Do you have pets? Anyone else have a guinea pig?

[DeborahJane]

I have just one dog and 6 parakeets 1 finch, 1 gold fish and a cat fish plus Red my 30 years parrot, who hates the world, but I still love her when she's not yelling for a treat.

Red
View attachment 8135

Fern View attachment 8136

Fern looks very sweet and I was just discussing with a friend The other day as to how long parrots live. Cockatoos can live 100 years. Hopefully you'll have Red around for a while yet. Do you know their life expectancy? She sounds like a"noisy" character

 

[DeborahJane]

ahhh a Devon Rex an interesting breed. My fur babies are all rescues. And many also come when called. When we go on vacation I have a person help with the ones that like to stay outside in their houses (heated in the winter).
Anyway, within 20 mins of our return all six are on the deck yelling at us for being gone the week. three of them like to come inside the house, and they know the statement, time to go to your room, and off they go to the garden room for the night. We have a dogie door for them to leave and enter the house as they please in the garden room .

this is Phantom, leaving through the dogie door, he is the brother of Teddy. Phantom weights 17 lbs. runs around the 3 acres, climbs trees etc. all muscle.

Phantom is obviously very agile, like his superhero namesake. I love watching them work things out. My dear Pearl had so much trouble with the cat door to start with. She would end up siting down facing the other way. I had the door propped up so it would just touch here but she'd back track as soon as she felt it. Eventually she worked it out.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Fern looks very sweet and I was just discussing with a friend The other day as to how long parrots live. Cockatoos can live 100 years. Hopefully you'll have Red around for a while yet. Do you know their life expectancy? She sounds like a"noisy" character

Red can live to be 100, she can be very noisy at times if she doesn't get her way. All my pet are rescued babies but that just makes them more special too me

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Phantom is obviously very agile, like his superhero namesake. I love watching them work things out. My dear Pearl had so much trouble with the cat door to start with. She would end up siting down facing the other way. I had the door propped up so it would just touch here but she'd back track as soon as she felt it. Eventually she worked it out.

Phantom is very agile. wish I could get a video of him when he climbs a tree then jumps on one garage roof from there, then jumps 6 foot (in open space) to the next garage roof. Then he loves to prance on the roof and or just sit for a while looking. then in the return, the same. When he gets to the tree, he jumps and then quickly bonces his bottom in the right angle to shimmy down. I tell folks his weight is all muscle.

 

[DeborahJane]

I

Phantom is very agile. wish I could get a video of him when he climbs a tree then jumps on one garage roof from there, then jumps 6 foot (in open space) to the next garage roof. Then he loves to prance on the roof and or just sit for a while looking. then in the return, the same. When he gets to the tree, he jumps and then quickly bonces his bottom in the right angle to shimmy down. I tell folks his weight is all muscle.[/QUOTE

I'd love to see Phantom shimmying down in aright angle position. Very inventive.

 

[DeborahJane]

Red can live to be 100, she can be very noisy at times if she doesn't get her way. All my pet are rescued babies but that just makes them more special too me

I've just looked up the life expectancy of the King Parrots which I feed quite often and that is 20-30 years. As I have explained I can't leave seed out as the cockatoos come and eat my house! As much as I like the Cockies I like my house enact! So I wait for the King Parrots and the Rosellas to visit and ask ever so politely for morning tea or afternoon tea.
I am glad you'll have Red for a long time. Pets become members of the family, don't they?
I'm going to upload a photo of my visitors again but for some reason they are coming in upside down. Would anyone have a clue why it has changed? I am doing it exactly the same way as I did before and they came in the right way up.

See. How frustrating!

edit (Ian): I've fixed the image for you

 

[Esther Knapicius]

And now we have Twitches.

 

[Beth_B]

Esther, my kittens go outside in the back yard and it really is fun watching them climb trees and chase leaves and enjoy the outdoors. I know it's not really "politically correct" to let cats go outside, in some circles, but I feel they have a much richer life if they can, although certainly many cat-owners make an effort to provide indoor stimulation for indoor-only cats and they do just fine. Twitches (love the name) looks like a natural.

@DeborahJane, you're not posting from an iPhone by any chance? Sideways or upsidedown photos can be an issue on some forums, depending on the platform.

 

[DeborahJane]

Esther, my kittens go outside in the back yard and it really is fun watching them climb trees and chase leaves and enjoy the outdoors. I know it's not really "politically correct" to let cats go outside, in some circles, but I feel they have a much richer life if they can, although certainly many cat-owners make an effort to provide indoor stimulation for indoor-only cats and they do just fine. Twitches (love the name) looks like a natural.

@DeborahJane, you're not posting from an iPhone by any chance? Sideways or upsidedown photos can
n be an issue on some forums, depending on the platform.

I'm using an iPad but I've done it successfully before and I'm doing exactly the same thing. I'm very confused. Maybe I'll have to take it to a specialist. Thanks.

The shire in which we live have a law which says the cats have to be inside overnight from dusk. I actually agree as I do care about the wildlife but it is so hard to implement now that we have 3 cats ( due to my sons moving home for a "while"). I have a cat enclosure for a Pearl and would have the cat door set that she could come in and not go out but I'm afraid that's all gone by the wayside. It does concern me But I still adore cats and can't imagine not having one. Pearl is sitting on the back of the couch just near me as I speak .

 

[Beth_B]

I'm using an iPad but I've done it successfully before and I'm doing exactly the same thing. I'm very confused. Maybe I'll have to take it to a specialist. Thanks.

The shire in which we live have a law which says the cats have to be inside overnight from dusk. I actually agree as I do care about the wildlife but it is so hard to implement now that we have 3 cats ( due to my sons moving home for a "while"). I have a cat enclosure for a Pearl and would have the cat door set that she could come in and not go out but I'm afraid that's all gone by the wayside. It does concern me But I still adore cats and can't imagine not having one. Pearl is sitting on the back of the couch just near me as I speak .

Maybe your browser? I dunno. I am not that techie!

That law sort of makes sense. What about barn cats and cats on farms to keep down mice though? My three recently-acquired kittens are mostly inside. They do go out with the dogs, or with me, then back inside. They come when called and are learning to be fairly dog-like. Two are about 12 weeks old, one maybe 8-9 weeks. The female is already spayed, the two boys not yet (the vet wanted to wait until they weren't congested; something they will all deal with intermittently for life because of the herpes.) But I live on a dead-end, quiet road so traffic isn't really a concern.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

we have no law like that around here pertaining to cats. Of my 6 cats, 4 like coming inside through the dog door you see above that Phantom demonstrated as well as exiting if we are not there to let them in and out of a regular door. The other two, not so much want to come inside. But on really raining days, if I position the dry food just inside the door they will come inside to eat. In the mean time there are 3 cat houses around the 3 acre property, one of which is heated for the winter. The cats all are about 10 years old, this method continues to do well for them.
They are fortunate to live on a 3 acre property where the house sets far back, and the woods around are thick and deep. Mostly they hang on the deck sleeping on the chairs or near the deck, or inside. Or roam with me in the gardens. All are fixed, so no roaming is needed. At night, if I get up, I usually find them in the garden room sleeping inside and two of them on the deck chairs sleeping. All is well.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Phantom sleeping in the garden room.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

View attachment 8147Phantom sleeping in the garden room.

Your kitty is sweet looking, I really like your Bromeliad in bloom, its has a nice color to it.

 

[gata montes]

gata (that's a clue right there) all of your cats are lovely.

Also I love your cobblestones. It looks very Mediterranean, wherever you are.

My three cats (kittens, really) are very recent additions; I am not really a cat person. They were feral kittens with herpes virus born outside and their eyes and noses kept getting glued shut by the discharge from upper respiratory infections. So I brought them in, got them better, and they were then going to go to a friend who is very active in cat rescue. Only she had an outbreak of panleuk (like kitten distemper) at her house and lost almost 20 cats and kittens. It was horrible. And the virus will last for a year or more. So these kittens weren't going to be put at risk because I already had invested a lot in vet bills, and, now I have Widget, Stanley and Chunky Monkey as permanent pets.

But they are being raised with dogs and therefore rather dog-like. Which is my preferred type of cat.

Thank you and yes it is - but even more so if my whole name is used - especially as all my cats are feral

From the pictures I've seen all your cats are extremely cute and am so pleased to hear - even though you say you're not really a cat person - that you were able to make them better and give them a loving home - as thats something that always makes make heart warm - especially as I've seen so many distressing and pitiful sights over the past ten years

Unfortunately - apart from Tammy, Naomi, Whiskas and a few others - almost all my cats have at one time or another suffered with the herpes virus and with varying degrees of it too - in fact as the virus can spread and infect all their internal organs as well - it was so bad around five years ago - that many didn't survive and those that did either had permanent internal damage, lost an eye or were blind in one or both eyes - which is why - although fortunately there hasn't been much sign of it the past couple of years - at the slightest sign of it - the puss if off to the vet.

Funny you should mention dog like cats - as even though I don't have a dog - I do have some dog like cats who really love playing fetch and especially Tammy - who not only loves to play fetch - but also loves to go for walk - as she always likes to trot along beside me whenever I go out for a walk

 

[Beth_B]

Thanks gata, I know herpes is a lifelong condition and can only be managed, not cured. And that it can cause disfigurement or death in some cases. They get L-lysine daily in their canned food; it is supposed to help suppress the virus. I did have them tested for feline leukemia and FIV and thankfully they're all negative.
Not the greatest photo, but here's all three. The grey one is from a different litter, about a month younger. There are at least two feral mothers that I will hopefully trap and get spayed at the end of next week.