Animals and Pets
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Mysterious periodic pain issue in my cat Mayhem
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So this is my little guy Mayhem. He’s probably about 12 - 13 years old, and starting about 10 days ago, he developed an issue where something is periodically causing him pain. In the video, you can see him jerk his head back 3 times over the course of about 30 seconds. This is very mild, comparatively. Sometimes, it hurts him so much that he yelps when it hits, and it just makes me feel awful because I don’t know what I can do to help him.
He had a dental a couple months ago, and 4 of his teeth were removed. I suggested to his vet that it might be tooth pain, but he does not believe this to be the case. Mayhem’s gums look good, and he has no problems eating. Also, when he does want to play, his favorite game is “bite the shit out of the human’s hand”, and doing so doesn’t cause him to jerk or yelp in pain, so I don’t think it’s a tooth ache.
One suggestion the vet had is that it could be a pinched nerve. He gave Mayhem some muscle relaxers, but these did not have any effect on him; he still had the periodic pain at roughly the same frequency and intensity. The next step according to the vet is to do an MRI, but that’s going to be about $3000 - $4000, and might not find anything useful. If it’s absolutely necessary, I’ll find a way to make it happen, but that’s going to be quite a struggle for me, so I’m looking for other things I can try to troubleshoot what’s going wrong with him.
I know that this is a bit of a long-shot, but if anybody here has experienced a similar issue with their little guy, or has experience as a vet and can offer suggestions for things to check or medications to try, I would be grateful.
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Question about leaving a cat 1 week
Hi! I'll leave home for a whole week this spring and I'm wondering what's best for my 9 years old indoor cat. I have two options:
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Ask my retired mother to come home for like 30-45 minutes a day to replenish the food/water, empty the litter box and just be with the cat for a while (to pet her, play with her). My mother doesn't mind at all and has the time for this. My cat isn't shy with her.
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Bring the cat to a coworker who owns a caretaking company (at his home) for animals. The cat will be in an unknown environment but will have a human presence multiple times per day, will have her own room with food, water, toys and a litter box. My cat will never be totally alone because my coworker works from home. I'll need to pay him of course but money isn't an issue.
So... I don't know what's best for my cat. she's a rescue and was abandoned 2-3 times in her past. Should I go with 1, with a familiar environment but with less human presence or with 2, unfamiliar environment but with frequent interactions with a stranger?
Thanks for your input!
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This is my very good boy, Growlithe. He’s 10 years old and we were just informed he has a mass on his liver.
We’re not doing so well with the news. We’ve had him since he was a 8-week-old puppy, and we’re definitely not ready to say goodbye. He’s the sweetest and quietest husky you’ve ever met.
Anyway, I guess I’m posting just as a coping mechanism, but I guess post your messages for him or us, his caretakers, and we’d love to share them with him or appreciate your admiration for him.
Image Alt text: a smiling Siberian Husky in a yard with grass, a tree, and a brick feature in the background. The husky is looking upwards behind the camera. He has light blue eye, a black and white coat with a hint of tan on his legs, and a raccoon-like mask printing around his eyes.
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Streeeetchy claws
[Image description: A brown and white tabby cat on a couch near a window, cat has one paw out towards the camera with spread claws.]
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My spaniel mix boi!
this is Champion! he's a rescue and his face has since healed a bit more from his encounter with demodex mange. he was found on the side of the road in pain and unable to see, and had to go through treatment for most of his time as a puppy.
he has behavioral issues, like resource guarding, and has arthritis already (diagnosed when he was a year old) plus anxiety, but Champ is on medication and doing great! I'll be taking him in to get injection treatment for his arthritis soon too.
I'm just really proud of my little guy (he's thirty pounds) and where he's at, and wanted to show him off. he's my first dog that wasn't a family dog, too.
maybe soon I'll post his brother.
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Cute curled up snake in my garden
I'm not sure what kind this is, maybe an Eastern Garter Snake? I don't see many snakes around here.
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Group Picture
I now have an account on this instance. So here is the official greeting picture of the piggy gang, happily munching.
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There is a turtle in my yard
It likes digging holes. It hides in it's shell when I get close, but otherwise isn't bothered by us.
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Zoey enjoys to rest her head on the chair
Not sure why, maybe the metal is cold so she cools herself when she's a bit warm. Totally ignoring the cooling mat she got lol
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Watch this dog going absolutely wild for a ball
www.instagram.com 𝐤𝐨𝐝𝐚 ◡̈ on Instagram: "He always hops twice before trotting! 🤣🤣 ❊ ❊ #dogsmile #dogsmiling #australianshepherdsofinstagram #aussiepuppy #aussie #aussiesdoingthings #aussiesofig #aussiesofinstagram #dogmodelsearch #dogmodel #puppylife #bluemerle #instapuppy #bluemerleaussie #dogsofinstagram #newpuppy #toyaussie #toyaustralianshepherd #toyaussiesofinstagram #toyaussies"June 11, 2023 - 2M likes, 4,604 comments - 𝐤𝐨𝐝𝐚 ◡̈ (@koda.toy.aussie) on Instagram: "He always hops twice before trotting! 🤣🤣 ❊ ❊ #dogsmile #dogsmiling #australianshepher..."
From Boing Boing
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Saw this lovely polydactyly cat on my way to work recently.
Bonus sneaky hidden cat surprised me haha.
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This is Mochi
He is easily scared by stuff but still keeps on exploring and investigating new things. That makes him a very brave piggy in my opinion.
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Just a baby horse
Edited for accessibility: He's a white dun fjord, 6 weeks old, standing at a sporting square position looking to the camera with interested ears in front of his barn
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Make Way for Goslings!
Taken near Comicopia in Boston, MA.
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Squirrel thief
This little thief has been nicking the sunflower seeds we put out for the birds for a while now. I just can’t bear shooing him away, so we simply put up two more bird houses on the balcony for the birds which he’s not touching. One entire bird house to himself seems to be satisfactory!
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Fully Deaf. One good eye. Still 100% good boy. Meet Ford!
This is Ford. He's an Australian Sheppard who's deaf, and half blind. I adopted him about a week ago. Even with his disabilities, he is just happy to be your friend.
If you wanna follow Ford as he grows up, please give him a follow on instagram
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Can they get any cuter?!
This is one of my first plague lord babies, Obama. I often referred to him as the "ambassador of fancy rats" as he was incredibly calm, loving, easy going and inquisitive. Never once did he show even a hint of aggression.
My favourite activity with him was to cook extra steamed veggies and unseasoned bbq chicken with my dinner and let him sniff them out; he'd navigate out of his cage, across the floor and up my leg, where he'd grab a mouthful as big as his own self and run back to the food bowl in his cage and bury his stash in with the existing rat food.
His cagemate, Trump, would then take the fresh food and put it into their igloo. Obama hated that and would immediately take it back to the food bowl. They'd repeat this for hours, much to my delight. I'll post a video of this shortly.
I can't keep rats right now but my goal is to buy a place where I can have a dedicated "rat room" complete with tunnels, foraging areas and places for them to perch and hide, and adopt fancy rats that were surrendered to rescue organisations (which are surprisingly common) and give them all a great chance at life as they're incredibly beautiful and loving. I never thought rats could be such affectionate beings until I cared for them, and I've never looked back since <3 I'm definitely gonna be the 'crazy rat man' 🤣
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Tahi (Siamese Cat) enjoying some time in New Zealand Fernery (Ponga/Mamaku)
#cat #siamese #fern #newzealand
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We call these fosters the 3 orange popsicles
Brian, Gregory, and Kevin were brought to the shelter piled in a bucket with 7 other kitties after they were all found fleeing from a controlled rural ditch burn. These sweet babies were terrified, skinny, had mites, and had slightly singed whiskers.
4 weeks later they’re strong, fat, brave and silly! They’ll be off to adoption next week. I’m gonna miss them a lot, they were great fun. ❤️