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Old 03-11-2009, 05:33 PM   #21
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Wonder how many people buy motorhomes for the pets.

I swear 95% of the people in the park that I am in now have dogs. Some of them bike around with the dogs in little baby carry pouches or in their bike baskets. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
We stay in a different park every night when we are on the road (about half the time). This has been the Status Quo in all of them.
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Old 03-11-2009, 05:38 PM   #22
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Sorry for your pain. Maybe you should try what my parents would do with me - take me to the park, beach, and museums.

Unfortunately, for them, I always found my way home.
Love ya Dex This reminds me of the old Rodney Dangerfield routine:

"When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them."
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Old 03-11-2009, 05:40 PM   #23
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Two dogs, one cat, 38 gal aquarium.

We always ask permission before we travel. They must interview and pre-approve all house sitters.



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Old 03-11-2009, 05:49 PM   #24
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We stay in a different park every night when we are on the road (about half the time).
Wow.

Driving the bus every day isn't my idea of an enjoyable trip. Do you ever stop for a few days to smell the roses? Or do you feel compelled to hurry home so you can keep up your...

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...I get up around 4:00am and start my day by reading 20 newspapers (including, BTW, the Star-Bulletin and the Advertiser). I next read the posts on 138 RSS feeds (including, BTW, the HawaiiThreads one -- along with similar ones in other major cities). In addition, I get around 150 personal e-mails a day from various pursuits. I also bake a loaf of bread every morning (granted it is a Bread Machine but it does take about an hour of "hands on" time. I am, also, the cook around here so from 4-6:00 PM is spent in the kitchen or at the table -- this is also the time that I get my television news fix. My day abruptly ends at 10:00 PM every night without fail. On top of all that I use several news aggregators (Google news, Topix, and the NYTimes etc.) on all the time.
...busy schedule?
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Old 03-11-2009, 06:19 PM   #25
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Wonder how many people buy motorhomes for the pets.

I swear 95% of the people in the park that I am in now have dogs. Some of them bike around with the dogs in little baby carry pouches or in their bike baskets. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Believe it or not, that's why a lot of people buy motorhomes. They want to travel and can't stand to leave their pets behind. We didn't have a motor homebut we had two dogs and three birds and that's why we didn't go anywhere together. DW goes on her sewing/quilting trips and I go on golf trips- separately. Then on another thread I mentioned that one of our dogs died the end of November. Someone mentioned how attached dogs get to each other and this was true in our case. Sadie the Chihuahua (13 yrs) was the leader of the pack and when she died, Lucy the Maltese (15) was just lost. Her best buddy was gone. Lucy just didn't know what to do. We went on for a couple months and it got to be too much. We had to put Lucy to sleep. Now they are sleeping side by side at my daughters house while I'm here with tears in my eyes writing this. My African Grey still calls Lucy to "lets go out and go potty". Animals are a big part of our lives. Daughter bought us a new puppy, a Chihuehua we named Dixie. Guess we're stuck at home again.
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Old 03-11-2009, 06:21 PM   #26
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Wow.

Driving the bus every day isn't my idea of an enjoyable trip. Do you ever stop for a few days to smell the roses? Or do you feel compelled to hurry home so you can keep up your...
Yeah, some days we get in a hundred miles. (Not counting, of course, that terrible "getting there" period.)

We did spend three days in New Orleans last month, for example, but managed to stay in a different park each night, however.

As I am fond of saying, we are travelers not campers. Our goal is to see as much as possible while we can and not sit around in strange places.


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...busy schedule?
Yeah, I always have a tough time explaining that. I don't really feel that stretched but when I wrote it down for that post it got my attention. I have done it for so many years (30+?) that I just don't know any better, I guess. It is somewhat modified (no bread baking/a single computer) when we are on the road but most of it can be done before 7:30 am or after 6:00 pm.
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Old 03-11-2009, 08:38 PM   #27
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I would have a hard time without my 3 dogs, but I like vacations, especially since I retired. My roommate and I coordinate our vacations so that one of us is always here - only once in 14 years have we had to resort to a kennel (when we travelled together). I also babysit a number of my friends dogs for their vacations - bigger pack = more fun.
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Old 03-11-2009, 08:51 PM   #28
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Nords, I've heard you mention that rabbit many times and know he's been a handful. I've heard the typical rabbit lives about 10 years. Never seen a picture though. Just curious what he looks like.
He's a dwarf orange rex, cleverly named "Peter Cottontail" by our then nine-year-old daughter, picked up by the Humane Society off the tough streets of Waimanalo. Four pounds and about 18", and he maintains his weight within an ounce of that.

Nearly a year old and almost full-grown when we got him, he proved equally tough to re-train. He was probably raised outdoors without much human contact and is not very well socialized. In retrospect we were stunningly ignorant about bunny body language and their preferences so it took us a few months to figure things out. They actually have a fairly large emotional range, can interact well with people and other animals, and can even be taught some commands. A friend of ours has hers trained to ride in her coat pocket and use a harness/leash. That bunny has traveled to the oceans of both coasts, it rode the Maid of the Mist boat at Niagra Falls, and it even participated in her wedding.

If they're raised from birth with people, frequently handled and taught to use a litterbox as soon as they can move around, then they're easy to clean up after. Ours won't actually use a litterbox but rather a section of the familyroom that's about 10'x10' in puppy training pads. He's also not averse to marking his territory or leaving a little present or two if he's too busy to get over to the bunnybox.

They're also better socialized if they're raised in pairs or packs and live with one or two other bunnies or with other housepets. Ours is poorly socialized and will not play with the other bunnies-- he gets very territorial and stressed out.

We used to keep him in a cage and let him out when we were home from work/school, and make him sleep in the cage at night, but we finally relaxed. Now he has free run of the familyroom/diningroom, with most of the moldings & drywall covered behind plastic or cardboard. Because he can run around as much as he wants and chew on just about anything, he's able to avoid a lot of typical cage-related problems. Although he's nearly eight years old, the vet says his teeth & body are similar to three-year-olds.

Their teeth never stop growing so they have to chew. Our familyroom is filled with crappy furniture, old books (the older the yummier), palm branches, and lots of cardboard boxes. He uses the boxes to build his own burrow. He can move a surprisingly large box and he's planned out quite a warren behind the couch. It looks like a scattered junkyard mess but he can shoot straight through it at top speed to escape predators.

They have all the attitude of a cat with less brains. He expects a certain amount of daily petting and can get pretty demanding about it. (They shed an amazing amount of fur, even molting 2-3 times a year, and it must itch like crazy.) He does not like to be picked up and won't tolerate the handling that other bunnies can be trained to accept. He goes nuts for fruit (like crack cocaine for bunnies) and his digestion can tolerate very small pieces once or twice a day. (He'll practically moonwalk for the nub of a banana.) For some reason he thinks green tea bags are yummy, like catnip for bunnies, so in the morning when he hears me pop the top off my thermal mug he somehow teleports to my feet out of nowhere.

He's taught our kid a lot about responsibility and behavior around pets, and now she claims that she won't get a pet until she can be home most of the day to take care of it. He doesn't tolerate kids well (with good reason) and he's grumpy if too many people get in his face. To his credit, he gives plenty of warning-- charging, bumping with his nose, and even grunting/barking. If those warnings are disregarded then he'll take your fingers off at the elbow.

So I wouldn't recommend bunnies as pets, not that it was my decision. But when we pet him, we can feel our blood pressure and pulse rate dropping right along with his. And it is kinda nice to have him racing around the familyroom each morning to greet me.
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Old 03-11-2009, 09:02 PM   #29
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Ahhhhh.....
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Old 03-11-2009, 09:14 PM   #30
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We had to put down our dog a few weeks ago. We had decided no more pets for a long time.
We loved him, and he loved us, but he couldn't even get up on his own anymore, going outside was an adventure as we weren't quite sure we were going to get back in.
We track our expenses and he was very expensive.

He was worth every penny but for a while we'll go with no animals.
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Old 03-11-2009, 09:17 PM   #31
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I grew up with dogs all of my life, my last one passed about 10 years ago.
But now I have a granddog OPUS. He is my buddy.
Visits over the weekend then goes home on Sunday.
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Old 03-12-2009, 01:03 PM   #32
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we found ticks and fleas in our room/bed once. We had them for over twelve years. They sleep all day and night (we do walk them once a day when it is not snowing sleeting or freezing).
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Teeny tiny leashes?
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Old 03-12-2009, 01:10 PM   #33
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we found ticks and fleas in our room/bed once. We had them for over twelve years. They sleep all day and night (we do walk them once a day when it is not snowing sleeting or freezing).
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Teeny tiny leashes?
heeheehee! I was thinking this too when I first read it...never knew ticks and fleas lived for 12 years!
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Old 03-12-2009, 03:57 PM   #34
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Nords bunny story would make one think owning such a pet (maybe any pet) isn't worth the bother. But those of us who have had "interesting" pets know better. Our next to last cat was half siamese. He was a "barber" cat. He would hold his sister down and clip off her whiskers with surgical precision. He would sit on DW's shoulders and "groom" her hair for hours (never mine - and, yes, I did change my "oil" daily).

He and I always had at least one knock-down-drag-out "fight" each day. This was accompanied by the most vicious noises you can imagine a cat can make. Think I only got hurt once when he grabbed a finger just a little too tightly with his fangs and I pulled away.

When he wanted attention and wasn't getting it, he would find any cardboard (in a pinch paper) item and begin tearing off chunks - spitting them in our direction until we stopped to play with him.

He would NOT come when we called him! But, if we called his sister, he would come instantly - and yes he knew his name. He apparently figured (and often rightly so) that if we called him, he had done something wrong. If we called his sister, it was to feed or treat her (she was the "good" cat of the pair).

Our vet said he was unusually intelligent (for a cat, of course). Vet asked us how the cat played with a moving object, like a string or long feather. His sister always went for the end of the string or feather. "Muffin" went for the hand in charge of the string/feather. Apparently that is a sign of intelligence.

In midlife, Muffin became diabetic. We almost lost him. Vet got him regulated and on diluted insulin. We had to give shots twice a day - and talk about restricting travel. We finally find a young girl (woman) to care for him when we were gone. Once in a while, we would see him going into insulin shock. It was pathetic to see. We had to pour karo down his gullet to bring him out of it. For unknown reasons, his diabetes seemed to go away after several years. He lived to be almost 19. Wouldn't exchange a minute of that time even though he was a challenge. Helped prepare us for raising kids, I think. He and DS were so similar, it was frightening. They had that same "evil" (OK mischievous) look when they had done something wrong. Neither one could ever "lie" to us.
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Old 03-12-2009, 05:57 PM   #35
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Koolau, I fostered a diabetic cat named Cali for 3 years and found your story fascinating. Cali was 12 when I took her in and figured she would be here for life. DH and I gave her twice daily insulin shots and tested her blood sugar levels ourselves. Travel was difficult during the three years we had Cali but we managed to work it out. We always had a bottle of Karo syrup on hand for emergencies.

One day, out of the blue, I got an e-mail from a couple who actually wanted a diabetic cat. Their beloved diabetic kitty had recently passed away and they wanted to help another one. It's been nearly four years since they adopted Cali and she's still going strong. Every year I get a Christmas card from them with a picture of Cali on the front. I hope to continue receiving them for many more years.
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Old 03-12-2009, 07:24 PM   #36
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A dog works out great for me now. As I've mentioned before, I can't venture off for long periods of time as I need to stay close by for my mother and aunt. So I might as well have a dog, plus my golden retriever is a great exercise buddy. But when my mother and aunt are gone, I still plan to have a dog. I'm sure I will travel more at that time, but I should be able to find a friend to keep my pet. If not, I will go the boarding route. I doubt I will ever be more than a 2 week travel kind of guy anyway.

Life without a dog? No way.
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Old 03-13-2009, 12:57 AM   #37
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We are 60 and 61 and hope to retire but these pets keep happening. I told him no more pets years ago. The cats are both over 10 and the little bird is 9 but the bird travels in the camper with us. So last year he brings home a rabbit, found her in a cage at the feed store she was pretty small. Now she is huge and spoiled loves attention. I can see we will never be able to travel she is used to huge play areas inside and out.

My mom swore she wouldn't have any more pets and didn't for a couple of years. Then one day my brother found a huge Maine Coon cat at a motel that had been hanging out for a month and brought it to her. She really needed a cat but at 80 felt too old and didn't want one to out live her. This cat was already huge so we don't know how old. Now she moved in with my other brother and his wife, cat and dog. For her it is like having her own dog too, he will sleep on her bed with her and her cat. If mom doesn't out live her cat my brother will just keep it, he likes it and they feed it with their cat.
I wish I didn't have pets sometimes but their is a cat at my feet waiting to go to bed, she can't sleep alone.
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Old 03-13-2009, 10:52 AM   #38
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I can identify with the feelings expressed here. Last kitty passed on just before ER. I would be willing to live through that loss again for the love and companionship that pets provide. But, until we are completely stable, I could not adopt another critter.

In practical terms, cats are easier to leave behind durning travel. Over the years, we found that healthy cats do fine with just a slit-open bag of food, open toilets and a large clean litter box. Have gone as long as 2 weeks like that. More often, we've had friends look in on the "kids" when we're gone. Wouldn't ask a friend to clean a litter box so we would have a replacement prepared for each week of absence.

Love dogs, but they are just too much commitment - especially for travel.

Would love to get a pet some day. We'll see.

Thanks for the tip re. replacement litter box. DH and I are going away in a few weeks and setting up the litter boxes the way you described will make it a lot easier for my sister when she comes in to check on the "kids". She is also a cat lover so really did not mind but this is a considerate way to handle an unsavory duty.

I had to laugh about leaving the toilet seat up for the cats when you leave. Found this on Youtube a while back.
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Old 03-13-2009, 05:13 PM   #39
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Yeah, we always left fresh water for the "kids" but more often than not, they preferred to drink from the toilet. So no blue water for us! It did motivate us to keep the "porcelain gods" clean for our babies.

One evening, we heard splashing in the bathroom and feared that maybe a rat had found it's way from the sewer system into our toilet. Never actually had that happen, but I've heard horror stories. (I got the job of investigating.) Turns out the kids were BOTH on the seat, rumps in the air, splashing each other. Wish I could have videotaped it! Classic.
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Old 03-13-2009, 07:51 PM   #40
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We lost our ferret (temporarily) once. He got up on the rim of the toilet, then fell in, closing the lid on the way down. We searched for hours, inside, outside. Didn't find him until we needed to use the toilet. Luckily it was me, DW might have sat down without looking, then I would have lost them both!
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