Kat

In a brief summary I lost someone very close to me a year ago. She was my age, we grew up together and she was diagnosed at stage 4. She lived for 17 months. After her death I started living a healthier lifestyle for myself and my children. I became more aware of what I ate and began going to the gym regularly. I am in much better shape. A couple weeks ago I decided to stop eating meat. I was never a huge "meat person" but possibly my palate changed and it just started tasting ... gross. Even dishes with chicken in them all tasted like, for lack of a better word, death. So I decided to cut meat out. Now I am getting backlash. I didn't even TELL anyone in my life aside from my boyfriend who is fine with it, but they catch on pretty quick. Work is giving me hell ... making fun of my lunches, leaving pork rinds on my desk, etc. When I vented to a private group I am on FB they made snide comments "Please don't talk about it ALL the time...." "How can you tell someone is a vegetarian? They will

tell you." It's getting old. Fast. How did you deal? Is this normal?? :(

I have only had her for 4 days. She was pulled from a euthanasia list by a rescue after being in the shelter for some time, previously picked up as a stray. She's about 1, a whippet, pit bull mix-ish of something. She looks like a baby deer. She is SO SCARED. However, if I place her next to me or next to my children she will lay and not move. She will shake with fear but once she sees we will just pet her, she stops shaking and falls asleep. When things get too hectic she will go up the stairs and go into her crate which is in my room (she started that today, good sign? Going up the stairs on her own??). She is scared on the leash, too scared to take treats from my hand as a coercion so I carry her out and in. She is fine going potty outside, but if she got of that leash, she would bolt. As I type she is asleep next to me, but to move her to eat or go outside I will have to carry her, and the shaking will start again. I am worried I am doing/ not doing something correctly. How can I make this transition easiest for her? This morning I took her out of her crate at 5:30 to go potty, and laid her in bed next to me and we both fell back to sleep. I woke up at 7, and she was still next to me, awake but comfortable. So it's not like she doesn't want to be near us ... I don't think?

I am renting a home that is 116 years old. We moved in 3 weeks ago. Cabinets will randomly open. I blamed it on drafts (even though it is summer here) and vibrations of us walking. Upon waking in the morning, cabinets would also be opened. This is an old farmhouse and in the front room with the wood stove, and the middle living area with the fireplace I get cold pockets of air. Also in the room with the fireplace my son (5) has said twice now he smells "hot metal." 4 days ago when I woke, the main front room light was on. I found that odd, since I walk through that night to go up to my room and think I would have noticed since it was a bright light. The next night (3 days ago) I made a mental note of turning it off. The next morning it was on. 2 nights ago I was very sure it would be on when I woke. At this point I (jokingly) said out loud "Hey you. Keep the light off." The next morning it was off. Also that morning was a strong smell of what I could not place at first, but then could. It was gun powder. My ex husband was an avid deer hunter and that is what it was. Last night, I was watching a movie. I went into the kitchen, and when I came back into the room ... the light had been turned on. I found out today that a man that lived with his parents here committed suicide via shotgun in the woodshed out back in 1979. I may be reading into this. But it is all so weird. And why don't I feel scared?? Any input? Please don't say I am crazy...

has had a port put in her head for chemo

My best friend was diagnosed last July with stage IV breast cancer that has spread to her bones. She had a mastectomy, ovaries removed, it continued to spread into her spinal fluid. They thought they had a clear scan of the spine and it is back. She is in pain, confused, with a port in her head for the spinal fluid cancer

and a port that has been in her chest for the metastatic breast cancer. She is losing the battle, yes? She refuses to hear prognosis from her Doctor and so does her mother. So I am left to google. She has lost a ton of weight over the past few weeks and on morphine and methadone. I am her best friend. We tell each other everything. What am I supposed to say to her now? I had so much hope...

We just replaced all of our dimmable regular recessed lights with compact fluorescent dimmable recessed lights. Within 5 minutes all of them turned off. We turned the switch off then on again, and all came back on except one. They ran for another 20 minutes or so, then 2 turned off and the others stayed on. Turned the switch off then on again and all came on for about 5 more minutes, then all just went off.

Obviously, this is not a good thing.

Any idea why this would be happening? We were really trying to switch over to these...

It is a series of 6 recessed lights in a family room, house was built 4 years ago.

Thank you.

We adopted a heavily pregnant guinea pig that was surrendered. She is housed with another female right now and they get along fine, however, the other female is really bugging her right now. Sniffing her rear, pushing her from behind, etc. The cage is huge but she just is really cornered today. Should I move her into a small 2 ft x 4ft cage alone so she can have a respite or will that depress her since they are so social? Do they want to be alone to have babies?

I guess she is close, they didn't know, I can feel the babies kick and she has been laying flat all

day. Drinking a LOT.

One more thing, since we got her a week ago, she has no voice. She whistles but it is just completely silent, you just hear air coming out.

I need help making a decision. My husband put together a really large cage for our 4 guinea pigs, the bottom section has 2 females and the top section has 2 males. We put 4" high plexi glass all around the bottoms of the sections so the aspen chip "spillage" was lessened a considerable amount but it is still borderline hilarious the amount of chips that are everywhere. No biggie, but I was reading about people using fleece and have heard great things and horrible things. Have you used it? Thoughts/ideas?

I posted a question yesterday - we got a guinea pig on Saturday and at the last minute decided to get it's cage mate who were were told was a male. Upon getting home and researching more, we discovered we had an adult male and female...and the female is a bit round. I called the pet store to inform them as we were told they were males. We aren't returning (which they wanted) but they did offer a free cage. I don't want to go back there. End of story with that. I have learned a lot in the past couple days and my husband is going to make a big cage. What materials did you use for yours? Right now they are together in a 4 ft long 2 ft wide space. We need bigger I learned.

Also, she is probably pregnant. Do they need to be apart now or just when she gets ready to deliver? They like each other a lot, I feel bad moving them to be alone.

CareFresh or Aspen? We have Aspen now. Which is best?

Is it really advisable to get the male neutered? I guess it depends on how many babies we have if we keep them all, but I read that she can get pregnant within 24 hours of birth so we are seriously thinking of having him neutered so we can eventually keep he and she together and maybe we will get lucky and she will have all girls ;)

Pregnant guinea pigs (I think she is) Do I need to do anything to help? Does she need to be seen by a vet?

Sorry for all the questions. Thank you to anyone that can help!

I had a guinea pig when I was little for 8 years. I have little experience with them. We decided to get one for my young daughter yesterday. We decided on an adult that was returned with another adult. At the last minute my husband (grrrrrr...) decided we should take the other that was returned. They are sweet, returned because they whistled too much. Sad. Anyway they TOLD me they were 2 males. My mom who is very animal savvy looked at them today and said she is pretty confident that I have a male and a female. She pushed on the lower area and I could see the testicle bulges in one, and not the other. Also, the male will grunt/chatter more and is suuuuuper friendly while the possible female is more squeaky and a bit skittish. I was told that males tend to be more friendly.

Oh gosh, help. The possible female I was told was probably already pregnant, as she thinks her abdomen looks swollen.

The place where we got them is closed today, I don't feel right returning one (the possible female) but I have NO CLUE what to do! Help? Any info is nice. I can tell you all about cats and dogs and birds...but need help with these guys.

Also links or personal knowledge on how to care for (treats, etc) would be nice.

I was not really aware of a lot of the rules before I set up this tank, and now am learning.

I am wary of asking a question on here, because y'all can be mean! No offense, I tried to find my answer before getting yelled at, but couldn't.

Anyway, KIND answers are appreciated.

I bought 4 "feeder fish" and a bowl with rocks and a fake plant. Oops. After reading and researching, I learned this was bad. So I threw the bowl away and I got a 50 gal aquarium, rocks, real plants. Put the 4 feeder fish in there. They are doing fine. I am worried about ammonia after reading even more. The test strips are coming out fine, but now I am paranoid because everything I am reading on here because it is saying 4 are too many. I am attached to these darn 24 cent fish, as they were forced to suffer in a bowl and have made the transfer to a tank really well. Should I buy a used tank and split them up 2 and 2? Is the flake food fine to feed them or can I give them other things? Are goldfish the only fish that do well in cold water tanks? I have a filter in there that also has a hose that gives them bubbles, I read the bubbles weren't necessary, but they do seem to like them.

Any input is nice.

My 3 year old did a painting for her granddad for Christmas. It is on a 9X12 stretched canvas (like it is already on the wood frame thing) but I would like a frame to accentuate it. What key words am I looking for for the type of frame I need? I am very uneducated when it comes to these things. Help! Thank you so much!

My 3 year old did a painting for her granddad for Christmas. It is on a 9X12 stretched canvas (like it is already on the wood frame thing) but I would like a frame to accentuate it. What key words am I looking for for the type of frame I need? I am very uneducated when it comes to these things. Help! Thank you so much!

Seriously!

Ok, I know nothing about fish and was in WalMart and saw those little 29 cent "feeder fish" and they were all crammed in there and I felt bad and half of them were dead/dying ...

So I felt bad and bought a bowl and 4 fish for my daughter. That was about 2 months ago and I have been changing their water and adding conditioner once a week and feeding them and removing food they don't eat after a few minutes. They have a natural colored gravel and a fake plant thing in there.

I logged on here to find out why the water stank even though I change it, etc., and now see that putting them in a bowl is cruel. I seriously never knew that, but I need to correct this as I like these little guys a lot now.

Can you tell me what I should be doing and what I need to ask for? I am trying not to spend more than $75 for entire setup, but will do what I have to.

Thanks!

I guess it is also called GDV or stomach twisting. A lot of people had heard of it off Marley and Me, like I did. And then it happened to my dog.

Luckily I was home when it happened and I literally saw him blow up in the stomach area. They had to take out bits of his liver because the swelling had decreased blood flow to the areas and killed tissue. It was like ... 45 min from when it happened to when he was basically dying on the vets floor. They saved him though ... here is a pic a week later after surgery :)

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh260/EmilyAlle...

This happened awhile ago, and I still am super paranoid. Has anyone on here had it happen to their dog?

Had him for 10 years - he is 10 years old. 90 lbs, tail is very bushy, slightly curved at end.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh260/EmilyAlle...

Found under my pool filter cover - red hourglass clearly on belly, but on back had a line of red dots?

We live in Maryland.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh260/EmilyAlle...

I asked a few questions in the Dog section lately and I think some of you guys would know.

I had to take one of my dogs to the Vet today and at the entrance people can post Lost & Found stuff. Well there was a flyer with "Rare Miniature Labradoodles!" So I am thinking this would be a miniature poodle and lab mix? Right? "Guaranteed Hypoallergenic!" "The most loyal and loveable dog you will own!"

This lady was asking $2.400.00 (I kid you not) for "house pet" and "show quality are more costly"

Do they show these types now?

I am not dog savvy, I know how to take care of my 3, and do not believe in buying a dog, but to each their own. I just feel this ad was a joke. $2,400 and UP. For a mixed dog?

We have given our dogs those Purina Busy Bones about once a week as a treat. My big Shep mix gets one of the jumbo ones and my min schnauzer gets a small one. We have an almost 5 month old amstaff and I picked him up mini busy bones today and gave him one for the crate. Now about an hour later I read the back and it said do not give to dogs under 1 year. ???

He is sleeping, acting fine. What can happen? Should I call the vet?

I just adopted a 3rd dog from a rescue. I already have a 10 year old mutt dog and he has slept, for 10 years, on the floor in the living room or our bedroom. I also have a 2.5 year old miniature schnauzer that sleeps on the same chair in the living room everynight. I crate trained both these dogs so this is of course after they were crate trained.

Enter: 3rd dog.

He is a 15 week old amstaff with possibly a bit of lab. Born at rescue, awesome temperament. I have not had the heart to crate train him and he has done quite well with potty training. He was already crated at rescue, and he just cries and cries in the crate here. Soooo, this is the 3rd night he has slept in our bed. He lies very still and literally does not move the whole night. I was cool with it.

But now my mom (who I consider educated re:dogs) says that a dog sees his resting spot -the spot where he sleeps- as very important and personal and doing this can cause "bed aggression" where he may get aggressive over our bed. Not good considering I have a 2 year old and a 6 month old that often are in bed with me on bad nights.

I would like any feedback on this subject.

What is best for this dog re: sleeping area?

Please no negative comments on his breed.

Plasma Hitachi TV 3 years old.

A few weeks ago we turned it on and LOUD crackling coming through the speakers. Thought they were blown. Turned it off and turned back on and it fixed tself. Since then it has hppened a few more times and turning off and on (several times) fixes. Never happens while tv is on, its only when we turn it off and on again (and not all the time)

Thoughts?