i_8_the_canary

We have 3 cats and a dog, and my husband says "yuck, stinky" when my daughter asks for one. She's a very responsible, caring girl who would take care of it very well. But I am concerned about our other pets.

Are there ways to make it less "stinky"?

What are some pros and cons to the different hamsters and cages that are out there?

I had gerbils and guinea pigs as a child, but not hamsters so I'm a little lost here!

Thank you for any advice in advance.

I have an opportunity to purchase a Weimar trombone (for a grade 5 student) at an inexpensive price, but unlike Yamaha or Bell, I have never heard of the company.

My son's birthday was last week, and he received many of the hot toys that would have been perfect for Christmas. Now all of my family is expecting a list with many ideas for possible gifts. Aaargh! Help, I'm drawing a blank, and so is he when I ask him if there's anything he's wishing for (well other than a pet tarantula, and we're not going there!)

I have Vista at home, and have no problems with it at all, but my coworker recently bought a computer with Vista and after two weeks of working fine, now cannot send, reply, or forward an email from Outlook. The emails just linger in the outbox, and there's one in the outbox that can't be deleted and has been there for two weeks now. Has anyone else had similar problems? They have been to the Microsoft website where they have provided a link for a repair, but it won't download.

When your cat seems to be staring a hole through your head, what do you believe they are thinking at that time? Personally, I think mine (she's doing it right now) is telepathically trying to entice me to get the package of Temptations and feed her silly!

My sheltie passed away a few months ago, she was registered as Bellwood's Summer Skye. Our breeder has a new pup for us that we will be picking up in a few weeks, and were going to register her as Bellwood's Summer Hope. The breeder just found out that there is another local Sheltie registered with a very similar name, and wondered if we wanted to change the name. I'm open to that, but I'm a little stumped, it needs Bellwood's and Hope, or form of Hope in the title, any creative suggestions?? Thank you in advance!

My daughter's grade 5 list of essential supplies:

8 duotangs (8 different colours)

1 large binder

several file folders

3 reams of loose lined paper

5 notebooks of lined paper (5 different colours)

1 double sided folder for artwork

10 pens, 10 pencils, 3 erasers per term

Oil pastels (24)

Markers (24)

Pencil crayons (24)

Wax crayons (24)

Neon crayons (8) crayola twistables make them

3 solid glue sticks per term

2 bottles of white glue

calculator

protractor (no compass!)

30 cm ruler, not metal

fine tip scissors made by Fiskars

5 paintbrushes (fat to thin)

Pencil sharperner with shaving container

Pencil case and tub for glues

Indoor and outdoor running shoes with non marking soles

3 boxes of tissues, 1 box of bandaids, 1 jumbo bag of baby wipes (to clean hands after art) per term

Insulated lunch bag

Back pack

Large (24" x 48" x 12") tub with lid (to keep books in under their seats)

Absolutely, bloody horrific! What, no laptop too?

We have a stray, it took days of feeding before he would let me pet him. I have treated him with Cestex for tapeworm, and Advantage for other worms. He is now incredibly affectionate, finally putting on some weight, and is respectful of our other two cats. He has eye discharge and a cough, so when we took him to the vet's today for a booster, they said to wait two weeks to see if the respiratory infection clears before vaccinating. If it doesn't , he may have herpes virus or calicivirus...and is not a good longterm pet. He did test negative for FELV and FIV though. My question is, even if he does have one of the viruses, would you euthanize or try to give him as much help as you can? My other cat's are vaccinated, and spayed. He still needs a neuter, and booster if he improves.

My cat (who is very petite) has a cut in her eyelid, which watered and swelled. The vet gave us a steroid ointment to treat it three days ago. Today she threw up her supper (not a cat who throws up at all, either) after growling and gagging. The vet is closed, I am stopping treatment until I talk to him, but has anyone heard of a relation between steriods and vomiting? Otherwise she is a perfectly healthy and cared for cat, no worms etc.