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Animal companions in our happy homes

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  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    RIP Griffon, 🕯for all who loved him.
  • Oh, I am so sorry. Good cats are great.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    ST, so sorry about Griffon. Cats like than leave such a gap in your life.
  • I don't frequent this thread very much, but would like to say that I am sorry about Griffon too. Our cats become such wonderful companions...and their loss is a huge sadness.
  • Yes
  • My dog is real therapy for me. And I was late to dogs. They can be so sweet. So appreciative and motivated.
  • caroline444caroline444 Shipmate
    edited February 2021
    Yesterday in the park there was a little Maltese terrier type of dog in the park, with glistening white silky fur, but only about half way along her body. She appeared to be trying to dig a hole through to Australia, and the other half of her body was black with mud and down the hole. It looks like she was having a good time. :mrgreen:

    The park was incredibly muddy in general, and I was wondering how people cope with their (very) muddy dogs when they get home...
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host

    The park was incredibly muddy in general, and I was wondering how people cope with their (very) muddy dogs when they get home...

    Mine get hosed down outside. Then I use Aquasorb towels. They are amazing, you keep them in a plastic tube, damp. So you rinse them out or wash them - then wring them out and use again. No drying towels around the place. :)

  • @Boogie I just looked them up - those Aquasorb towels sound outstanding. So counter-intuitive to those of us used to cotton towels. How extraordinary that you store them damp too! Whoda thought?
  • How do they not mold? I’m interested for my pandemic length hair.
  • I’m hoping to take Pixie caravanning with me so have started to get her and the caravan ready. She is getting used to a pretty collar that has a tag with my mobile number on and will have a tag showing our pitch number at each site, just in case she goes for an independent wander. She is getting used to a harness so she can come for walks/meanders with me. I’m in the process of making a screen for the caravan door that will stop her from escaping when I open the door from the outside - hopefully it’ll also stop flies from coming in.
    She’s coming along in leaps and bounds - she’s done so well since she arrived almost 3 months ago as a scaredy cat. Hopefully she’ll be so used to all this and take to caravanning when I take her in April or May for a trial run.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    How do they not mold? I’m interested for my pandemic length hair.

    They are used every day twice a day. I occasionally give them a wash in the washing machine.

    I can’t imagine them working for human hair. They don’t so much dry the dogs as de-mud them and get the worst of the wet out.

  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    daisydaisy wrote: »
    I’m hoping to take Pixie caravanning with me so have started to get her and the caravan ready. She is getting used to a pretty collar that has a tag with my mobile number on and will have a tag showing our pitch number at each site, just in case she goes for an independent wander. She is getting used to a harness so she can come for walks/meanders with me. I’m in the process of making a screen for the caravan door that will stop her from escaping when I open the door from the outside - hopefully it’ll also stop flies from coming in.
    She’s coming along in leaps and bounds - she’s done so well since she arrived almost 3 months ago as a scaredy cat. Hopefully she’ll be so used to all this and take to caravanning when I take her in April or May for a trial run.

    Our cat, Smudge, used to come on our narrowboat with us every weekend. She’d be out all night and always sitting on the hatch ready to come in in the morning. She’d then sleep the day away on one of the beds, much to the admiration of passers by.

    🐈‍⬛

  • Boogie wrote: »
    How do they not mold? I’m interested for my pandemic length hair.

    They are used every day twice a day. I occasionally give them a wash in the washing machine.

    I can’t imagine them working for human hair. They don’t so much dry the dogs as de-mud them and get the worst of the wet out.

    Drat.
  • daisydaisy wrote: »
    I’m hoping to take Pixie caravanning with me so have started to get her and the caravan ready. She is getting used to a pretty collar that has a tag with my mobile number on and will have a tag showing our pitch number at each site, just in case she goes for an independent wander. She is getting used to a harness so she can come for walks/meanders with me. I’m in the process of making a screen for the caravan door that will stop her from escaping when I open the door from the outside - hopefully it’ll also stop flies from coming in.
    She’s coming along in leaps and bounds - she’s done so well since she arrived almost 3 months ago as a scaredy cat. Hopefully she’ll be so used to all this and take to caravanning when I take her in April or May for a trial run.

    I usually worry when people say they are taking their cats on holiday, as it's so easy for them to wander off and get lost - but you sound as though you've been fantastically thoughtful and well-organized. I hope you and Pixie have a wonderful time.
  • @caroline444 thank you. I am terrified of losing her, but she is more of a house cat than an outdoors one, and mostly stays in my tiny garden when she goes out for about an hour each morning. When we are away she’ll have her harness on when we go outside. Her background is such that if I leave her at my lovely cattery she’ll probably think I’ve abandoned her, so I want to avoid that. I’m hoping it means we can go on a few Grand Tours of the UK.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    I saw an amazing cat on a lead and harness yesterday near our local lake. He was really friendly, even with dogs around.

    @caroline444 we travelled every canal in the U.K. when we had our narrowboat, so our cat was out and about in a different place every night - she never failed to be back on board by dawn.

    :mrgreen:
  • Boogie wrote: »
    I saw an amazing cat on a lead and harness yesterday near our local lake. He was really friendly, even with dogs around.
    This is what I aspire to. Pixie is only 2 years old and is young enough to adapt. She has met next door’s dog who has 2 cats of her own.

    My childhood cat, a Siamese, came with us everywhere and had many adventures, especially when the nearby navy types took a liking to him.

    My first cat as an adult wasn’t phased by anything and came camping with me.

    Other cats were at a time when I did very little camping or caravanning and when I went away they had the luxury of a house sitter or Moggy minder (came in to feed and play). My most recently previous cat would have freaked out with caravanning - she didn’t even like being in the car for 5 minutes.

    But Pixie seems to be taking changes in her stride. It won’t be long before I start taking her over to the caravan in storage to get her acclimatised to her new surroundings.
  • My son came over to our new home and picked up some furniture that we do not have room for and he wanted. Molly the pup who adores him became very upset, crying at the door and watching him from the window as he moved things into his van. She would then run back and forth between us. We finally decided that as he was moving things out of the house she may have thought we were moving again. After he drove away she was fine.
    It was one of those times when you wished that you could explain things so she would understand what was going on.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Aaah - poor Molly! :cry:
  • A couple of years back our cat reached the end of her Very long life, then another move and a year in and the dog reached the end of his.
    After this winter the three very large garden pond fish died.

    Whichever way we look at it, this household is utterly without pets now. It’s been a while
  • I have discovered that Pixie is terrified of flies. Or scared of the fly that suddenly appeared in the kitchen. That doesn’t bode too well for the summer - not that this place is infested but I certainly get the occasional visitor.
  • caroline444caroline444 Shipmate
    edited February 2021
    @daisydaisy It sounds to me like you have every change of forging a lovely travelling companion in Pixie. How weird that she doesn't like flies though - perhaps she was once playing with a wasp and got stung or something?

    @Boogie My family had a narrowboat too, and we travelled on a lot of the canals... There is no nicer way of seeing the countryside. How amazing though that your cat would happily get off the boat when you moored at night, and then return at dawn! So much for the usual advice that you should keep a cat indoors for 2 weeks when you move (although for some cats I think this is sensible advice.) Was your cat a Siamese by any chance?
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    edited February 2021
    She was a glorious moggie. She was called Smudge because she was white with patches of all kinds. Some ginger, some tabby, some black and some grey.

    She had one kitten in her life and I, very foolishly, found him a new home with my friend. He was black and white.

    Foolish because Mr Boogs doesn’t like cats but he really took to the kitten. By now we’d both be cat people if I’d kept him.
  • @Boogie Very interesting! I thought she might be a Siamese because they seem to be extra intelligent and friendly, but no, you just had a very special moggie.

    No-one who knows what you do now could regret that you moved onto dogs :smiley:
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    The day has come. Echo was picked up at 10am to got to Big School and his new life and new adventures.

    Go well lovely boy, work hard and play lots. You’ll always have a place in our hearts.

    Go now and do us proud. 🐾💕

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/byYAHgGwr6PQPQUt6

    I took this portrait just before he left -

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/AEYgiJ3uuzfGHByZ6




  • I know it is what you have been working towards and that you have done it before, but you will also miss him!
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Cathscats wrote: »
    I know it is what you have been working towards and that you have done it before, but you will also miss him!

    I have had a good weep , there will be more tears.

    I’m now reflecting that this is a lot like sending your child off to university.

    At first you wonder what they are doing - every five minutes. The house has a huge hole in it and you wait constantly for them to get in touch.

    Then, as time goes on, it becomes the new normal and you think about them a few times a day, but you get into a rhythm of contact (Depending on the child - one of mine does video calls at least once a day, the other phones once a week if we are lucky!)

    My own dog, Tatze, doesn’t even notice!

    I think maybe this is because the puppy is out and about without her every day - with one of us for his training.

    So maybe she just sees him being ‘out’ as normal. The fact that he doesn’t come back doesn’t seem to phase her. Maybe because we never have a routine for walks and training, so neither dog is waiting for their turn.

    🤔

    So long as she’s had her breakfast, kong and walks she’s just fine. She will fuss a lot if one of those is missing!

    🐕


  • @Boogie Echo is on his way to revolutionizing somebody's life, thanks to all your hard work. I agree though, big goodbyes are tough. Will you get any news of him in the future?
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    @Boogie Echo is on his way to revolutionizing somebody's life, thanks to all your hard work. I agree though, big goodbyes are tough. Will you get any news of him in the future?

    Yes, his trainer will keep me up to date with his progress. 🙂

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Good luck, beautiful Echo! :heart:
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Echo is such a beauty. Good work, @Boogie.
  • @Boogie Glad to hear that you will get updates...
  • Yes, and let us know?
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Boogie, I'm so grateful for people like you who start these dogs on their life changing journeys! Echo will be the biggest blessing for some lucky person!
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    edited February 2021
    Chaos in the North East home this morning.

    My husband and I were in separate work Zoom meetings this morning when the postman called with a parcel. I didn't hear because I had headphones on. My husband answered the door while holding his laptop to keep following his meeting. Elizabeth dashed out the door; she doesn't normally get out the front door as we prefer her to stay in the back. But my husband couldn't juggle his lap top, the parcel and the escaping cat.

    He went back to work leaving the door open for Elizabeth to come back in. Twenty minutes later there was a horrendous noise, like an invasion of banshees. We both abandoned our Zoom meetings. Another cat had come in and Elizabeth had it cornered in our hall way. They were both yowling and hissing. I grabbed Elizabeth while my husband tried to get the other cat. Intruder Cat, who had no idea how to get out was running at full tilt round our house, while my husband tried to herd him/her out. You know what they say about herding cats!

    Eventually Intruder Cat spotted the open door and escaped. Elizabeth, as is her wont when over-wrought, promptly threw up twice and peed on our carpet.

    What was in the parcel, I hear you ask? It was a new, raised level drinking bowl for Elizabeth.


    She is lucky that she is adorable.

  • Oh poor Elizabeth - but the cause of the incident made me chuckle.

    Pixie now has a collapsible crate suitable for a large dog (but I won’t be telling her that!) for her to chill out in outside the caravan. This is instead of a cat tent that arrived this morning but 2 of the poles were broken, which didn’t bode well so I went for a refund rather than a replacement. Her food is inside it and she seems happy with that. Her door screen is getting there - due to lockdown we won’t be going anywhere soon so there is no hurry for that. I just hope she takes to caravanning after all this preparation.
  • I looked out of the kitchen window this morning to notice a large grey and white cat sitting in my neighbor's birdbath. He/she? stayed there very still for a good 20 minutes. As we just moved here I am not sure who this kitty belongs to, but I admire her strategy.
  • In the water? An unusual cat!
  • Very strange cat. Pixie doesn’t even like a bit of drizzle (she seems to be put out about today’s weather)
  • I am guessing that there was not any water in the birdbath, but I could not tell from my window.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Echo’s trainer has sent me a photo. He’s working really well and learning his lessons. He’s settled nicely at his boarders, they are first time GD boarders but had a Lab of their own until recently and her brother has two Golden Retrievers.

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/iGjXnCG4cspFJi8C8
  • Echo looks gorgeous :heart: Plus the woman looks a promising chest scratcher. Always useful!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    What an absolutely beautiful dog - and HUGE! :)
  • Forgive me if someone has mentioned this already, but I've seen warnings about flea collars in the US, particularly the 'Seresto' brand giving severe, sometimes fatal allergic, reactions to pets. Just wanted to mention in case it's helpful.
  • We had to say good-bye to Casey, our wonderful Golden Retriever, this afternoon. I don’t think I’ve ever known a dog as full of joy and love for everyone he encountered as Casey was. He was a living sermon.

    And he was determined. He lived to be 13½, which is years longer than I’ve ever known a Golden to live; the vet said he’d gotten through the past year on pure willpower.

    We've known the time was coming, and it became clear today that the time had indeed arrived and that it was the right and compassionate thing to do. But damn, this sucks.

  • Very sorry to hear. It is very hard to make the decision to put down an old and infirm pet.

    Albertus Magnus of blessed memory(feline) was sent to heaven via the green dream in 2014 at the grand old age of 16 and a half. It is a wrench and he left a large hole in our lives.
  • Thank you. Yes, it is hard; I’ve had to make that decision, and it’s never easy. But fortunately, we both knew it was the right decision. Respiratory issues were catching up with him and he was struggling, and we knew it could only get worse as the weather got warmer.

    But yes, he leaves a big hole.

  • @Nick Tamen You have my sympathy. Losing our pets can be a dreadful wrench, but doing what you did is the last great kindness. RIP Casey.....
  • Ooh, I'm sorry.
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