r/Pets

We have neighbors whose 2 dogs (one a german sheppard looking breed the other a large dog too) keep coming into our yard, which in and of itself, we don't care about. But they come over when our dog is out and they have swarmed contractors that come to our house, causing them visible fear. We too are fearful. We have several cats we'd like to let outside supervised together, but we have to let them out only one at a time and stay less than 3 feet away from them at all times due to fear of these dogs running over and potentially killing the kitty before we can grab the cat back up into our arms to protect it. We are scared of the dogs too. And they have entered our garage and even tried coming in through our front door while letting a contractor try to enter. We have elderly parents that could get knocked over. The dogs have always been nice and we haven't seen any agression, but we really want them to stay out of our yard. The owners have been outside multiple times when this happens and they call the dogs back but the dogs don't listen. It takes them yelling loudly and repeatedly before the dogs even think about listening. We want to leave a note in their mailbox asking them to try something DIFFERENT to keep them out of our yard. I used Chat GPT. Can you guys tell me if this would offend anyone and if I should change anything? We don't want them to dislike us.

Dear Neighbors,

We wanted to reach out regarding your dogs because we have become increasingly concerned about some ongoing safety issues involving our home and family.

First, we want to say that we are not upset with you, and we understand dogs can be difficult to control at times — especially when they get excited. We know you care about them, and we appreciate that you do try to call them back when they come over.

That said, the dogs have repeatedly come into our yard, garage, and once tried entering our home, even while you have been outside with them. We are becoming genuinely concerned that eventually someone — or one of the animals — could get injured.

We have our own dog, as well as cats that we occasionally bring outside under supervision, and we are worried there could eventually be a fight or incident involving the animals. Today, one of the dogs came close enough to one of our cats while supervised that we had to react quickly to prevent something from happening.

We are also especially concerned about guests and visitors to our home. We have elderly parents and service workers over to our home with some frequency. The dogs have approached workers and visitors multiple times, including one contractor who was clearly frightened when the dogs reached him. We worry our parents could potentially be knocked over, and we are concerned that if a worker or visitor were injured or felt threatened, it could create a liability issue for everyone involved.

We are kindly asking that additional measures be taken to keep the dogs restrained and off our property going forward. We genuinely want to maintain a good relationship as neighbors, and we hope this can be resolved cooperatively and amicably before any accident or misunderstanding occurs.

Again, please know we are not upset, and we do like your dogs and we see that they have not acted aggressively — we just want to address the situation to prevent any injuries to pets and people alike.

Thank you for your understanding

Over the years I have amassed the ashes of 4 pets now, 3 of which were large dogs and 1 a cat. So in total it's a large volume of ashes. Each time I swear I'll do something with the ashes but I don't know what to do with them. At this point I have a cabinet we call the graveyard that we never open because it's too sad.

My current dog is sadly nearing her end and I really don't want to just add her to my sad stack of boxes. I would love to do something with all of them this summer but I just don't know what.

I live in the Midwest. Large city, no yard. I'm willing to travel anywhere in the US with them. Any suggestions?

Okay, so to preface, I do NOT recommend this for an older cat or a cat that isn’t trainable. They are expensive, and definitely an investment. A lot of cats would just ignore it and then it would be a waste of money.

That being said, I knew my cat was trainable because I harness trained him. He’s very treat motivated, and he was only a year old when we got the cat wheel. So he was still at a very trainable age.

I encouraged him to use it with a teaser toy and some treats, and now when he gets the zoomies at night he runs on it.

He used to just cause chaos in the middle of the night XD

Currently my cat is 18 years old. Just this morning he stopped being able to walk on one of his hind legs. At first I didn’t know what was going on until I came up to him and saw how he couldn’t stand up straight and when trying to walk normally, he would end up rolling over and laying down (which is something he’s never done before). My cat is blind and has arthritis, I feel like I should’ve done better for him, and it’s to a point now where I feel like he’s in such pain and misery but I can’t really even tell. I just turned 18 myself and I can’t even afford paying the vet bills for him nor do I have any insurance to help cover the bills too. I don’t know what I can do and his arthritis has never gotten to this point before. I think the best option may be to put him down but I really have no clue if this would be the right choice to make. Since he is already at such an old age, i think even with medication for him, he still can pass unexpectedly soon. I wouldn’t want to keep him longer if he already isn’t able to do much anymore, it seems selfish. If there is possibly anyway where I can actually help him I want to take that chance but I’m more so heavily leaning into putting him down. Please help me and give advice on what I should do. Thank you

Edit: I had went to the vet and they said there was treatment available but the chance of him getting better was extremely low. Unfortunately I did have to put him down. Thank you guys for your help, I did get a nose and paw print as a memory of him.❤️🐾

ok so the multiply by 7 rule for pet ages has been bothering me for

a while now. apparently its just made up from the 1950s with no

actual biology behind it, just someone doing rough math like "dogs

live 10 years, humans live 70, so 1 dog year = 7 human years" and

thats it. but if you think about it a 1 year old labrador is already

sexually mature and basically full grown which is way closer to a 15

year old human than a 7 year old kid. a 7 year old great dane is

already geriatric while a 7 year old chihuahua is still middle aged

so the math really depends on the size of the dog which most calcs

dont take into account.

apparently the akc actually uses a different formula that factors in

weight. small dogs (under 20 lbs) age about 4 human years per dog

year after age 2, medium dogs around 5, large dogs around 6, and

giant breeds around 7. theres also a 2019 ucsd study (the wang et al

paper if anyones nerdy enough to look it up) that mapped dna

methylation patterns to figure out a more accurate aging curve.

cats are similar but body size matters way less for them, indoor

lifestyle matters way more. indoor cats average 15 to 17 years,

outdoor cats average like 2 to 5 because of cars and predators.

genuinely curious tho, has your vet ever told you your pet is

"older" or "younger" than what the x7 rule says? feels like most

large breed owners are underestimating their pets age by years and

small breed owners are overestimating, but i could be wrong.

My little girl still hasn't come home. Today it's devastating 35 days.
She's 1 y.o., spayed tortie. She likes to hunt and be outside, brought us lots of mice recently. We live in a city suburban area, in a private house with our own yard and garden.
We don't have any predators here: dogs in our area are kept in yards and are rarely seen on the streets.

I've tried to look everywhere, asked people to open their sheds, hung up posters twice, made posts in social media (I update them constantly), exposed my smelly laundry and her mat, on which she likes to sleep. I call for her several times per day - but there's still no answer.

I asked our closest neighbors to do the same - they originally brought the kitten, but we've decided to take responsibility for her and then sterilized her, made all vaccinations and kept inside during winter (but the always demanded to go outside even there were negative temperatures).

But now it's sunny and warm, she has lots of interest points. The most recent info - she was spotted by the man, who lives on the next street two and half weeks ago.

The street overlooks the river, and this man spotted her moving between the vegetable gardens in the yards and the river. There are plenty of people living there - they possibly could feed her; the weather is nice now, and there's access to water - the slope down to the river is gentle, so there's a chance she basically survives.

But she still hasn't come, even though she's about 250 meters away. We've gone out several times, walked along the river along that street, but she still hasn't come out when we call. She probably moves to a more convenient time. We have a curfew (I live in Ukraine), so it's impossible to go out very early in the morning or late at night.

So I'd like to ask, have your cats ever returned after more than a month, and what condition were they in?

I read that you shouldn't give up on a cat search for at least 2-3 months.

Though I'm absolutely cracked and not getting any joy from everyday activities, I won't give up; she's the joy of my life and my only refuge.

And until there's any negative evidence, this story isn't over.

Long post.

My neighbour died a few months ago. Her husky is still there with a partner that doesn't really want her. She's been used to being inside but is now spending all her time outside. She howls. She is unhappy. She lies where she can see the front yard and stays there most of the day. When I talk to her she doesn't even raise her head.

The partner was hospitalised for 3 weeks. He asked neighbours to feed the dog. They provided her with a rug to lie on at the back door. When he came home the rug was removed. I don't know whose it was. He was home for a few weeks and is now back in hospital. The rug is back thankfully as it is getting rather cold.

I think she is depressed. It is so sad to hear her howl and not even look up when spoken to.

I feel she needs a home where she can get attention and walked. She's about 8. She was never regularly walked. I hate to see this neglect but I don't know what to do.

Any advice appreciated.

So my cat is 3 years old and this boy meows all day for food. He’ll literally sit at his food bowl and meow until he gets a treat or food. I feed him wet food 2 times a day (once mixed with a multivitamin mouse and a Omega-3 blend) as his vet recommended and he also gets 1/3 of cup of dry food 3 times a day. Plus he gets 2 churros and about 10-15 temptations a day. Even with all that he still requests food idk what to do, he’s completely healthy the vet says to find him something to keep him distracted or simply ignore him but it’s highly annoying when you’re trying to study for finals or trying to get your 5 month old to sleep. Any advice?

Hello, seeking some advice here. We have 2 very well behaved sweet female cats. We decided to adopt a dog this weekend. She is 6.5 years old according to her teeth. They are not sure exactly how old but they gave her her age based on her teeth. She just had puppies about a month ago and stopped nursing a week ago. She is pretty well behaved for likely being a stray, but also very skiddish and under confident. We brought her home last Saturday. She’s currently on 2 gabapentin twice a day. Sunday morning our cat was walking by her and did a little flip after rubbing on some boxes nearby and she ran at her. Didn’t try to bite but got up suddenly and ran/ lunged at her. Definitely freaked us out but it was only the first day. Everything has been fine since, the cats have warmed up and she has a little as well, tolerated the cats anyways. She won’t look at them and whines when they’re around sometimes but hasn’t acted out since the first day. Just now she heard a noise by her food and water bowl and got up to look and it was my cat drinking water form her bowl. She did not look pleased and I told her to stop it and she walked away. She then went back to her bed heard the cat drinking water again and slightly lunged at her but didn’t get that close.

My question is, is the gabapentin clouding over her prey driven aggression towards the cats? Or is it making her more jumpy/ flinchy? My biggest fear is our cats getting hurt because we overlooked her prey driven instincts. She’s in a very fragile state of her life after giving birth, missing her babies and a whole new environment in medication. She’s a very sweet dog and well mannered but I could never forgive myself if something happened. Will the weirdness wear off eventually or should we call it and give her back to the shelter? She’s getting spayed on Friday and we are currently fostering her through her medical procedure.

Shelters and breeders make it very clear that they'd prefer for you to return an animal who isn't a good fit (ex. biting, causing excessive damage) for your family rather than sell it/give it away.

But, I had an experience with returning an animal to a shelter and was told I would no longer be eligible to adopt a pet of the same species. Like, ever. I talked to a coworker of mine and she said the same thing happened to her at a pet store (even though she actually was able to adopt another animal after complaining to higher management).

The result has been that I now will never return an animal that's a poor fit, if this happens again. Shelter, breeder, doesn't matter. I've also lost all trust in organization/store staff, and don't feel inclined to be honest with them again-- it makes me want to smile and nod and fill out applications with whatever I think they're looking for rather than be honest.. and of course, just avoid them altogether and adopt privately from local ads. (I'm a little angry, if you can't tell.)

I'm really wondering if these organizations have thought this through..? It seems to me like they're incentivizing dishonesty & selling/giving away animals at best or at worst, dumping them. I would've thought that returning an animal would be the best option for everyone involved, including the animal.

Looking for an explanation/insight..?

I’m losing my mind trying to find a litter box that doesn’t make my whole apartment smell bad within a day.

Need something compact with good odor control and less litter tracking. I keep seeing people recommend automatic ones but I can’t tell if they’re genuinely worth it or just overhyped.

Apartment cat owners, what setup actually made the biggest difference for you?

With summer coming up, I’m planning to buy a crate for my small dog. I’m a first-time dog owner, so I’d really appreciate any advice on size, material or anything else？

as you read in the title I'm very much not joking, please read this carefully because I'm going to describe how the incident went.

I'm a cat owner that's been raised in a household that always had a couple cats around, so I know how to take care of cats and how to raise them healthy and normally.

a few months ago around february-march I was in school and a cat was walking around the hallways, she looked like a siamese cat and she was very much scared and soaked and skinny. I skipped a few classes to stay with her and ended up taking her home with me at the end of the day.

she's around 9-10 months old I'm pretty sure and she's had the same diet as the rest of my cats, cat food mixed with tuna. so she's pretty healthy and doesn't really have any issues or complications of health.

today, I let her out of my house when I went to school for my final exam, she's not strictly an indoor cat and she always comes back home around noon. when I was walking back home though I saw a cat and I recognized her as my baby (her name's rain) when I went to grab her and got closer, I realized she was eating a kitten, obviously I screamed at the sight and tried to get her away from the corpse but she bit into it and ran.

she came home later on like usual, I'm scared for my other cats because I have kittens around the same age as the deceased one. I'm confused why she would eat another cat when her diet is pretty good for her weight and I'm very worried what if the kitten was sick and she's going to get sick too.

I told my mom and she said she'll take her to the vet on the weekend but I'm scared, is this normal behavior or do I have to do something? what do I even do in this situation?.

Hi All! I have two small dogs, 10 and 13 lbs. I am considering getting a doggie door and would appreciate any advice from ppl who have one. Our back door is mostly glass (not a slider) so we would have to get a new back door too. I'm assuming it would be small enough that criminals couldn't use it to get in.
Do you have any advice on do's and dont's of installing and using a doggie door? We have a fenced in backyard, so they would be safe going in and out, but I've never had one and don't know anyone who's had one, so want to start off on the right foot with it.
Thank you for any feedback and advice. :)

Edit to add: I don't have a good option to put it in the wall, so it would have to be a new back door (current glass door is not a slider).

I feel awful for even making this post, and it’s probably because I just keep sitting on this message and not responding. But I’ve never owned a cat before, this will be our first animal adopted, so I need some guidance

Signed the paperwork this past Saturday to adopt the sweetest domestic short hair. My partner and i met her the week before and loved her. We knew this cat was going to be gone quickly, however he had a trip planned this week and wanted to adopt her together, so the shelter let me come in to sign the papers and put her on “lock” so we set a date to come in and pick her up when he’s home.

We’re supposed to pick her up in a few days. I just received an email from the shelter there’s been a ringworm outbreak in the room she’s in. I was told she hasn’t shown any signs of having it but is still free to roam that room as she wants. They’re asking me if we’re still on board with picking her up.

Off the bat let me say I know this is part of being a pet owner. Theres total freak chances stuff like this can happen, and I’m absolutely here to care for my cat. I guess I’m hung on that this is the first either of us will be cat owners. It doesn’t seem like a life altering disease either but then you have the worst on the internet too so it makes me nervous. Our cat isn’t living her, I’ve been around her twice now at the shelter, so I really haven’t had an opportunity to bond with her yet. Maybe that’s why I’m second guess all this?

I don’t know what my question is. I love this cat. But I feel so stuck all of a sudden. General advice and WWYD might help.

We are looking at a potential foster fail but the biggest thing we are worried about is we are very fastidiously neat people. We are willing to throw money at this we just need to know if it would help.

Food, habitat, and other survival needs

Hi, all. I can't tell if this is a genuine concern or what, but I have a few things that I'm worried about. I should also specify that I likely have OCD, so if some of this seems irrational, that would be why. I did something dumb the other day by touching a moldy dish and forgetting to wash my hands — got advice from many people, including people who work at a vet. People told me that if they didn't show signs of being sick or behavioral changes, then it was probably okay.

Today, their water dish might've been exposed to cleaning products, so I threw it in the dishwasher alongside their food bowls. However, we also had a moldy blender in the dishwasher a few days ago that wasn't completely cleaned off, even by the time that the cycle was done. I found the blades in the place where I usually would We have it on a 3 hour sanitize run, but I still don't know if it's safe to use the bowls I put in there earlier. Would a sanitize cycle remove any cleaning product or mold spores?

My parents also have an odd habit of putting the bottom of their dog dishes in the plastic container we keep their food in. They put the bottom of the bowls on the floor everyone keeps their shoes on, and then puts the bottom of the bowl on their food. They also stack the bowls, so the inside of one might be touching the outside of another.

Their food bag is kept in the garage and used to refill the plastic container we have in our entry way. Our garage contains lots of fumes that can be toxic to dogs, namely gasoline and various types of fuel. I'm worried that maybe it’s contaminated their food somehow? My dog was in our garage for like 10 minutes earlier today, and I'm worried she might've gotten sick. She seems fine and is playing like usual though.

My dad put a plastic scooper in the container that we use for their food. He hasn't washed it ONCE and has been using it for cat food for years, but our cat passed a while ago from an unknown sickness. I'm worried it's going to contaminate their food.

I'm also worried about mold spores. Does anyone know if putting my pets bowls in boiling water will sanitize them and remove anything on there? If I do this, do I still need to wash them with soap afterwards? I'm concerned that the mold spores on my floor will maybe spread up the bowl or something. I don't know, I just don't wanna make my pets sick from it.

I feel so bad, but when I had to leave for an hour and a half earlier, I put my dog in my room and didn't have the time to give him a water dish. Since my dogs water dish was in the dishwasher at this point, I got a random bowl to fill with water but somehow it still had soap suds in it even after being put in the dishwasher? I'm on a time crunch, so I do my best to rinse it out, but there's still a couple bubbles. I think they were air bubbles, but I'm still worried that I didn't do a good job.

Last couple things — my dad touched a chlorine bottle and came inside without washing his hands. Is this harmful to my dogs somehow? Will it spread, is this something I need to look out for? Also, my dog licked the floor that I used cleaning products on hours ago. I'm sort of worried.

Someone’s pet rabbits are just hanging out in my yard and nobody in my area has claimed them. I don’t know how to catch them. They’re pretty docile and not too scared of humans. So I’m going to deliver them to a shelter