Sunflower81

Every day, hundreds of my coworkers walk past a spot where an elderly stray dog lays. It is brutally hot, and she stays curled up in the shade all day.

Because of her age and being nearly feral, adoption is not an option (I use to work with rescues). I also can't take her in.

I've been putting out water, and buying a hamburger for her in the evenings. Now she is starting to trust me but will not take anything from my hand. The bad news is that she also recognizes my car now. When I drive off to buy her food, she has started trying to follow, and I am terrified that building security will notice her and take her to the pound - that is a death sentence for her, given her age/size/shyness. My workplace is also surrounded by busy streets (and it is not a nice neighborhood) so it is dangerous for her to move around.

Anyone have ideas? I would like to train her to stay put and not follow my car, but don't know how.

I want to make scalloped potatoes, but don't have any milk in the fridge. Will eggnog work instead? I thought the cream/nutmeg in there might be nice.

My family is thinking of volunteering to foster a litter for the local humane society.

Any tips from folks out there who have done the same? Is it easy to give the kittens back?

A friend has a trained seizure-alert dog that needs a new home (previous owner unable to care for dog now).

Since there aren't any dedicated service organizations in the US for seizure alert dogs, she is having trouble finding a family for the dog. Any ideas on where to look? The dog is a "working dog" and needs to have the job she was trained for -- life as an ordinary pet isn't working out.

I know that onions, chocolate, grapes/raisons are poisonous to dogs, but I haven't heard anything about garlic [related to the onion family]. I'm trying to cook 1-2 meals a week for my dog -- are there any other foods I should avoid too?

I would like to take a plant into my office and have a pot of spearmint handy -- will it be alright inside a building? My desk doesn't get direct sunlight and the building has tinted windows.

And why do people feel it for pets (ie across species lines)?

I have tried using a jigsaw with Bosch blade T101BR (supposedly optimal for PVC), but the pipe snaps off unevenly about halfway through the cut.

This is for an outdoor furniture project so I don't want any sharp edges on the pipes. Any tips for smooth cutting would be appreciated.

If you are dating someone, how long do you typically wait to see if there is chemistry in the relationship? I'm talking about a situation where two older people have common interests and seem well-matched, but there just doesn't seem to be much of a spark.

I need to get a cheap, portable, and LIGHT-WEIGHT crate to put my dog in during agility events. How do I pick the right size for her? She is 35lbs, but extremely tall and her ears are large & upright -- does the crate need to be tall enough for her ears, or is it okay to have her duck her head? Thanks!

I have a Basenji-mix, and she can't seem to decide whether to chase my four cats or to nuzzle them and stick her nose in their ears. She also play-bows to them and tries to get them to chase her -- is that typical?

Does anyone have a reliable strategy for beating challenge tank 3? Please include the pets used in your strategy. I can get up to two egg pieces, but always end up getting killed when three of those stupid marauding squid appear. I have been working at this for two weeks now. My guppy-munchers and beetle-eaters keep getting eaten - how can I protect them? Or should I concentrate on getting lots of diamond fish?

Hi,

At the age of 25, I think I am suddenly allergic to coconut. I'm basing this on an experience I had after eating a raw, baby coconut (that was the only thing I had to eat). My lips swelled, mouth tingled, and throat started to swell shut before I went to the ER - and there I sat in the waiting room for about 4hrs before just walking out. Previous to this, I had eaten other forms of coconut on many occasions.

PROBLEM: I've had four allergy panels, two were skin prick tests and two were RAST blood tests. None of the tests come back remotely similar, although each of the skin tests come back positive to a bunch of foods and the RAST tests come back positive to just one or two. (All of the tests implicate a different food btw). Only two of the tests included coconut, but both came back negative. It's like the only thing the tests agree on.

Should I trust these tests???? It is a major pain to carry an epipen around everywhere and be paranoid about eating in restraunts.