The Pet Thread

[JayKay PE]

Would you eat 2-3 eggs a day?  I have a friend who had a similar idea, actually started getting that many eggs a day, and promptly started drowning in yolk.  Started giving me a dozen eggs each weekend so I could practice my meringues and feed my outdoor cat.  As for eating fertilized vs. non...does it make that big of a difference since you're getting them right after they're laid?  Or are you actively going to try the whole 'chicken motherhood, oh god, did they get turned' thing?  

 

[Master slacker]

My breakfast is usually three fried eggs... with... butter... (GASP!)

If one of the lady birds starts getting broody and is staying in the coop / nesting box on top of eggs, we'll likely mark the eggs and wait it out.  Any egg in another area should be fair game.

 

[jeb6294]

We haven't made it as far as having chickens yet, but we've looked into it.  Helps that my sister-in-law already has a farm up towards Dayton.  Love getting fresh eggs from her, but we aren't up there often enough to stay stocked.

SIL told us that having a rooster just means you have to check your eggs when you collect them and you may end up with a stinky surprise once in a while when you crack an egg in the morning.

From what I could find, there's nothing in our township preventing us from having chickens, HOWEVER, it specifically says you can't have a rooster.

I've found a few people selling fresh eggs on the local Facebook Marketplace.  Either they don't have a lot to sell or they sell in a hurry.  If/When we get chickens, I thought about making extras available on the email/FB page for our neighborhood.

 

[Master slacker]

We have a city ordinance (i think) stating thou shalt have no roosters, but none of our neighbors seem to mind the crowing in the morning.  They're all up early anyway.  The boys really want to have baby chicks hatch at home, so I hope all goes well until at least we can cross that bridge.  Regarding stinky surprises with eggs, well, we usually pick the eggs and cook them on the same morning.  They're about as fresh as "fresh" gets.  Hopefully we'll mark the eggs appropriately so the yolk doesn't stare back at me from the pan.

 

[Road Guy]

They are like .99 from the Kroger’s for a dozen //content.invisioncic.com/r86644/emoticons/default_wink.png

 

[Dleg]

Ugh. Our 16-year old cat recently took a turn for the worse so I finally took her in to the vet. Diagnosis: chronic kidney disease. Rather than presenting me with the option of ending it, the vet convinced me that we can handle administering subcutaneous fluids every 2-3 days. That is where you get an IV set up, but stick the needle in under the folds of skin at the nape of the neck/back, rather than directly into a vein. We give her about 150-200 ml at a time, which takes about 10 minutes.

10 minutes of pure. *******. Hell.

I ordered some sort of device off the web called the ""EZ-IV"" and I am really hoping it helps.  The big issue is that the cat won't stay still long enough for the fluids, and we have to hold her down, and the whole thing becomes very traumatic, often requiring multiple re-stickings, and once, sticking my hand with the needle after it had passed through a fold of her skin. So now I have Cat AIDS or something terrible, probably.

The cool thing was that the Navy Base vet (army vet actually) who we initially took her to, but she couldn't handle it because they dont'do overnight care, checked in on me a little while ago and offered to end it in a merciful manner, but only if the cat isn't getting any better.  But the problem is, the cat gets better when we do this stuff.... but I have no idea how we are going to handle vacations, etc., even if only for a weekend.

FML

 

[wilheldp_PE]

My diabetic cat was always cool with the subcutaneous fluids  i guess he was just used to being stuck with the insulin needle.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Gotta love pets...

Early 2017 we discovered a stray cat living under the house we were renting. She was friendly enough for a stray, and me being a cat person, decided to start putting food out for her at night.  Over the next couple of years, this routine of putting food out in the morning and at night continued to the point that she became very friendly. We could pick her up, pet her, etc, but she was still not allowed in the house.  Mrs Dex was concerned about fleas, so we started treating her for that. Not a big deal.

At the end of September, our lease expired and the owners didn't want to renew (they wanted to move back in, but cancelled those plans...that's another story). Because we had built a bit of a relationship with the cat, we decided to bring her with us. A couple days after we moved, she disappears. Put her food out per usual but we never saw her for about a week. She eventually reappears and had lost quite a bit of weight. Looked like it had been a rough week abroad. As she gets back into her routine of stopping by for breakfast and dinner, we start letting her into the house a bit. She would explore for 5-10 min then retreat back outside and we'd see her the next mealtime.

By the end of November, she is basically an indoor cat. Sleeps on the couch while we're watching TV, jumps up on the bed for snuggles in the morning. Typical indoor cat stuff, but we would still put her outside at night and when we're out of the house. 

Then out of the blue a couple weeks ago she comes home and her right eye is closed. She's obviously uncomfortable, and there is some "gunk" building up around it. Maybe she poked it and we just need to give it some time. A week later the gunk is gone and her eye is open again, except it's now very hazy with a film over it. Obviously something is wrong, so we take her to the vet for a checkup.

Vet spends about 15 min doing an evaluation and determines that she has a "melting corneal ulcer" that has ruptured and become infected. Prescribes 4 different meds, gives me the contact info for an emergency vet in case the eye pops during treatment, and hands me a $300 bill with a followup visit scheduled in 2-3 days. Followup visit a couple days ago says that the eye is getting better, but needs more meds. A $100 bill and another followup visit Friday. I have since postponed this visit for next week, but anticipate another $100-150 bill.

The good news is that we seem to have the infection under control, but the bad news is that we have no idea if she'll regain sight in that eye. There may be additional treatments necessary for that...

All that for a kitty we found under our house a couple years ago.

Update on our kitty:

She was on multiple meds through the Xmas break, and each were stopped as the prescriptions ran out until she was only on one type of eye drops.  Took her to the vet a few times over the course of this period with the last visit about a month ago where the vet said the ulcer is gone. Kitty's eye was still cloudy white and didn't seem to bother her much, but because the ulcer was healed the vet switched the eye drops to something to help clear up the cloudiness. The eye is much clearer now and the pupil responds to light, so we are to the belief that her vision is back. Still a little cloudy so we're continuing the eye drops. Vet was genuinely surprised that the eye survived the whole thing. She thought the best case was that we wouldn't need surgery to remove it and that she would remain blind in the eye.

Kitty used to really fight getting her meds, but now she is more or less used to it. Still doesn't like it and usually wants to go outside for 20-30 minutes after each dose (2-3 times a day). Not sure if she stopped fighting because it's just so common, or if she's realizing that it's helping her (or both). Regardless, it's good seeing the kitty being a little happier.

She's been promoted to almost full-time indoors, only really going outside after her meds or to go piss, and she has found a couple places inside that are "hers" (foot of the bed & one chair/pillow in the living room).

 

[Master slacker]

10 minutes of pure. *******. Hell.

...

The big issue is that the cat won't stay still long enough for the fluids, and we have to hold her down, and the whole thing becomes very traumatic, often requiring multiple re-stickings, and once, sticking my hand with the needle after it had passed through a fold of her skin. So now I have Cat AIDS or something terrible, probably.

May or may not help, but we discovered early in our bring-cat-to-get-needled-at-the-vet days that wrapping him up tightly in a towel like a kitty burrito made everything SO MUCH EASIER.  His legs were bound and he couldn't wiggle himself out to safety.  Only his head and tail stuck out.  May want to try that?  :dunno:

 

[leggo PE]

May or may not help, but we discovered early in our bring-cat-to-get-needled-at-the-vet days that wrapping him up tightly in a towel like a kitty burrito made everything SO MUCH EASIER.  His legs were bound and he couldn't wiggle himself out to safety.  Only his head and tail stuck out.  May want to try that?  :dunno:

I was going to suggest the same thing. My cat likes to be securely under covers, and he is also psycho, so this is the method I would try if I had to do such a thing. 

Vacations will be tough. You'll likely have to board your kitty at the vet, I'm guessing, if that's possible.

 

[JayKay PE]

Update on our kitty:

She was on multiple meds through the Xmas break, and each were stopped as the prescriptions ran out until she was only on one type of eye drops.  Took her to the vet a few times over the course of this period with the last visit about a month ago where the vet said the ulcer is gone. Kitty's eye was still cloudy white and didn't seem to bother her much, but because the ulcer was healed the vet switched the eye drops to something to help clear up the cloudiness. The eye is much clearer now and the pupil responds to light, so we are to the belief that her vision is back. Still a little cloudy so we're continuing the eye drops. Vet was genuinely surprised that the eye survived the whole thing. She thought the best case was that we wouldn't need surgery to remove it and that she would remain blind in the eye.

Kitty used to really fight getting her meds, but now she is more or less used to it. Still doesn't like it and usually wants to go outside for 20-30 minutes after each dose (2-3 times a day). Not sure if she stopped fighting because it's just so common, or if she's realizing that it's helping her (or both). Regardless, it's good seeing the kitty being a little happier.

She's been promoted to almost full-time indoors, only really going outside after her meds or to go piss, and she has found a couple places inside that are "hers" (foot of the bed & one chair/pillow in the living room).

@Dexman PE PMP Yay on the eye getting better and not needing surgery!!!  But your outside kitty transition to inside sounds like my outdoor cat.  No major injuries, but she was a little timid about coming inside/having the door closed behind her for the first 6-months or so when we wanted her in due to the winter weather/raccoon gangs.  Still prefers to 'do her business' outside, but she's slowly realizing that she doesn't have to stay outside if it's cold.  She has staked a claim on the spare-room bedroom but she still hasn't gotten a hang of 'kneading' correctly (she tends to rip blankets and pillows to shreds with her razor claws).

@Dleg I used to have an older cat who made it to 19-years old, who had a pill medication.  Didn't work/she hated it/struggled etc.  Worse thing ever, and she was the sweetest cat in the world.  Finally asked the doctor if there was anything we could do to change it and he was able to get it liquified/she was much easier to syringe with beef-flavored medication.  Is there anything else you can do, besides the IV injections?  If the cat is just dehydrated, resulting in higher kidney use, can you perhaps use the ultra wet broth food as supplement to the normal food (I was using it for older kitty since she kinda stopped drinking for a bit)?

 

[Dleg]

Thanks for the advice. I tried the burrito method last night and held her in my arms instead of holding her down, and as a result her head was free so got less panicky, plus her legs were more easily controlled. So that helped.  I'm looking forward to the EZ IV harness, which lets her walk around freely and we follow with the IV bag... not sure but it has lots of testimonials. 

 

[jeb6294]

They are like .99 from the Kroger’s for a dozen //content.invisioncic.com/r86644/emoticons/default_wink.png

Yeah, but grocery store eggs are crap once you've tasted actual fresh eggs.  Even the overpriced "cage free" or "organic" eggs are still garbage...chickens may not be in a cage, but they're still crammed in a warehouse.

 

[Road Guy]

I don’t know I had a guy back in Atlanta who gave me free fresh eggs and while they were that cool brown color I don’t think you can tell the difference once they are scrambled

It was kind of funny he had so many eggs about 10 people in our office were bringing the carton back every Monday and he would fill them just to get rid of them

And yeah cage free / grass fed is just all an elaborate rouge to the Whole Foods crowd..

 

[Master slacker]

Yeah, but grocery store eggs are crap once you've tasted actual fresh eggs.  Even the overpriced "cage free" or "organic" eggs are still garbage...chickens may not be in a cage, but they're still crammed in a warehouse.

Fresh eggs really are that much better.  Troof.

I don’t know I had a guy back in Atlanta who gave me free fresh eggs and while they were that cool brown color I don’t think you can tell the difference once they are scrambled

It was kind of funny he had so many eggs about 10 people in our office were bringing the carton back every Monday and he would fill them just to get rid of them

And yeah cage free / grass fed is just all an elaborate rouge to the Whole Foods crowd..

There REALLY is a difference and it's big.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm good eating the budget eggs that come in at $1.80 for 18.  In fact, other than our eggs, that's what I prefer.  But compare those side by side with any of our chicken's eggs and it's night and day.  The shells are stronger, the yolk has a deeper color, and the taste is more "full".  I just wish we got more than 2 eggs per day in the laying season.  

 

[MA_PE]

Fresh eggs really are that much better.  Troof.

There REALLY is a difference and it's big.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm good eating the budget eggs that come in at $1.80 for 18.  In fact, other than our eggs, that's what I prefer.  But compare those side by side with any of our chicken's eggs and it's night and day.  The shells are stronger, the yolk has a deeper color, and the taste is more "full".  I just wish we got more than 2 eggs per day in the laying season.  

How long is the gestation period?  ie. How long does the egg need to "cook" in the hen before she "poops" it out?

 

[Master slacker]

Hens "poop" them out every day or two depending on breed.  Some poop it less often.  Not gestation though as it's pooped out when it's fully formed / hardened, baby chick inside or not. 

 

[leggo PE]

How to keep devil kitty safe while the movers are busy emptying our apartment on Saturday?

I'm thinking we'll probably need to hide him in the bathroom, or maybe even the bathtub within the closed bathroom, since the bathroom has a sliding door that devil kitty has been known to paw at and even open a little bit.

 

[Supe]

Why not a pet carrier?

 

[leggo PE]

That's an option too, but the only one we have is mainly for car travel and thus is not so spacious. I'd feel badly keeping him in there for what will likely be at least two hours.