??'s for you pet experts......

[Guest1]

Although I've had companion animals my whole life, I have a few questions that I'm totally bamboozled by.....


1 ~ Fish ~ Not so much a question, but has me .... Saturday morning, I scrubbed my fish tank really well and rinsed it even better.....hadn't been done in who knows how long......put the purified water & the algae stuff back in the tank and let it set.....Sunday afternoon I put the make-shift fish holding tank into the big tank so they could acclimate - I had 4 Bala Sharks, 2 Bottom Feeders, & several Tetra/Neons.....after the little tank sat in the big tank for several hours, I gently poured the little tank water & the fishies in the big tank - all but one shark was dead within a few hours.....I shook the tank & screamed "fishies - why are you sleeping" a few times, but they never woke up.....WHY did this happen?!?! I did it straight by the book......


2 ~ Cats ~ indoor/outdoor ~ how do you do that?? Buttercup has always been an indoor cat & has never shown the least bit of interest in being outside...Nemo on the other hand, claws at the door sometimes....I'm afraid if I let him out, he'll run off...he's chipped and all, but if the Animal peeps pick him up it'll cost me $50 to get him back - not a great prospect in my book...I had indoor/outdoor cats when I was growing up but I guess I never gave much thought to how they were "trained".....


3 ~ Cats again ~ okay - the jury is out on this one.....I used to be an animal rights activist - the whole 9 yards too, even got a free ride to the pokey once for a demonstration at our neighborhood Mickey D's - so it's odd to even think that I may be thinking about this......declawing.....yes....no.....is it cruel.....is it alright.....thoughts?? opinions?? I can't afford a new sofa & Nemo doesn't care much for his scratching post....


4 ~ Dogs ~ how in the world do you convince them that it's not a good idea to bark incessantly at the kitties, that not only do the kitties, but momme too, finds this very annoying.....it's not Zoë, it's Angel - she will not leave the cats alone.....both cats have drawn blood on her & she insists on barking & lunging (yes, I checked the spelling...) at the cats....what the heck??


Thanks for your time...I appreciate any expert advice/opinions/2¢ worth you may have to offer!

I would also like to reserve the right to add more later as I find myself growing increasingly more by my pet's behavior!!

[canadian gardener]

Hmm don't know about the fish, but sometimes stuff happens.

Charlie died on us (one of the 3 Betta's) a couple of weeks back. I felt terrible but it happens. Charlie jumped up and out of his bowl and straight down the drain which I'd stupidly left open, never thinking any fish could jump that far, arc THAT HIGH!!! and make it right down the drain as if aiming. (straight out of that finding Nemo film!)

James one of the others is stressed and I can't seem to do enough to make it unstressful. Austin is doing fine though and making fine bubble nests.

for the betta lovers, they are all in separate tanks and can't see each other.

Before my Samoyed died of extreme old age, my little Border collie really hated him. She always wanted to be an only dog! She is very happy since. Poor Trouper was always a gentleman but I never fixed that.

ah times up, gotta run

sending hugs!

[Kimmomo3]

for the fish how was the water temp? I acidentally froze some fish before. Do you test your ph? Might have been part of the problem. And if the tank was pretty dirty the abrupt change in water could shock the fish. You really never should change the whole tank at one time 1/2 the water at the most.

I have 3 angel fish, 2 bala sharks, and one gold fish(actually it is the kids but you know who takes care of it)

I have had them 3-4 years. At one time we had a saltwater tank, but that got to spendy and time consuming for us.

[dz_blonde_girl]

I don't think I have my cat trained. She might think that she has trained me. She stands on this side of the door to go out, she stands on that other side of the door to come in. She comes in to eat. She goes out to poop. Good kitty.

My cat is declawed, and so was my cat before her. I can't afford new furniture either and if she bats at the babies I know they won't be scratched. I think if you find a compassionate vet it'll be OK.

Thats my 2 cents.

[forestdale]

Yikes, I've never heard of having cats declawed. That doesn't happen here. But on the subject of your sofa: you need to understand why your cat is wrecking your sofa. Cats claw and scratch at things to mark their territory. They have glands in their feet that leave scents behind for other cats who may just happen along. You should make your sofa unattractive for him/her and make another place attractive. Can you make up a chilli spray and spray this on the sofa where the cat scratches? Nearby, have a lovely cat scratching post + some catnip wiped all over it to make it more attractive.

Another method of making him not scratch on the sofa is to have a squeeze bottle of water handy and when you see him scratch, squirt him with the water. He mustn't see that the water comes from you though. It must be a surprise to him. He needs to equate scratching the sofa with a sudden strange jet of water getting him, which he will, hopefully, hate.

PS - this is just my 2cents worth.

[dz_blonde_girl]

Squirt guns are excellent for keeping those kitties of the kitchen counter too!

[SewCrafty]

I vote for Bethany's suggestion before declawing. I only ever declawed one of my cats (my first Bubbie) and have regretted it ever since. It isn't nice and downright cruel.

Try the squirt bottle, works everytime here Deb and I have 10!! Don't put it on 'mist' make it streamlined! Mine can squirt from 10-15 feet away!

I don't let my kitties outside, I have strays outside that I feed and I haven't gotten mine all thier shots etc. so they can catch something from the ohters. Mine just go out onto our 2 screened in porches. I don't know what to tell you there.

Don't know a thing about fish.

Dogs - Angel is a puppy yes? If that is so, it sounds like she wants the kitties to play with her. Does she have some toys? An old white sport sock (what do you call them, a tube sock?) is great, just tie a couple of knots in it for her.

I'm sure the other's can come up with more ideas. My Peachie thought the cats were her personal play things, though she never hurt them just rolled them around with her nose. They liked it and went back for more every time.

[PrairieRose]

Fish are so "fragile". I had a couple of aquarium(s?do you use an s for plural?.....) for about 10 years and have killed more than my fair share of fish. (I'm ashamed to say).
Did you use any chemical when you cleaned your tank? Sometimes, no matter how well you rinse, rinse, rinse you still can't get it all out. I found the easiest method for cleaning the tank (easiest on the fish, not me) was to use a syphon pump, take out about 1/3 of the water per cleaning. Syphon the gravel, one little spot, moving to the next to clean the waste out of it (this goes into your bucket into the floor....great for plants-they love it). Use a scrubby that you only use for this purpose (ack! if it were to get mixed up with the one you use in the kitchen....I always had visions of Gimpy finding mine using it and telling me-I found this great scrubby in the strangest place and it really takes this grime off of that cast iron skillet you cooked that steak in-as I take a bite...er, I digress...sorry). Anyway use that scrubby to clean the algae off the glass and the pretties in the tank. I always (well after several mass fish murders) would pour up my water for the next day and let it sit out over nite to acclimate and declorinate, that seemed to be the biggest help of all. Anyway, my point is (I guess I could have said this in many less words....) the fewer chemicals you add the better the fish do. Lemme know if you have any other questions....I've killed the best of em

We had an indoor/outdoor cat. I kept a litter box but she mostly went outdoors and would go to the door and cry to go out. I loved that cuz my litter box didn't get dirty very often. I even had a cat declawed once........You might try that clear packing tape where the cat is scratching, it helped stop another cat we had (she would claw at the carpet under the bedroom doors when they were shut....she hated being shut out of any room). That's my best suggestion on that one.

For the dog and cat thing. We have this problem when dd brings her female boxer (who had never seen a cat before). We have to use the pressure nozzle on the water hose (our cats are outdoor cats cuz they wouldn't mind their manners anymore) on the dog anytime she looks crossways at the cats. She has now backed off to just looking like she wants to get them. We can just move the water hose and she backs down. Good luck with the fur and fin babies.....they are a lot of work, aren't they