All About Our Pets(Pics, Advice, Etc)

[Skimble]

If she is a male (s)he's got super short fins. But I don't know much about betta sexing! She's too dark for me to try to see her ovaries.
I've got my 3 separate. The newest baby (yeah, I got her today) is in one of those critter keeper things (so about 1 gallon) for now because it's kind of my hospital tank and she's in pretty bad shape. And so tiny! Honestly doesn't look more than 6 weeks old based on the age guides I've seen. Plan is to keep her there until she's bigger and I'm sure she's healthy and then divide one of the other tanks. I'm too paranoid to put two together! Though one day I hope to have a sorority tank.

Placketts all have short fins, even the males, which is what I suspect my one "female" is. I believe placketts are the WT finnage, and the fancier veils, double tails, deltas, half moons, etc are all the result of breeding programs. If you want to see some awesome bettas, check out www.aquabid.com they have some stunning fish! I got one from there that lived 4 years, shipped from Thailand. While I loved my fancy boys, I'm sticking to female's for now.

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[WildZoo]

I'm sorry about Arson that's the worst. Eponine is so cute!! I've never had a female before. My betta is named Casper because I thought he would always be white.. Lol

He was a good fish and I can at least be satisfied that the time he lived he was very, very spoiled. He was my only fish at the time.

Eponine reminds me of him actually, very similar personalities. Very interested in everything I'm doing and very inquisitive. She digs around in the substrate in her tank, swims up and "greets" me whenever I walk in the room. Attacks her plants sometimes lol Noir is more aloof and calm. Which is a shame because I just want to take pictures of her all the time!

Casper is a great name even though he didn't stay white from what I've read it's very rare for bettas to be white. Usually even the ones that look pure white end up marbling to some extent as they get older.

 

[WildZoo]

Placketts all have short fins, even the males, which is what I suspect my one "female" is. I believe placketts are the WT finnage, and the fancier veils, double tails, deltas, half moons, etc are all the result of breeding programs. If you want to see some awesome bettas, check out www.aquabid.com they have some stunning fish! I got one from there that lived 4 years, shipped from Thailand. While I loved my fancy boys, I'm sticking to female's for now.

Yeah, i guess i just haven't seen any crowntail plakats at petco before. Then again i hadn't seen black bettas there before either...I guess I'll have to go egg spot searching. For all I know I have a bunch of males since the other two are still young haha

I almost got a super delta black orchid male from aquabid. Lost the bid at the last minute which was when I decided to rescue the babies instead.

 

[Gwenevre]

Dear Juniper,

Please stop jumping down from my 6' bookshelf onto my hard desk top. My heart can't take it. Especially when I'm half asleep and your very loud "thunk" wakes me up.

Sincerely,
The Hand That Feeds You

 

[Ashgirl]

Dear Juniper,

Please stop jumping down from my 6' bookshelf onto my hard desk top. My heart can't take it. Especially when I'm half asleep and your very loud "thunk" wakes me up.

Sincerely,
The Hand That Feeds You

Juniper's Response:

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

It really could have! I really want to do the DNA testing but it's $100 and I'm not sure if I completely trust it.. Lol

I don't trust the DNA tests at all. I know people that did the tests knowing what their dog was with as much certainty as possible and they were given crazy results. One example was a chihuahua/fox terrier mix that I saw the parents and the offspring looked exactly like a perfect mix of them and the test came back Norwegian elkhound/some kind of spaniel mix.

FYI- this is just my personal experience. Maybe I just haven't seen results from a reliable source yet.

You'll have to do some research to confirm this, but as I recall the accuracy depends on #1 what your dog is mixed with and #2 if the purebred ancestors were from mainstream bloodlines. Some breeds have DNA signatures that aren't as distinct. And some purebreds are from more obscure bloodlines. Both those things can make them harder to pick up in the DNA.

Look up the panel's website. There is actually a list of which breeds they can test for. Not all breeds have registered genotyping with the companies and when they aren't on the list, I think they pull stuff from thin air. My old dog: We knew mom was a mastiff, likely a Fila. She was a show dog who got bred in the backyard by a stray was the story I got told. After he passed I sent in the test to see what dad was. (Mom was not likely to show up accurate since they don't test for Filas) Test came back with a weird hodgepodge for mom (listed Shar pei with high likelihood for 25% of mom) but dad showed as a 100%, purebred Chesapeake Bay Retriever. I could see that. But makes me wonder how the mating happened. Maybe not as "dog dug under the fence" as I was told?

If it matters, most people thought he was a large brindle Labrador.

As for the Wisdom Panel, meh. I did it just for fun because I got it fairly cheap through work

If you work with a rescue or shelter, there is an offer for Wisdom profiles for less than $40 (I wanna say I did mine for $25?)

Look up the data for the corgi though and, even better, compare tests because some do use a different data set for genomes so some are more accurate for certain breeds than others. In the end, they normally can verify if your dog is a breed on their list, but they don't do a great job of telling you with accuracy what the mix is unless it's a high percentage of something in the database with a good amount of reference samples. (The Fila is working toward approval but it's something like 1000 samples from over 250 separate genetic families, which doesn't exist in some breeds, nevermind Filas relatively recent reinfusion of other mastiff lines)

 

[WildZoo]

Egg spot confirmed! Noir is just a particularly flashy girl. I found Eponine's as well. As far as the new baby (Cosette) I'm not going to bother to look yet. At her age some males have false egg spots anyway.

 

[EngrSC]

And whoo you have a flashy merle dog! I love merles <3

I love merles too! We think he's half corgi and half aussie. We rescued him 3 years ago. I was going to do a DNA test on him for my SO for Christmas but he found out so now I have to think of something else lol

I have a merle too

 

[hazelmoo]

Welp, I just officially ordered a wisdom panel for $75. It is going to be a Christmas present for my SO (since he won't stop talking about it and is dying to know just as much as I am). We decided not to get each other presents since we will be spending a lot of $$$ in Costa Rica in January, but I figured this is kinda for both of us anyways. I am excited to find out
All suspected breeds are on their list of breeds they can test for, so hopefully we get decent results! Yay!

 

[WildZoo]

Finally got some pictures of Cosette

 

[Gwenevre]

Every single night when I go to bed, my cat gets up on my tall bookshelf. No other time of day does she do that. If I'm at my desk, if I'm cleaning, she's on the ground or on my bed. When I lay down, up the shelf she goes.

She's the watcher I don't deserve, but (apparently) the one I need right now.

 

[Caiter92]

Any thoughts on trying to introduce 17 year old cats with a rambunctious (to put it nicely..) three year old? Is it just a disaster waiting to happen?

The three year old is great with other cats, I'm just mainly worried my old ladies won't handle it well since they're set in their ways. This isn't a "needs to happen right this second" thing, and I probably wouldn't be doing this till summer if I did.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

[that redhead]

Speaking of bettas, mine was in a funk the last week. He's two and half so getting older but just lying at the bottom of his tank. Seems his back end/tail fin is weak and/or swim bladder issues as he can't keep himself up at the top of the tank where he usually likes to hang out. He would eat for me but otherwise just lethargic and sad. Seems more active the last couple days so fingers crossed for Fergus

 

[that redhead]

@WildZoo Cosette is so tiny!

 

[WildZoo]

@WildZoo Cosette is so tiny!

She really is. The Petco babies tend to be a little stunted in their growth but she cant be more than 2 months old. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's actually a boy (no ovaries yet and really long, thin ventral fins). She hasn't grown much yet but she is perking up!

I'm sorry about your guy hope he starts feeling better. One of mine is sick right now too, Noir is in a hospital tank with what is either parasites or an infection. Symptoms started a couple days after I brought her home and she's been refusing food for almost a week now.

 

[WildZoo]

This picture is my favorite. The first day Cosette ate enough to have a full baby tummy

 

[hazelmoo]

This picture is my favorite. The first day Cosette ate enough to have a full baby tummy
View attachment 197938

Soooooo cute!!!
Casper is acting a little lethargic lately too... Sitting at the bottom of the tank. I freak out and kinda wave my hand and he snaps out of it and comes up to eat, but he's starting to scare me!

 

[hazelmoo]

Speaking of bettas, mine was in a funk the last week. He's two and half so getting older but just lying at the bottom of his tank. Seems his back end/tail fin is weak and/or swim bladder issues as he can't keep himself up at the top of the tank where he usually likes to hang out. He would eat for me but otherwise just lethargic and sad. Seems more active the last couple days so fingers crossed for Fergus

Have you ever heard of those betta leaf hammocks? You put it kinda near the top so they can relax on it and still get air without having to swim much. They have really good reviews but I've never ordered one... It might help!
http://www.petguys.com/zoo-med-bett...aign=PetGuys&gclid=CJS5_f_PmskCFQmnaQodIkUNDg

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

I always feed Corky his breakfast, and then he usually jumps on the bed and suckles on his Bunny for about an hour before we leave for school. I was washing up yesterday and heard "nom nom nom" in the other room. I went in there and he had eaten half a box of packing peanuts from a package I received the day before. His face was pretty classic.

I dropped one in water (it dissolved) but called poison control anyways. They said he'd be fine. He was farting all day yesterday though, curious if they're made of cellulose or something that his gut microbes went to town own. They might taste sweet.

 

[WildZoo]

Any thoughts on trying to introduce 17 year old cats with a rambunctious (to put it nicely..) three year old? Is it just a disaster waiting to happen?

The three year old is great with other cats, I'm just mainly worried my old ladies won't handle it well since they're set in their ways. This isn't a "needs to happen right this second" thing, and I probably wouldn't be doing this till summer if I did.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Depends on the personalities of the cats, but I was able to introduce my (at the time) 10 year old cat to a kitten and she barely even wants to murder him anymore I basically did the things in this article
http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/how-to-introduce-a-second-cat/

 

[hazelmoo]

I always feed Corky his breakfast, and then he usually jumps on the bed and suckles on his Bunny for about an hour before we leave for school. I was washing up yesterday and heard "nom nom nom" in the other room. I went in there and he had eaten half a box of packing peanuts from a package I received the day before. His face was pretty classic.

I dropped one in water (it dissolved) but called poison control anyways. They said he'd be fine. He was farting all day yesterday though, curious if they're made of cellulose or something that his gut microbes went to town own. They might taste sweet.

Omg! Just another reminder that service dogs are dogs too so bad!! My Santiago has gotten in to many things that are less than desirable for a dog to eat.. Once, he ate an entire huge bottle of fish oil pills. I called poison control and they said he would be okay. But he had explosive/projectile diarrhea for 4 days.

I've never seen him with more urgency in his eyes than when he was waiting by the door to release his bowels that week.

 

[WildZoo]

Have you ever heard of those betta leaf hammocks? You put it kinda near the top so they can relax on it and still get air without having to swim much. They have really good reviews but I've never ordered one... It might help!
http://www.petguys.com/zoo-med-bett...aign=PetGuys&gclid=CJS5_f_PmskCFQmnaQodIkUNDg

The leaf in the silhouette picture of Cosette is actually one of those! She doesn't use it much but it was Arson's and he loved to sleep on it.

 

[WildZoo]

Soooooo cute!!!
Casper is acting a little lethargic lately too... Sitting at the bottom of the tank. I freak out and kinda wave my hand and he snaps out of it and comes up to eat, but he's starting to scare me!

Did you check your water parameters, temperature, etc? Any other symptoms? It's so tough when they're only showing general symptoms of feeling bleh.

 

[hazelmoo]

Did you check your water parameters, temperature, etc? Any other symptoms? It's so tough when they're only showing general symptoms of feeling bleh.

All the other fish are acting fine, and I've been leaving the overhead tank light on to increase the temperature a little since winter is upon us (currently at 76). He really hasn't been showing any other symptoms, and he seems to snap out of it when I offer food which is good. But he seriously looks dead sometimes and it has been scaring the s*** out of me!

 

[WildZoo]

I just went to check on Noir and she must have passed in the last two hours

 

[that redhead]

Have you ever heard of those betta leaf hammocks? You put it kinda near the top so they can relax on it and still get air without having to swim much. They have really good reviews but I've never ordered one... It might help!
http://www.petguys.com/zoo-med-bett...aign=PetGuys&gclid=CJS5_f_PmskCFQmnaQodIkUNDg

The leaf in the silhouette picture of Cosette is actually one of those! She doesn't use it much but it was Arson's and he loved to sleep on it.

He actually has a floating log (Amazon product) that he loves, just hasn't been hanging out in it lately, even to chill.

 

[hazelmoo]

He actually has a floating log (Amazon product) that he loves, just hasn't been hanging out in it lately, even to chill.

Poor baby

I just went to check on Noir and she must have passed in the last two hours

No D: I'm so sorry!!!

 

[that redhead]

I just went to check on Noir and she must have passed in the last two hours

Aw man, I'm so sorry WZ

 

[WildZoo]

I had prepared myself for it, she had been sick for almost the entire time I had her. At least she's not suffering anymore, poor thing.

 

[Caiter92]

Depends on the personalities of the cats, but I was able to introduce my (at the time) 10 year old cat to a kitten and she barely even wants to murder him anymore I basically did the things in this article
http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/how-to-introduce-a-second-cat/

Haha! To be honest, my only hope would be they don't try to kill each other. My cats are sisters and have never been besties (except when they were kittens), but they just kind of leave each other alone and occasionally bop the other on the head and run away.

The 3 year old is a clinic cat, so he's use to other cats (and is a weirdo and thinks every cat is his BFF), but my girls have only every been around each other. But, my mom was a dog trainer for years and still boards old client dogs that she's stayed friends with, so they're not complete strangers to having new animals in the house. One of the clients goes on an 8 week (so jealous!) vacation every year and by a few weeks in my cats are back to normal with her there, so I think they'd eventually get use to him? I plan on doing the worlds slowest intro to try to help things. And if not, I could maybe get my parents to keep him at their house instead.

Thanks for that article! I've been thinking about this for a while and reading a bunch on cat intros, but I don't know if I've seen that one yet.

 

[Caiter92]

I had prepared myself for it, she had been sick for almost the entire time I had her. At least she's not suffering anymore, poor thing.

Aww, sorry WZ

 

[WildZoo]

Haha! To be honest, my only hope would be they don't try to kill each other. My cats are sisters and have never been besties (except when they were kittens), but they just kind of leave each other alone and occasionally bop the other on the head and run away.

The 3 year old is a clinic cat, so he's use to other cats (and is a weirdo and thinks every cat is his BFF), but my girls have only every been around each other. But, my mom was a dog trainer for years and still boards old client dogs that she's stayed friends with, so they're not complete strangers to having new animals in the house. One of the clients goes on an 8 week (so jealous!) vacation every year and by a few weeks in my cats are back to normal with her there, so I think they'd eventually get use to him? I plan on doing the worlds slowest intro to try to help things. And if not, I could maybe get my parents to keep him at their house instead.

Thanks for that article! I've been thinking about this for a while and reading a bunch on cat intros, but I don't know if I've seen that one yet.

There was a more involved article which is the one that I actually used but I couldn't find it, the one I linked is generally the same. Biggest advice is go slow and only progress when they are comfortable!

 

[Gwenevre]

I just went to check on Noir and she must have passed in the last two hours

 

[Devastating]

I always feed Corky his breakfast, and then he usually jumps on the bed and suckles on his Bunny for about an hour before we leave for school. I was washing up yesterday and heard "nom nom nom" in the other room. I went in there and he had eaten half a box of packing peanuts from a package I received the day before. His face was pretty classic.

I dropped one in water (it dissolved) but called poison control anyways. They said he'd be fine. He was farting all day yesterday though, curious if they're made of cellulose or something that his gut microbes went to town own. They might taste sweet.

Yeah, apparently those are "edible"...in a loose sense found that out a few months ago when my dad got a package and my brother came in telling me about how the dogs were eating the packing peanuts. I was like "WTF why are you letting them eat styrofoam, take it away now" until he said "no, they're edible, see?" and...yes, they dissolve on the tongue and are slightly sweet weirdest thing ever. I assume they was made this way because of all the pets and small children in the world. Would not recommend eating them from some nasty dirty package contents though!

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

Omg! Just another reminder that service dogs are dogs too so bad!!

He's just a very well trained butthead. He's extremely obedient on and off leash, even around other animals that are in the general vicinity. But the moment I let him through the gate at the dog park, he doesn't know me. I have to get someone else to get him when it's time to go because he refuses to leave. He knows I don't have a chance in hell catching him, and he'd rather sniff butts then hang out with dad.

 

[hazelmoo]

He's just a very well trained butthead. He's extremely obedient on and off leash, even around other animals that are in the general vicinity. But the moment I let him through the gate at the dog park, he doesn't know me. I have to get someone else to get him when it's time to go because he refuses to leave. He knows I don't have a chance in hell catching him, and he'd rather sniff butts then hang out with dad.

That's so funny. I always had this impression that service dogs were more like people than dogs... Until we had a seeing eye dog come to the clinic one day. She was hiding under the chair and shaking because she was so scared. Wouldn't even listen to mom. It was very eye-opening.. Like "hey, they are really are dogs"!

 

[cowgirla]

New puppy, version 2.0 (see rant thread).

This one is fitting in beautifully. Now she needs a name! Thinking Ivy or maybe Snjó (pronounced snow- from her registered Icelandic name). Name needs to be winter related and easy to shout

 

[Lupin21]

New puppy, version 2.0 (see rant thread).

This one is fitting in beautifully. Now she needs a name! Thinking Ivy or maybe Snjó (pronounced snow- from her registered Icelandic name). Name needs to be winter related and easy to shout

View attachment 197984

I was just about to tag you and ask about the cute fluffball I saw on my feed.

 

[alohacat319]

@cowgirla

Ivy

 

[WildZoo]

Ahhhhh she's so fluffy!!!

 

[hazelmoo]

New puppy, version 2.0 (see rant thread).

This one is fitting in beautifully. Now she needs a name! Thinking Ivy or maybe Snjó (pronounced snow- from her registered Icelandic name). Name needs to be winter related and easy to shout

View attachment 197984

Omg sooooo cute! I love the name Ivy!!

 

[orca2011]

New puppy, version 2.0 (see rant thread).

This one is fitting in beautifully. Now she needs a name! Thinking Ivy or maybe Snjó (pronounced snow- from her registered Icelandic name). Name needs to be winter related and easy to shout

View attachment 197984

AHHH, I want to cuddle it soooo badly. I kind of like Snjo (too lazy to do the accent).



And I was coming here to post how my dog just seemed quieter than normal, so he just got subjected to a full PE. I'd total perform a rectal too if I had lube. I feel sort of sorry for my animals that I'm a helicopter mom.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

AHHH, I want to cuddle it soooo badly. I kind of like Snjo (too lazy to do the accent).



And I was coming here to post how my dog just seemed quieter than normal, so he just got subjected to a full PE. I'd total perform a rectal too if I had lube. I feel sort of sorry for my animals that I'm a helicopter mom.

Haha I'm the same way. I'm convinced my big cat has some sort of respiratory issue. His breathing sounds congested at times and even his hiss (not that he ever hisses at me...) doesn't sound 'crisp' like it would for another cat. It sounds like he's got phlegm. I always ask about it and no one has ever heard anything in the lungs or agreed that something was going on, so I'll just keep privately worrying about it lol.

 

[jmo1012]

AHHH, I want to cuddle it soooo badly. I kind of like Snjo (too lazy to do the accent).



And I was coming here to post how my dog just seemed quieter than normal, so he just got subjected to a full PE. I'd total perform a rectal too if I had lube. I feel sort of sorry for my animals that I'm a helicopter mom.

you dont need official lube, you can use pretty much anything...funny story time. i had a febrile kitten whose owners didnt have much money to diagnose/hospitalize, so i did out patient supportives and sent it home. in my discharges, i instructed the owners to monitor a rectal temp if they felt comfortable (or bring back for recheck temp the next day free of charge). i wrote the following in my discharges: "a plastic thermometer can be inserted approximately 1cm into the rectum every 12 hours. a small amount of lubricant should be applied to the end of the thermometer (petroleum jelly, ky jelly, soap, spit)." our discharges are read by senior clinicians after the fact and returned to us. the senior who read this particular discharge (was an english professor and is very picky about grammar and spelling) crossed out the word spit and wrote "thats distasteful!" i'm still laughing about it! i mean, how am i to know what they have at home?? i'd rather spit than nothing!! heck, what does she think they do when short handed in the field?! (or large animal/equine!)

 

[Caiter92]

Any thoughts on trying to introduce 17 year old cats with a rambunctious (to put it nicely..) three year old? Is it just a disaster waiting to happen?

The three year old is great with other cats, I'm just mainly worried my old ladies won't handle it well since they're set in their ways. This isn't a "needs to happen right this second" thing, and I probably wouldn't be doing this till summer if I did.

So I may actually be bringing this boy home sometime next week (!!!). Fingers crossed it all works out. I'm still worried about how my cats will take it, but I think as long as I keep him out of their special places (they each have claimed one of the bedrooms as "theirs"), and go really slow with intros it will at least be peaceful and everyone will be happy.

 

[orca2011]

you dont need official lube, you can use pretty much anything...funny story time. i had a febrile kitten whose owners didnt have much money to diagnose/hospitalize, so i did out patient supportives and sent it home. in my discharges, i instructed the owners to monitor a rectal temp if they felt comfortable (or bring back for recheck temp the next day free of charge). i wrote the following in my discharges: "a plastic thermometer can be inserted approximately 1cm into the rectum every 12 hours. a small amount of lubricant should be applied to the end of the thermometer (petroleum jelly, ky jelly, soap, spit)." our discharges are read by senior clinicians after the fact and returned to us. the senior who read this particular discharge (was an english professor and is very picky about grammar and spelling) crossed out the word spit and wrote "thats distasteful!" i'm still laughing about it! i mean, how am i to know what they have at home?? i'd rather spit than nothing!! heck, what does she think they do when short handed in the field?! (or large animal/equine!)

Oh I've definitely used spit before for temps but for like an actual rectal exam I'd want a little more than that.

 

[cowgirla]

I think we settled on "Ivy." She decided she likes that better than the other options. Miss Ivy is Trouble with a capital T but highly entertaining! The world is her toy. Her motto- if you can't play with it, eat it and move on to the next thing.

 

[WildZoo]

Memo to my sweet betta Eponine: Ghost shrimp are friends, not food and you aren't even big enough to swallow the half of one that you're carrying around!

 

[Skimble]

Memo to my sweet betta Eponine: Ghost shrimp are friends, not food and you aren't even big enough to swallow the half of one that you're carrying around!

Oh yeah, bettas will attack just about any type of shrimp. I had one that killed a bamboo shrimp that was way bigger than the betta.

 

[WildZoo]

Oh yeah, bettas will attack just about any type of shrimp. I had one that killed a bamboo shrimp that was way bigger than the betta.

So much for my little natural ecosystem. At least she doesn't bother the snails.