<p>My cat is fat. The vet told me to wash his bottom for him with baby wipes because he can’t reach it himself. I’m doing it. I’m also brushing him every night since he can’t groom his back either. At least he’s clean now and he doesn’t smell so horrible. He purrs up a storm when I brush him and doesn’t mind the babywipe at all - in fact I think he likes that too (it’s better than shoving him in the bathtub when he gets so stinky you can’t stand it any more). </p>
<p>I also know someone who takes her cat on vacation. He is so used to the car that he behaves very well and she also finds pet friendly hotels. I can’t imagine that myself but I also worry about the kitties when I am away.</p>
<p>My mother-in-law tells my husband her cats are his sisters. I think that’s going too far…</p>
<p>*You know I love my cat when I insisted on being the one to give him his insulin shots when he was diagnosed with diabetes last month. Our vet gave a demonstration to DH and me, then I surprised myself (and the vet) by giving the injection perfectly. I still apologize and hug him each time.</p>
<p>Between the cat and the dog, I’ve spent at least $3000 since Nov. That is a lot of love!*</p>
<p>Been there. Had to give injections to my first Mittens (cat) before he passed two years ago. Right, now my Doxie Sammy is half shaved because he was diagnosed with cancer and had tumors removed in 3 different places on his body. I slept on the floor next to him during his early surgery recovery days. </p>
<p>At least my H says that he has no fears about how I’ll take care of him during his 'old age" since he’s seen how I dote on the pets when they’re sick/dying.</p>
<p>Oh, I’m sorry to hear about your dog, m2ck. That is the worst part of being a pet-parent. I think we love them fiercely because we don’t have them long.</p>
<p>*That is the worst part of being a pet-parent. I think we love them fiercely because we don’t have them long.
*</p>
<p>That’s true…as soon as we get them a bio-clock starts ticking in our heads as to how much longer we’re going to have them. As each year goes by, we know that we’re getting closer to losing them. :(</p>
<p>oldfort - my cats do, although it might be the tone more than the words. But they definitely tell time and they know what day of the week it is as well.</p>
<p>They don’t understand everything, but both dogs have a decent sized vocabulary. Their favorite words/phrases are, daddy’s home, walk, dinner, treat, bedtime, crate, bunny and go for a ride in the car!</p>
<p>When a thunder storm at night means you and your spouse will be taking turns comforting the pug until the storm passes. </p>
<p>When you take all of the combat pay your spouse earned in Iraq, spend it on chemo for your dog and consider it money well spent (nearly everyone we know set that money aside for their human children’s college fund.)</p>
<p>When you download your digital pics and realize there are ten pics of the dog for every one pic of the child!</p>
<p>Oldfort, I’m convinced my pug knows what “no” means and simply rejects it. When we say “NO!”, she’ll stop what she is doing, look at us with a lot of interest, then sloooowly resume whatever forbidden activity she was engaged in.</p>
<p>*As a non dog (or pet) owner, can you guys tell me if dogs can really understand what you are saying?
*</p>
<p>Absolutely! My dogs know…</p>
<p>Daddy’s home
Mommy’s home
Do you want to go bye bye (they run to the door to the garage)
Do you want to go outside (they run to the back door)
Do you want to take a nap with mommy (or daddy)? (they run to our bed)
Do you want a bath (they run to the tub)
Are you hungry? (they run to food area)
Do want water?
Do you want to go for a walk?
Where’s XXXXX? (They run to that child or parent or other pet)
Up up (means jump up on the couch and sit with mommy or daddy)
Down </p>
<p>I could go on and on…my dogs know lots of words.</p>
<p>They also know to watch for certain cues…like when I have my suitcase out, they know that we’re traveling so they try to get into the suitcase to be sure that they’re going, too. :)</p>
<p>I read somewhere that dogs know about as many words as a 3 year old. (maybe it’s a 2 year old). If we say the word “ear” our dog tries to hide because he hates his ear drops for when he has a yeast infection. He knows the names of family members, knows “dog park” “car” “bed” and many other words. He’s a pretty smart guy. He also knows routine. On Saturday after I do a long run he knows I usually take him to the dog park. If it is raining or the routine is going to be different, it is hard to explain.</p>
<p>I didn’t post it because I have lost several pets in the last few yrs ( mostly because I had a lot of older cats and an old golden retriever and felt a bit like a ghoul for mentioning it )
We lost one of our corgis earlier in the month. He wasn’t even three yrs old , but we learned he had Lyme disease that was dormant in his system since before we brought him into our home
Long story short…he was symptom free until about a month before his untimely death
It hit us VERY hard and I have to credit our pup’s breeder ( not the one we got him from ) for telling us to rule out medical problem when it seemed behavioral</p>
<p>I am not trying to be a buzzkill on a heartwarming thread , but the predictions for Lyme are not looking good for the Mid-lantic, Northeast region this year</p>
<p>We had our other two tested and subsiquently vaccinated against Lyme
Never want to deal with this again
Please do what you can to avoid your pets going thru this if you can head it off</p>
<p>Pugmadkate: have you tried the “Thundershirt” for your dog who is afraid of thunder? Works great for our big baby (cockapoo). They carry them at Petco and on the web.</p>
<p>My dachshund is not very intelligent, but he knows several words…drink, walk, breakfast, medicine (to him, meaning treat) cookie (treat), and Greenie, among others. He responds like a crazed dog to anything that rhymes with Greenie, so we have to be careful when we are talking.</p>
<p>He also got wise to the fact that “double-u ay ell kay” spelled walk…</p>
<p>It’s funny that a lot of his words seem to revolve around food!</p>
<p>What I really want to know is how he knows when I open a specific drawer to get his leash. There are 4 identical drawers in that cabinet that sound exactly the same to me. He never reacts unless someone opens that particular drawer.</p>
Not sure if he always understands what I’m saying (get that slanted head = huh? look), but I DO KNOW: My dog does understand what I am* feeling*.
… spoken by someone who "spoons’ her dog in the big bed.</p>
As each year goes by, we know that we’re getting closer to losing them. :(</p>