spaying on Tax Day

[sergebroom]

Comments

poor kitty

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

At least you'll remember it if you have to pay for city licenses....

And today Siegfried

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

despite his neutering, pissed his sister off enough that she was doing the "Ferret Dance" on the landing and hitting at him. (Ferret dance = arched back, tail puffed, bouncing on stiff legs...)

the wailing and fighting of the feral cats outside has caused the sap to rise. Dammit. (All three girls are mad at Siegfried right now.)

Re: And today Siegfried

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, until yesterday, Agatha used to be the one who'd jump on Jefferson and wrestle the fat goofball, who's about 5 times her weight. She's not doing much of that for now. Of course she managed to get rid of the collar very quickly yesterday. They'd put that on her after the surgery because she kept licking her stitches, but she's shown no interest in doing that so I'm not too worried. Just as well she got it off. Yesterday night, she tried to jump on the computer desk, and the collar caught on the edge of it and she fell back. I tried to pick her up, but she started yowling. I don't know if her belly is as tender right now, but I'm not going to risk hurting her.

My main concern right now is that she's not much interested in food. On the other hand she purred when I stroked her.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

You've come up with a way of taxing your cats, I see.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

And since cats have nine lives, I can keep on taxing her again and again and again. Bwahahahah!!!

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

You must be getting a refund!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

So says the litter of the law?

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Be careful sheriff -- I hear she's looking for the man who shot her paw.

Besides, raiding the kitty means taking money out of the jar in the kitchen, not taking the gonads out of your cats. Just sayin'.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I had meant to ask you about that since I posted your photo in that Making Light gallery... Did someone shoot your dog's paw on purpose? That wouldn't surprise me, as our doguette Nahla had her tail and ears cut off as a puppy before being abandonned in the desert with the rest of her litter. Considering what some people do to other humans, I'm not surprised at the cruelty inflicted upon non-humans, who feel pain and fear and happiness just as much as we do.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry! No, that's a joke, based on the "Pa" vs "Paw" for "father". I have seen dogs with old pellets inside them, but never anyone deliberately shooting a dog. The ears/tail docking is unfortunately something that still lingers in parts of the country, and for some breeds. My generation of veterinarians was not taught to dock ears or tails, and I hope they continue that.

Very few people actually set out to abuse an animal, except for those who are abusive to other people. When a dog is extra submissive, it's mainly a mis-treated dog, and it's more of a misunderstanding on the part of the human regarding the proper way to train a more submissive dog. Nervous animals need more positive reinforcement.

Our dogs came to us just a few months ago. We'd had to euthanize our elderly dog after he clearly had some sort of catastrophic brain event, and a few weeks after that we visited some dogs being shown by the local branch of Lab Rescue. We ended up driving about 3 hours south to meet these two who needed a new home. The man who'd owned them had died, the son had taken them for a while but his girlfriend didn't like dogs (or dogs that big) and his sister couldn't take proper care of them, so they'd voluntarily released them to the Lab Rescue group. They're very sweet and well-behaved dogs, other than liking to tear apart plastic bags for the food that must be inside. We've learned not to leave plastic bags lying around.

All paws are ok. ;-)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

What? A pun went right past me?
I've been hoisted on my own pawtard.

I'm happy to hear that few people actually go out of their way to abuse animals. In Nahla's case, whoever chopped her ears and tail off (and that wasn't very well done, our vet said) abandonned the whole puppy litter way out in the desert, and the only reason they didn't die is that some hiker found them.

And there are people who simply abandon their animals. Or they ignore them, which is close to abuse with social animals like dogs. Or parrots. I remember seeing a documentary about those birds, and the one thing I remember (besides being told that they're quite smart) was when they showed a parrot who kept tearing its feathers out because it had gone crazy out of loneliness.

Then again, there are animals who get a good life - yours and ours, for example.

Regarding Agatha... She quickly regained her appetite yesterday morning. She's left her scar alone, and it looks normal. Agatha is back to pouncing around although not as energetically as usual. I guess she's stil feeling a bit tender. I notice that she enjoys curling up on Sue, but ignores me. All I'm good for is tossing that rod-cum-string around for her daily exercise regimen. My feelings are hurt.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

No! Surely not you?

As for people who chop off ears/tails and/or abandon animals -- all I can say is, they'd better never run into me in a dark alley, or I'll pull out the Elastrator (tm), and the succinylcholine chloride -- and administer it with the dull rusty needles.

Yes, some types of psittacines are very social animals; cockatoos in particular are highly gregarious and need a lot of social contact. African Greys can do better in a one-on-one situation (one bird, one person), but they're a more stand-offish breed of bird. Just because all the AGs I've ever met decided to bite me...

Agatha will take a little longer to bounce all the way back; as long as she is not showing signs of pain, she'll do fine. You'd be tender too if they opened up your abdomen. At least you're good for something besides opening another can of food. ;-)

The other night when I had a migraine that got severe, I was sitting on the recliner part of the couch with two cats curled up on me. Very comforting. Usually I am nothing more than a scratcher and provider of soft tasty food. :-)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

No! Not the Elastrator!!!

That reminds me of my mom's reaction when I said I had had a vasectomy. "Doesn't that make you stupid?" She thought that a vasectomy was the same thing as castration.

Cats... Jefferson, our older cat, also loves curling up on Sue's lap. Unfortunately, sometimes he gets spooked by things unseen and he launches himself off, digging his claws into her thighs in the process. As for me, yes, I'm there for the dry food, the water, the litter. Oh well.

[pedanther]

But castration doesn't make you stupid either, usually. Could she have been thinking of "lobotomy"?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

She grew up on a farm, and maybe she was thinking of horses who, after the removal, became much quieter, more placid. I know, that's not stupidity either, but that's the word she used. Interestingly, her reaction to those news was nothing compared to the stunned silence with which she greeted the annoucement that I had become an American citizen.

Go figure.