From commentor Chris S:
Tara and I have two special rescue kitties with their own distinct personalities and quirks. Here is Aisha, a Siamese (darker), and Amiya, a Balinese (lighter), snuggled up in their favorite spot in the house: our bed after we get out of it in the morning. They’re moderately healthy cats, but both suffer from kitty viruses picked up from their SPCA shelter stay where Tara worked as an outreach coordinator. They’re very well-behaved cats and they don’t care much for human food or get on counters. I could leave a steak sitting on the counter and they don’t care. However, Aisha can smell watermelon and strawberries before you can even take a bite and she loudly demands her tribute. Amiya is the princess and has effectively claimed me as her own. She sleeps next to my head or my feet at night, pouts and cries when I leave for work, and gets very pissy when I’m gone for a few days. To the point where she won’t even acknowledge me for a day or so when I return.
__
We’ve recently adopted a young brittany spaniel mix from a rescue center and get him on August 23rd. We’re very excited to open our home to another wayward animal that’s just looking for some love.
**************
Speaking of weird dietary quirks, over the past 40 years I have known three cats, in three different states, who would kill — or at least bite your hand — for jelly-donut filling. All three were old-fashioned “Louis Wain” round-faced, plush-coated girls of great beauty and extremely random background. Always wondered if it was an actual genetic glitch or just my pattern-seeking instincts.
Best wishes (keep us posted) on your new soon-to-be-housemate, Chris!
jeffreyw
Yay!
Svensker
I had a Siamese who LOVED cantaloupe. She would just go nuts for it. Odd.
General Stuck
Precious kitties.
Guard Dog Charlie
2wrongs
couldn’t be the sweetness, must be something else in the products than sugar. Cats, all cats from tigers to house cats have messed up genetic codes for tasting sugar.
Here is a good quick explanation about feline taste receptors:
http://www.expasy.ch/spotlight/snapshots/snapshot023.shtml
asdf
Even though it’s hot, I’m making pot roast. It smells so good that if I could put that smell on the net, you’d all be over for dinner.
Bring some bread.
debit
Lovely, lovely cats. A long time ago, I had a Siamese that was my cat. She had no time or interest in anyone else, but let me sit down and she’d be all over me. They are a wonderful breed.
Violet
Question for people familiar with specific breed rescues: I was looking around on the website of a rescue organization in my area for a specific breed of dog. They want between $250-500 for an adoption. They also come out to your house for a home visit before you’re allowed to be considered for an adoption and they follow up with at least one visit as well.
The whole thing seems a little expensive and a bit intrusive. I understand their desire to make sure the dogs go to a good home, but the multiple follow ups seem a bit much. I don’t know much about breed rescues, so don’t know if this is common or not. Anyone got any experience?
They’ve got loads of dogs waiting to be adopted, the stringent-sounding requirements are a little off-putting. I know they took me aback. I became aware of the organization at a recent festival I attended (they had a booth) and the people they had there seemed pretty reasonable and didn’t make it sound that hard to adopt the dogs.
debit
@Violet: Well, my experience was this: I saw Chloe at an adoption fair when I was shopping for cat food. When I expressed an interest in her, I had to give a description of my living situation. I explained that I had cats, and the person running the shelter said Chloe and her handler would have to accompany me home to evaluate how she reacted to the cats, and how they reacted to her. Thank FSM my house was clean, because we went directly home. After 45 minutes, the handler decided they were all okay with each other, and we set out on an hour drive to go get Chloe’s file and adoption contract at her foster home. I paid a $90 adoption fee and signed a contract that stated, among other things, that if Choloe ever needed to be re-homed, she would go back to the shelter. A week after I brought her home, the shelter called to see how she was.
I think my experience was a normal one. In your case, if the breed you’re interested in is something difficult or with special needs, like a track greyhound, I could see a house visit and perhaps some follow up visits or calls. The fee does seem to be rather high. I would ask, and they should be comfortable answering, why it’s so much.
Rosalita
@Svensker:
My mom had a kitty that loved cantaloupe too. Would tear your hand off to get it…I have two boys that are crazy about split pea soup.
asdf
Rosalita, if you had time sometime, tell us about split pea soup. I’ve been a fan of the English pea all my life but I grew up in the south; there was no such thing as split pea soup.
xephyr
One of my cats has a taste for potato chips. I never let her have more than a crumb since they aren’t good for her, but if there are any to be had she will show up immediately regardless of where she was or what she had been doing.
asdf
Domino, a black half-Siamese, circa 1966, loved white bread above all things. When I was kid we had to get a breadbox just to keep her out of the bread.
What a great cat she was. I miss her to this day.
Ruckus
@Violet:
In my case the rescue org said the same things. You have to apply, get screened, home visit, etc. Did the app online, went to adoption fair to meet the dog. Was told that a home visit would be arranged. However when I went to leave I was asked if I would be taking the dog that day. Went to the atm and got cash, $150, and drove off with the dog. Other than the lady who had been fostering the dog, I haven’t heard from the org since.
When I was looking I did see some orgs with pretty high price tags but I think this should be for breed specific dogs, not general mutts or shelter dropoffs.
Kristine
Today is the second anniversary of the day I brought Gaby home. On that day, she weighed 26 pounds, and suffered from a GI bug and undiagnosed GI and female doggy issues. Since then, she has been fixed and had her diet adjusted. So far, the controlled diet and 5 mg Pepcid 2x a day are enough to control her IBD. I took her in for her annuals last week. She now weighs close to 43 pounds. Best guess is that she is a husky-terrier mix, and that she’s about 3 1/2 years old.
She’s the best thing that ever happened to King, an adoring baby sis who keeps him hopping. We figured that whoever had her knew she had problems but couldn’t afford to have them treated, which was why they left her tied to the front door of the vet’s office instead of taking her to a shelter or turning her loose in a forest preserve. I’m glad they did that much. I wonder if they ever think about her?
Chat Noir
Beautiful Siamese kitties! Cats certainly do rule.
@xephyr: My little black cat, Hobbes, likes Goldfish snack crackers. Can’t tell if he likes them because of the crunch or the saltiness. I don’t give him a lot, just a cracker or two.
Kristine
@Violet: A co-worker who wanted to adopt a rescue Lab had a devil of a time with the breed-specific organizations. Intrusive, yes. One of them didn’t even seem that interested in placing any dogs–co-worker had a difficult time arranging home visits and communicating in general with them. She finally did wind up with another Lab, but I don’t know whether she got it from a shelter or a breed-specific group.
Comrade Darkness
They say cats can’t taste sweet, but I’m not so sure. I had a rescue cat who begged for my bowl of cereal and after I was done, I said, hey, sucker, it’s soy milk, go to it. Heh, heh. Only, she totally did. The stuff tasted like vanilla and sugar to me, and after that I was stuck sharing every time.
Omnes Omnibus
I had an English Cocker who loved watermelon.
ETA: … and pancakes.
Alwhite
I have had 5 cats over the years, never had one that could care less about any sweet. The insane rescue maniac we have now likes popcorn, thats a first.
She is not a kitten, probably 15-16 and recently she has started a new behavior I hope someone can shed some light on. In the middle of the night she will wake me up, wondering around the hall moaning and crying as if she was lost or something. If I call her she will jump up on the bed & settle in.
@asdf: YEAH! she will destroy a loaf of bread – butter to if I leave it out. The good news is she seems to be old enough now that jumping up on the counter is not worth the effort for her
Anne Laurie
@Violet:
Keep in mind that most breed rescues are run by volunteers, and as the bitter joke goes “Sometimes with ‘free’ labor, you get what you pay for.” We were turned down by one particular Papillon rescue after the volunteer visitor decided our home was “too cluttered” for her standards. We’ve since adopted a different dog from a different Pap-specific group, then another Papillon from a shelter (via Petfinder). Then a foster family needed a “temporary” placement for a Papillon (mix) from the first rescue group… and, after more than two months of trying to move the dog we now call Gloria to an “authorized” home, it eventually became clear that she was going to be our problem from that point on.
The price range you mention sounds pretty standard for specific breed rescues here in the Northeast, at least. They tell me it costs a vet almost $100 to do a spay, for example, even when they donate their own services. Basic annual check-up and shots cost us around $150 and up, per under-20lb-dog. And most breed rescues charge a sliding scale because they need the young, cute, healthy puppies to “subsidize” the older less desirable dogs who may need more extensive, expensive work (dental cleanings, joint repairs, tumor removal, etc.)
The mooted follow-up visits may be intended to, shall we say, encourage potential adopters to be sure that they’ve got a long-term plan for living with a dog who’s already been traumatized at least once.
But if you’re not comfortable dealing with a particular breed-rescue group, then by all means take your business elsewhere! Even if you want quite a rare breed, there are liable to be multiple groups doing rescue work — and most groups will work with you, once you’ve been “approved” to transport Your Perfect Dog if it’s needed. (For our first rescue, my Spousal Unit flew to Texas and brought Flash back as carry-on luggage.) Don’t let a bad experience with one over-zealous person, or even group, put you off from the rewards!
debit
@ open thread: Last night I rode in the Night Owl Classic. It was a blast, just a fun, easy 16.5 miles. I was going to bring Chloe in her trailer, but the rules said no dogs. Imagine my annoyance when I snapped this pic and saw the little red doggy trailer.
But it was a beautiful evening in my beautiful city. I bitch sometimes, but I really do love it here.
MAJeff
I adopted my cat, Harriet, from a family who adopted her from the shelter. (they were moving from Rhode Island to Florida and couldn’t take her with them.) She’s been with me for 10 years. I was going to adopt a kitten to keep her company, but when I took her with me to visit my parents and she knocked down the kiddie gate to attack their cats…no kitten for Harriet.
I did sign up to be a volunteer with our local humane society/animal shelter, though, and I go through orientation in a few weeks. I hope Harriet lasts long enough for me to put a down-payment on a house so we can adopt a dog.
asdf
Alwhite, you know, we people and cats are not so different.
“In the middle of the night she will wake me up, wondering around the hall moaning and crying as if she was lost or something.”
I do something similar on a daily basis. I’m old. The past is a constant ghost for me. Your cat is fine. Just old.
mr. whipple
@Comrade Darkness:
We had a cat that liked sweet cereal milk and also chocolate cupcakes.
And we have another now that likes pistachios.
tofubo
more kittens !!
john, can you do a pole or some such, what will be the republican theme song for the 2010-2012 election seasons:
Killing an Arab Because it’s the American Way, on Standing on a Beach by The Cure
Born In East L.A., So What, Leave Anyway, on Get Out of My Room by Cheech & Chong
Don’t Call Me Whitey, Nigger, on Stand! by Sly & the Family Stone
ellaesther
My now deceased kitty liked Israeli organic chick-peas — no, scratch that. She liked the water they came packed in.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Ok, Balloon Juice people: Open Thread is as Open Thread does, so I’mma change the subject, and put the spotlight on MEEEEE.
To wit: I’ve decided to make a change, specifically to my username. I love being ellaesther, and do honestly believe that there’s a certain value to drawing a curtain between my formal online presence (my blog) and my informal presence (commenting), but it just strikes me that if I want to lure more eyeballs to my blog, I have to make it easier for said eyeballs to find it….
So. Behold! I have re-named my Balloon Juice presence. HISTORY!
I am me.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Huh. Just announced a name change, & now I’m waiting in moderation. I didn’t even mention s h o e s. What be up?
ellaesther
Ok, I just tried to effect a user name change, and in two very different comments, the system no-likey. So I’m test-driving the old one.
ellaesther
@ellaesther: Ah ha. I want to become Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther – AND IT WON’T LET ME!! Damn you, Hal! Open the pod door!
Anne Laurie
@Alwhite:
I’d at least call your vet, if you haven’t already, and make sure it’s not something like kidney stones or joint pain that bothers her more at night when it’s quiet and she’s not distracted. But, sadly, cats can develop a form of senile dementia where they lose the thread and find themselves “lost” in their own home. I’ve had friends who started crating their ‘Alzheimer kitty’ in a nice pet kennel with plenty of soft padding, plus a sweaty tshirt or sock, so that everybody could sleep through the night. (Scent memories outlast the others, so a piece of clothing that smells like “my person” is a great comfort, like a plush toy for a small frightened child.) Or you could try making her a ‘nest” in your bed when it’s time for lights out, maybe moving one of the soft ‘cat cup’ beds where she can get into the habit of using it.
Omnes Omnibus
@ellaesther: I can’t do that, Dave.
Emily L. Hauser (ellaesther)
What if I try writing the new username thusly?
ellaesther
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m beginning to pick that up!
Alwhite
@Anne Laurie:
We have eliminated stuff like stones and arthritis so I suppose it could be the onset of dementia. The last 10 years or so she has a pattern, winter on the heated bed next to me summers in the living room window. Its early for her to get in the bed.
General Stuck
Ambassador of Death – cool, now all they need is a nuke.
Nothing says peace and friendship like death.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Violet:
Violet – I would dearly love to adopt another Boxer (I have two a male and a female) but they state very clearly on their board (the boxer rescue board that is) that they will NOT place a female with another female in the house and they will not place a male with another male in the house. There is something about the breed where same sex adoptions do not work for some reason. I know that my male boxer absolutely and utterly abhors Lucky, my other male dog, so I am guessing that they are right. I would trust their instincts, they have a long history of knowing what is right for their dogs. If it means a little longer time in foster care then it is better for the dogs. JMHO.
Anne Laurie
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: New names, or old names writing from new places, always get moderated by FYWP.
I should do a late-night Open Thread, one of these days, with a list of helpful-tips-I-discovered-by-accident. But I’m afraid it’ll just make you SMRT technophiles flood Cole with emails demanding he take my posting privleges away before I get my dumb-cooties all over the interwebz!
Anne Laurie
@Alwhite: Old bones chill off easy. Your cat might even appreciate being ‘reminded’ that your bed is always warm & comfy!
Litlebritdifrnt
@asdf:
That is an old thing, not a cat thing, I have lived in this house for 20 years, yet still I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I cannot for the bloody life of me, find the bathroom door, I end up wandering into the closet, attempting to access the bathroom through the TV, feeling my way around the walls in an attempt to find the magical doorway. It is utterly pathetic. Eventually the logic bits of my brain take over and I say to myself “okay bed it by window, door is opposite window, walk directly from bed to wall, walk two steps to right, bathroom door is there” eventually I get there but damn, I wander around like a demented 90 year old for ages.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
It’s an open thread?
Okay, how about the fact that one scene in tonight’s Mad Men, between Roger, Don and Pete, had more drama in it than the entire series of episodes in Rubicon before tonight.
Haven’t seen tonight’s Rubicon. I’ll need a quart of coffee first.
TrishB
@Alwhite: Does she have diabetes? Are you sure she can see? The two often go hand in hand, and potentially could cause those behaviors. This is noted by the woman whose dog walks into walls and talks when thirsty (most of the time.)
Anne Laurie
@Litlebritdifrnt: Even with our tiny, relatively submissive little toy Papillons, same-sex pack relations can be tricky. So, yeah, I would be very very very careful about re-homing two males of a big, tough, high-pain-threshold, bred-to-be-assertive breed like Boxers together! Especially in a case with two ‘rescue’ dogs, where you can’t always know their past history or predict what they’ll regard as a reason to fight.
For general purposes (meaning: other curious possible readers), in my experience, two male dogs who take a dislike to each other will snap, snarl, spar, dig their back feet, and generally do a lot of ‘hold me back! hold my coat – now hold his arms!’ posturing before starting a real fight. Two females who take a dislike to each other, on the other hand, will move from ‘I don’t like your looks’ to silent, deadly-serious, emergency-vet-and-maybe-ER-visit damage in a New York nanosecond. Neutering aggressive males can mitigate their behavior, but doesn’t always cure it. Spaying aggressive females doesn’t seem quite as effective, in my experience, although I’d certain vote to take any female who habitually attacked other dogs out of the gene pool anyway!
And, tragically, the only two cases I know personally where one rescue dog actually killed another rescue were young, strong female adoptees “moving in” on older, frailer, but still assertive male dogs. In one case, a terrier-mix girl attacked an elderly mini-dachsund, with what their very experienced human considered no previous warning, so severely that the old boy died under anesthesia while being stitched up. In the other, an Aussie cross managed (despite several months of special vigilance, professional training sessions, etc.) to corner, trap and kill her Lhaso Apso ‘older brother’. In both cases, the old boys just wouldn’t do the dog-chivalrous thing, back down & let Ms. Bitch rule the pack. So, adopting a younger girl if you have an older boy, or vice versa, is supposed to be the “easiest”… but it’s never something you can take for granted.
Alwhite
@TrishB:
Yeah, she sees very well still – loves to terrorize the chipmunks when we go out to play. It probably is just age; she has started moving slow up and down the stairs. I have started figuring out how to put a couple of steps up to the bed so I do see that coming.
Cathie from Canada
Some friends of ours once owned two Siamese cats and a terrier.
The cats would get the terrier to chase them round the house, then when the appropriate level of frenzy had been reached, the cats would run into the hallway — which had a wood floor covered by a runner.
The cats would gracefully leap out of the way, as the dog slid pellmell on the runner and crashed into the wall.
I swear, you could hear them laughing.
debit
@Anne Laurie: Oh, how horrible for those two pet owners. I’ve animals that fought, but never to the point of injury; I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have one pet kill another.
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal
@Anne Laurie:
I have four cats, two of each sex. I have to keep the girls separated, because both are very territorial, but Ringling isn’t at all assertive. She wants to be top cat, but won’t stand up for herself. So, it got to the point that one night, I woke up with her peeing on my hand in protest. The door got closed.
Eddie is allowed to move between the two halves of the house whenever he wants and I’m there to open the door. He us absolutely and utterly non-territorial, and has no sense of social hierarchy. He also gets along with everyone, though he can drive Monster crazy. She’ll pull one of her power plays to assert dominance, and Eddie just looks at her placidly. It makes her mad, and she tries harder. At that point, Eddie gets up and walks away, with the philosophy that crazy, possibly violent people should be left alone.
Dirk doesn’t get to wander. He does have a sense of social hierarchy. He doesn’t really want to be on top, but he does insist that you put him in his place, which Monster does. Ringling just gets upset and hides and yowls. I try to tell her that all she needs to do is just pop him in the face a couple of times, and he’ll be happy. She doesn’t take my advice.
Violet
Thanks for all the feedback on the rescues. I’m in the very, very, very early stages of looking at pet adoption. Probably would be next year at the earliest, given the upheaval in my home life at the moment. But I saw this group at a festival with a breed I have a fondness for, so decided to check them out. I was surprised at how rigorous the process was and how expensive it it. I’m glad to hear the process isn’t completely out of the norm, even if the price is a tad high. It sounds like the higher prices are for dogs that have required a bit more medical assistance, which is understandable. They want to cover their expenses.
TrishB
@Anne Laurie: Wow. That’s good info to have, since my limited experience has been very different. I have one girl and one boy mini schnauzer (vet and breeder advice), but I lived with my parents during my divorce. They have two female standard schnauzers. It was my boy they got sick of pretty quickly. Everyone got along fine, but the girls got fed up with being humped by a dog half their size. There are generally 8 females and 1 male under any family occasion table, with nary a dog thought beyond wishing a human would drop some food. I guess we’ve lucked out.
Then again, my boy has dropped the roomie’s male chihuahua in the waterbowl more than once to end the chi’s snarling and snapping.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@Anne Laurie: I’m not even sure I know what that means, but it cracked me up!
And I’m not sure why exactly I was surprised — I use FYWP myself, and just today had two new commenters stuck in moderation for hours because I was at my son’s birthday party. Every time someone who’s commented a million times uses a different email address, I want to hit them.
I was thinking of giving up on “ellaesther” entirely… but I just can’t! She is me! (Literally, come to that: It’s my Hebrew name. Or, “Ella Esther” is, at any rate: אלה אסטר )
ceece
@Alwhite:
my dearly departed kitty started making lots more loud meows in the month or so before she was diagnosed hyperthyroid. It is apparently pretty common for older cats.
Is she drinking more than usual? Losing any weight? You may want to have tests done (not usually too expensive) the next time you take her in to the vet.
asiangrrlMN
Aw, sweet kittehs. They are beautiful!
@Kristine: Both your babies are a-dorable!
@debit: You are right about the pulchritude of Minneapolis–one reason I’m stumping for us to host the first evah BJ Stocking Fest.
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: I’ve thought about changing my username for many reasons. One the one hand, it would be strange since I’ve used one form or another of asiangrrl every since I started cruising teh webz. On the other, things change.
suzanne
@tofubo: Republican theme song? Oh, that’s EASY.
This little ditty
asiangrrlMN
@General Stuck: He looks happy, healthy, and sooo handsome. Who’s a good boy?
MaryRC
My cat loved olives, especially olive pits — not to eat, but to play with. The first time I noticed this, he was fishing an olive out of an empty martini glass I’d left on the coffee table (at first, I thought he loved gin). I found out that it’s fairly common. Apparently olive pits have some chemical component similar to catnip or so I have read.
Kristine
@MaryRC: Huh. I wonder why one of my dogs loves to munch them? I was eating dinner out on my deck and made the mistake of tossing olive pits over the railing. King hunted every last one down.
Maybe animals in general like whatever the chemical is? Or maybe I should try catnip with King…
ChrisS
After a three-hour car ride home, it was still pouring rain (3.5″ and counting) in upstate NY. So I took him into the garden and let him run around while I re-supported my tomato plants that had tipped over in the heavy rain. At bedtime we continued with the crate that had been started by his foster owner. He wasn’t happy, but the cats are upstairs and we can’t have the dog there, too. After a correction, he quieted down and was silent the rest of the night. This morning at 5am, I took him out for a nice 35 minute hike and Tara is staying with him the rest of this morning before going to work. He walks very well.
We’re working on socializing the kitties to the pup. He’s a great, very well-behaved little boy for going through such a traumatic puppyhood. From what we’ve pieced together with the rescue center, he was abandoned in Alabama and made his way to the Northeast rescue. I am anxious. Cats are easy, but dogs need constant reassurance and attention. I had dogs (and cats) as a kid, and never remember much difficulties. He seems smart, the cats aren’t impressed and have spent pretty much every minute hiding under the bed.
I think we’ll bring the crate in the house from the mudroom, so that the cats can check him out with him being able to chase or lunge at them.
ChrisS
Aisha likes popcorn, too. Grapes, watermelon, strawberries and popcorn. We have to mash the fruit up a bit and she’ll lick it. We give her a couple of kernels of popcorn and she’ll crunch it right up. Amiya loves her cat treats, but couldn’t care less about any other food really.
Jack, the brittany, came from the National Brittany Rescue. His fee was $350, which included two wellness visits with the vet, worm medicine, a dose of frontline, neutering, and his vaccinations. I feel he was pretty much worth it already. Britts from a reputable breeder can run upwards of $1200. Getting him from a rescue makes me feel a little better about saving a dog. We got him to be a companion and an outdoors buddy who can take the snowy winters here. If he hunts, fine, but I’m not concerned if he’s completely clueless.
We filed adoption paperwork, had a home visit from the local rep, and we’re approved within the week. It was dependent on having a fenced yard, which we do, and stable home. I probably wouldn’t approve someone for a britt if they were just going to keep him in a fenced kennel all day and night.