might enjoy a different hay for a change. she seems to really like it so far! i bought the TH and carrots variety.
 
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So I've been going really slowly introducing my new kitten to my cat, so that he'd have a better relationship with her than he did my parents' cats. I had a mesh screen across my bedroom door so that they could see and smell each other without being able to get into fights or anything. She figured out how to escape a few times while people were there, but each time I rigged it up to make it "escape proof." Or so I thought. I've had that up while I've been away this week and have a petsitter looking after everybody. Apparently she figured out how to get out yesterday when no one was around, and when my pet sitter came in the two cats were sniffing and licking each other, and not growling and hissing and fighting. So happy they're getting along! :biglove:
 
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So I'm in love with this 6 yr old kitty at the HS that's at a satellite adoption site....

But she's cat aggressive.

And my cat isn't a huge fan of others either.

I love the both of them immensely, but I don't know if I could handle trying to get them over the issues they would have with each other.....my place is only ~730 sq ft too.

:(
 
Here are my two turtles... they are hatchlings! Squirt (the brown one) and Crush (the green one). They sleep and eat together. Best turtle friends for life :)
squirt and crush.jpg
 
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Njnealon said:
Here are my two turtles... they are hatchlings! Squirt (the brown one) and Crush (the green one). They sleep and eat together. Best turtle friends for life :)
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Love the names! :)
 
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First of all, Mowgli an Solstice are still living together and can handle sharing a carrier for a 1.5-2hr car ride!!!

And today they had their annual visits. Mowgli checked out fine, but Solstice may need another ultrasound. She was uncomfortable with her abdominal palpation, so she might still be having issues with cystitis/crystal development or it's her uterus. I have to get some urine from her and run a urinalysis on it in the next day or so and email them the results since I can't get back into Philly anytime soon. Then we'll decide if an ultrasound/rads are needed. I had okayed them today but they had a ton of emergencies/transfers so they didn't to it.

Also, Mowgli apparently got very upset when they took Solstice out to do their PE on her. Not sure what kind of ruckus he made, but they ended up bringing him out onto the table with her to calm him down. Thought that was kind of adorable.
 
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Beginning stage of my piggy pen! My friend is graduating this summer and is moving back to Sweden and decided she didn't wanna bring her guinea pig she just got a few months ago. :lame: so I'm taking her. I read that piggies are herd animals and would prefer a companion. Should I get another female for her? Should I get the other one before I get her? My dogs have met her and seem to get along fine but my curious kitten is what worries me the most. I have a little over a month to figure it out before she leaves and I take her in. Any suggestions, tips, help?
 
swingnsave said:
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Beginning stage of my piggy pen! My friend is graduating this summer and is moving back to Sweden and decided she didn't wanna bring her guinea pig she just got a few months ago. :lame: so I'm taking her. I read that piggies are herd animals and would prefer a companion. Should I get another female for her? Should I get the other one before I get her? My dogs have met her and seem to get along fine but my curious kitten is what worries me the most. I have a little over a month to figure it out before she leaves and I take her in. Any suggestions, tips, help?
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before you go getting a buddy, figure out if that particular pig will accept one. orca ultimately ended up with a (currently) happily ever after, but not for a very long time, and a lot of frustration with her lovies! my pig very much wants to be an only pig. she is mean to others and i can just tell that she wants all of me and none of them. i thought long and hard for awhile about getting her a buddy since i'm gone so much but just always had that feeling that she really wanted to be by herself, and a foster situation proved me right! (fosters had their own cage and stuff but she was nasty to them, hated their presence, etc)
 
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