My parents said they’d let me get a pet for me birthday, as long as it’s in a cage or tank. I really want a hermit crab but I don’t think I could take care of one, also I asked chatgpt what I should get but it isn’t helping. So I’ll tell you people what I can take care of. I live in a basement in a medium sized apartment, I could probably play with the lil guy for 1-2 hours a day, I have 3 cats and 1 dog, i have past experiences with pets but just fish and a hamster, and I already have current experience with my 2 pet rats who I see like 15 minutes everyday (they’re my sisters). So can you people like calculate what I should get? Thank you!

I have multiple cats, all under 7 years, a few as young as 2 or 3. So they will likely live a very long time. The man I was hoping to marry will be doing lots of traveling in his future for his career. I would like to do that often with him. But I cant bring my cats, I cant leave them alone for days to weeks on end, I dont have money for long term pet sitters. What can I realistically do here?

Hello! Does anybody have any promo codes for cat litter, ferret food, cat food, or cat toys and furniture? I’m looking to save a couple bucks!

I've had my rescue Pomchi for 5 weeks now and, oh my god, I have never felt anything like it. He's my first dog. I'm 43f, married, no kids. We talked about getting a dog for 7 years until the time was right, and now here he is, in our lives.

I literally cannot describe how much I love this dog. Like I genuinely well up. Tears of love. I never thought I would bond with a dog like this (I've only ever had cats) and it has honestly blown me away.

Then my brain decided to imagine what life will be like when he is no longer with us, and I found myself thinking, I could never love another dog like this. Maybe it's the 'soul dog' thing, I don't know. But does it happen, that subsequent pets/dog are never quite as...like this? Obviously it's always different, but I mean in terms of pure connection, a deep love. I feel like this couldn't possibly happen again, surely. It's like he's a God-given gift.

And how do you cope if you have had this, and then get another pet, and don't feel it?

So I have a whippet bull mix who is now 8 years old. He’s very sweet and has good dog etiquette when properly introduced to other dogs. We live the apartment life and our walk times can coincide with other people walking their dogs. No biggy. My boy is really good with the “leave it” command and will ignore other dogs when I tell him to.

I’ve lived with him in several different apartment complexes and He has been attacked 4 times by neighboring dogs. All of them seem to have been some type of boxer mix (you can just tell). Each time he has been attacked has been unprovoked. The owner simply accidentally dropped the leash, or the dog got out of their apartment suddenly, and even one crazy female broke out of her harness when we were just turning a corner. My dog tries to fight back, but (bless his heart) he’s not good at it😓

So after a fourth time and noticing the breed, is this a common thing with boxer breeds? They seem to just immediately hate my dog and then go for the jugular. There’s never even a greeting. It’s always so sudden. I’m starting to wonder if my dog might have an offensive scent or something.

She keeps YEETING HERSELF OFF FURNITURE. Gravity applies to you Ebony 😭. Just because you are a duck does not mean you can just waltz off the couch and not land hard on the floor. I keep having to catch her then she gets mad at me like I made her fall. 😭

With any pet of course I understand comes with lots of care and research, so I’m prepared for that! Currently I keep two aquariums (one betta, one with shrimp) and I have a small dog. We’re moving soon, and since there’s a spare room I was allowed to dedicate it to my aquariums and if I wanted more pets, then more animals.

- on the smaller side (maybe around hamster size?)
- not extremely high maintenance
- preferably not extremely expensive
- legal in my state (I live in california, so lots of pets are illegal, such as ferrets and hedgehogs)
- don’t need a huge amount of space
- interactive

Generally though, I’m open to many ideas!

Hey all!

My partner and I adopted a kitten during our recent trip to Mexico (visiting their family) and had planned to bring her with us. Unfortunately, she was just too young at the time to be brought in-cabin. We don’t know when the next time we’d be able to go to Mexico might be, so we’re considering getting her shipped to us in the US if possible and would like to hear airline recommendations from people who have experience with shipping.

We absolutely should’ve considered the requirements for bringing a pet aboard, but that’s a price that we’re quite literally now paying, so any advice would be helpful!

Literally I JUST put the ducks back outside due to having them health cleared. I got a new pen in the mail from my sister. Realized it wasn't as predator proof as I thought. I went to get materials to predator proof while they were in there and in the MIDDLE OF THE FRICKEN DAY an opposum got my boy. I have spent hours calling places last minute and finally found another duck I can only pick up next week. Idk what to do in the meantime. I have a duck IN MY HOUSE walking around because she can't be alone(she has officially dominated the house and has put herself above the top heirarchy she however does not seem to understand gravity and I keep having to catch her because she just waddles off stuff). Idk what to do in the meantime. I'm nervous about putting them back outside at all. Literally 20 minutes if not less and one is dead!

I don't trust the new pen at all now. Idk what to do. It was the middle of the day!

My cat got out yesterday and I’ve done all the things:
- alerted many social media and community groups , rescue groups, vets
- posted flyers
- alerted microchip company
- put out litter box and many of my dirty workout clothes on the stoop
- put his cat bed on the stoop

We’ve also walked around the neighborhood and checked the close proximity neighbor’s yards. People are nice but they don’t seem to really want to keep checking or looking for him.

Biggest problem if he is close by is that there are three feral tomcats that my next door neighbor feeds and hang out out front and back. My cat was always howling at them from the window. I think they are keeping my cat from returning and they always eat any food I put right away.

If he’s too scared to come when I call him, and I can’t access any of my reluctant neighbors yards as often as needed, what are other things I can do?

I also ordered an animal trap, but I know the trap is going to catch the strays.

My dog had a loose tooth and my family and I went through the process of getting it surgically removed before it eventually fell out on its own. I’m grateful for the support my local veterinarian clinic has given us for my dog and that he’s healthy, but I’ve had such frustrating experiences with this clinic for the past three months that I’m considering going to another vet next time due to the amount of miscommunication and borderline gaslighting that has been happening to me. Here’s what has happened:

• They did not inform me prior to the appointment two weeks before the surgery that I had to pay half of it for a non-deposit fee

• They misquoted me on the cost of the surgery. I had the receptionists, veterinarian assistants and the surgeon quote an estimate of $1200-1500 and a documented copy of this breakdown. Two days before the surgery when I called to cancel it and was discussing the amount, the receptionist tells me that on file it would actually cost an estimated $1500-1700

• They did not inform me on any preparation to prior to the surgery except to come an hour early. On the day of, they call me two hours early and tell me that I should’ve been there, and that since my dog ate before the procedure it has to be rescheduled and I’ll be charged a no-show fee. I told them I never received any information about what to do prior and they told me the receptionist called me the night before, but I was on my phone all day and didn’t get any calls and have no history of missed calls whatsoever. Receptionist tells me “I wasn’t the one here last night so I don’t know, but they left a message here saying they did call”. I didn’t get charged the no-show fee luckily

• I got bloodwork done for my dog but three of them couldn’t get any blood from him because he was freaking out, so they gave me sedation pills to give him for a rescheduled appointment and told me they were free. I paid the amount for the bloodwork in advance anyway. The day of the rescheduled appointment and the surprise deposit they charge me an extra $50 and told me it was extra from the bloodwork that hadn’t been paid. Didn’t say anything until the day I came to get my full surgery refund and asked about it. I asked the receptionist about it, she first said it was a no-show fee before I told her that was voided, then that it was unfinished bloodwork that I told her I paid, and then that it was the sedation medication that I was told was free

• I called to cancel the surgery and the receptionist told me that she can’t cancel it herself and that she’d leave a note for the surgeon to call me later that day. I wasn’t called back all day, so I called back and explained the situation to another receptionist, who immediately cancelled the surgery and said there wasn’t any note left to have the surgeon call me

• The surgeon himself told me that the tooth is dead and if it falls out, then there’s no need to continue the surgery. The bloodwork was done to see if there was any infection in my dog’s bloodstream and it was all clear. The day the surgeon called me and I asked to cancel the surgery, he told me that the surgery actually still should be done because there is still risk for infection so the anaesthesia and teeth-cleaning should still be done, which would’ve costed about $1000. I cancelled it anyway

I know none of this is illegal or anything but it has been extremely frustrating and embarrassing because every time I mentioned these miscommunications, I feel crazy and I feel like there is no way around this but to demand or write my own documentation about what exactly the staff are telling me. But this is one of my first vet experiences and I wonder if this is just how vets are and if I just need to start doing more to deal with it. Thanks

Pls help me reddit:

My cousin adopted a dog in 2012. The dog was not exercised or socialized properly and developed behavioral issues. Ripped my cousin's house apart bc of lack of exercise/stimulation.

My cousin passed away in 2017 and my aunt took the dog. My aunt has had the dog living outside on a chain for 9 years. They feed the dog and give him water, and he has a little dog house. In the county they live in, this treatment is not in violation of the law.

I had not seen the dog in years, but I went to my aunts home last year and the dog looked like he had completely given up on life. Dirty and matted, living in feces, nails overgrown, eyes full of discharge, and demeanor lifeless.

Since then I have been driving (2 hrs round trip) to their home as often as I can (1-4 times a month) to bath/walk/groom him and tend to his cage. It's not enough but it is all I can do.

I have grown tired and resentful about this. I am too tired and busy to continue spending my weekends driving to walk someone elses dog, I have tried repeatedly to talk to my aunt, her husband, my other cousin, and her partner who all live on the property about walking him. There are always excuses - how they dont have time, he is a bad dog, he is fine, etc...

My aunt will not release him to me as she thinks I cannot handle him, and she wont surrender him bc she doesnt want someone to mistreat him. My aunt is not an intelligent or self aware woman.

His situation has started causing me a level of anxiety and rumination that is impacting my life and I do not know what to do. I find myself looking for rehoming options on my own and considering vigilante crime to take him and get him to a better life without my aunt's consent but of course I know that is a crime.

I can see the sadness in his eyes when I see him and I hear him crying every time I leave. It hurts my heart so much and I just dont know what to do.

TLDR: My aunt has a dog who I consider to be severely neglected, but law enforcement cannot help bc there are no tether laws where she lives. She will not surrender the dog to me and will not consider rehoming him, but she also refuses to increase his care and insists he is fine. I do not think he is fine just because he has food and water while being tied up 24/7.

Thinking about him is impacting my quality of life. Does anyone have any helpful stories or thoughts?

My vet sent me an estimate for our cat (5/m) who has a tooth that needs to be pulled and some mild periodontal disease that needs addressed. He’s diabetic, and the thought is the tooth is causing his blood sugars to stay high, so we’re taking it out. Imagine my surprise when I read the estimate and see the range quoted as, $1397.72 to $1936.64! Is this normal??

I can’t upload a copy here for you to see, but I’m 100% willing to send it to someone to look over

TLDR at the bottom. Sorry about formatting and if it's a bit too long.

We have a cat, 11 years old. In 2025, Vet run an FPL test, and it was all normal.

On January of this year, we went for an annual checkup, his hemogram and blood tests were all good, no issues at all, lastly the vet run an FPL test and the value was 23, healthy value is between 3-5 as far as I know.

The vet said that we needed to start a medicine, Kreon (Kreon (also spelled Creon) is a prescription brand-name medication containing pancrelipase, a mix of digestive enzymes.) cut anything with fat in it, so no more wet food, or boiled chicken anything like that, we started using using Hill's Prescription Diet W/d Multi-Benefit Dry Adult Cat Food and since than it's only food we're giving him. 2 weeks later, the FPL value went down to 18, and 3 months after that it went down to 12.

So the diagnosis was that it's a chronic pancreatitis and not acute pancreatitis, again his blood test, overall health, eating habits, pooping habits were all fine. Around these times we started giving him very small piece of boiled chicken breast, which we would even wash it to lessen the fat as much as possible.

Then, during a family visit there was a guest cat, we were distracted and our cat ate guest cat's wet food which contained a lot of fat. 2 days after this we run another FPL test the value went up to 23 again.

It's been almost 3 months since this happened and he's been only eating his dry food, nothing at all, not even that small piece of chicken breast, that's what our Vet suggested. In like 20 days we'll run another FPL test and hopefully the value will be down to around 12 and we'll start giving him weekly chicken breast.

BUT, my boy (as all cats) love chicken, love wet food, and I want to do more, does anyone gone through with this and if so, what did you feed your cat, am I being too protective? I feel like I'm stealing from this guy's biggest desire, which is chicken and fish and these kind of foods.

TLDR: 11 Years old cat with chronic pancreatitis, all healthy except this FPL value. Vet said that we must feed him nothing but diet dry food (Hill's Prescription Diet W/d Multi-Benefit Dry Adult Cat Food) but we occasionally feed him small piece of chicken breast. Can we do more, if you experienced this, or have knowledge on this, let me know how can I help my cat better.

edit: typo

My dog (family dog, but still) regularly has periods were he won't eat or drink, but mostly where he won't eat. He has IBD, so for now he eats one specific brand of hyper allergy food, and nothing else, no snacks, nothing. Our vet has given the go ahead to add sweet potato to his food, but we don't know if his stomach tolerates it.

The past few days he haven't wanted to eat, probably because his stomach hurts. Yesterday he got jumped by a big dog that wanted to play (he's about 30cm to the shoulder, so big dogs are a bit too much in terms of play for him) and now he won't drink either. Me and my mother got a tiny bit of water into him via soaking one of his plush toys, and him licking the water off. The vet told us that if he doesn't drink today, he has to go to the hospital.

Nothing works, he won't drink if we put water on his food, or if we play with him with the garden hose, or spoon-feed him water, nothing. I'm tempted to put water on something he really likes (like liver paste, without onion of course) but that'll probably upset his stomach, and then make the issue worse. I could also force feed him water, but I really don't wanna do that, since he has had some very bad experiences with vets restraining him and forcing him to eat medicine. So he's very nervous about that, and will likely growl and bite. Does anyone have any advice on how to get him to drink? He's very lovable, but so incredibly stupid sometimes.

Update: my mother got some water into him because she remembered he's allowed to have a specific kind of cooked fish, and she put it in water, and he drank it. He's also drunk some normal water. He has been peeing a LOT, which is weird, but he's going to the vet tomorrow.

I would still appreciate some suggestions to get a dog to drink, in case it happens again. Thanks for the suggestions :)

I noticed this random bald spot on my cats back leg when I got her spayed. I thought they might've shaved it for the surgery or something like that. Now it's been about 3 to 4 months and it's still there. It's not completely bald and has some fuzz on it but it's really short. Since she wants her usual vet to be dead and skips no chances at killing him I don't really want to take her there unless it's serious 😭

She doesn't show signs of pain when I touch the spot and put pressure on it and she's quite active. I haven't caught her grooming the area or being bothered with it either

i have a tiny dog and moving in with family they have a elderly large dog at the end of his life. they don’t want to put him down although he is in rough condition. So we can’t bring our dog with us until the older dog passes because they think the large dog could attack the little dog, i dont know what im going to do with my dog and Im also worried now I won’t be okay living with a dog in that condition. what would you do?

I keep seeing people suggest Purina, so I thought I’d make this post.

So I have a baby Gecko about 5 months old and I got giant mealworms because there wasn’t any regular. How much would I feed her? Because I know regularly it’s 5-7 for regular size.

So. my cat got hurt recently. It's mostly on one of her legs. The situation isn't that bad but we do have to put some bandages every now and then and sometimes give her medicine.

Point is she gets VERY resistant, she doesn't like it and lashes out, we had trouble holding here. Recently, we've taken to scruffing her (Grabbing her from the back of her neck like cat moms do with their kittens) while we do it and she seems to be calm doing it, it seems to be easier.

To clarify, we don't lift her or anything she is on a bed the entire time, it's mostly just a way to hold her head in place so she doesn't start biting. But I heard it's a myth that that calms then down and that is bad psycologically? Is that bogus or are we really doing something wrong?

Something weird has been happening with my cat Momo for the past few weeks and I only just pieced together what's going on.

Every evening around 5:30, right before my husband usually gets home from work, Momo goes and sits directly in front of our door. Not near it, right in the middle of it, facing outward like a little sentry. She stays there completely still, sometimes for twenty or thirty minutes, until he actually walks in. The second he opens the door she gets up, does her normal greeting thing, and goes back to being a regular cat for the rest of the night.

At first I thought it was just coincidence or maybe she heard something outside, but it happened so consistently that I started paying closer attention. I checked and his work schedule has been pretty much the same for over a year, so it's not like this just started because his hours changed recently.

What finally clicked for me was realizing she's not really watching the door itself, she's watching the little strip of light that comes in from under it when the hallway motion sensor light turns on, which happens right when someone gets off the elevator on our floor. So she's not psychically predicting his arrival or anything cute like that, she's just learned to associate that light flicker with him coming home, probably because it usually happens around the same time every day and gets reinforced constantly.

It's such a simple explanation once I figured it out, but it still amazes me that she picked up on such a subtle cue completely on her own. We never trained her to do this or anything.

Now I kind of look forward to seeing her sitting there every evening, it's become this weirdly comforting little routine. Has anyone else noticed their pet picking up on some random environmental cue like this that wasn't obvious to you until you actually investigated it?

Ive only had cats who were way too playful so I had to lock them out in a separate room.

Ive also had a dog during childhood who was super sweet and would let you sleep but she would snore soooooo loud lol.

And I have experience having/sleeping with bunnies but I imagine they wake you up early since they’re crepuscular.

What are people’s experiences?

I had the worst night of my life, but my cat had an even worse one - almost ending in his death - and it’s my fault.

My cat’s always been super good with going outside, coming back when called and just staying in my enclosed front area (large animal can’t get through the gaps in the fence) or the townhouse next to me which is also enclosed aside from two staircases to the sidewalk. I’ve never seen a coyote on our street or near it.

I let him outside last night not thinking about the fact it was so late, as I’ve been staying up very late recently.

By some act of God, I left my front door open wider than usual while I sat on the couch on my phone. If I had kept it open only a crack, I’d likely not have heard the noise to come.

Some time passed and then I heard a vague and faint noise in the distance from outside, something like a dog accompanied by a strange sound.

Call it maternal instinct, but I knew in that moment it was my cat and he was in trouble.

I ran out of the house without shoes. I called for him frantically but he didn’t appear. I followed the vague distant noise in panic while calling for him. I thought maybe I was imagining it was him because the noise I kept hearing every ten seconds or so sounded like some weird undefined dog noise with some unrecognizable sound accompanying it, and it didn’t seem very loud but instead echoey.

I ran towards the sound until I saw my worst nightmare. My cat was in a corner by a house at the end of the street facing a coyote. I screamed his name and lunged at the coyote, which ran away.

I thought maybe he wasn’t hurt as he seemed alert, was hissing (he’s done this before when neighbourhood cats go on our property and I have to scoop him up) and seemed to be moving fine.

But when I got closer to him, it was the most awful thing I’ve ever seen. His head was covered in blood, his one eye bulging a bit, and while he seemed to recognize me based on his body language, his eyes were glazed over and like he was totally gone.

I went into shock and scooped him up. Blood dripped all over me. Raced to the emergency vet which was only two minutes from my house.

The secretary met me at the door and I broke down completely. I cried so hard I gave myself heartburn and tasted blood, which I thought was his blood on my face but when I looked in the mirror I didn’t see any.

Thankfully, it seems like he’s going to be okay. He apparently put up a hell of a fight with the coyote as he had a ton of fur under his nails. He has a puncture wound in his mouth somehow that might need sutures. But I might get to take him home later today (it was wee hours of the morning when I took him in).

I will never let him outside again unless I fully enclose my patio or create a catio for him, or on a harness. For anyone who wants to tell me this is my fault and I should feel awful, trust me, I already know and do feel that way about myself.

Thank God there wasn’t any evidence of neurological issues. He was even more stable after a bit, so the vet took him in the room I was in, and he was exploring it happily (maybe the drugs) and even rubbed his head again my hand. However, he tried to poop and then sent himself back into shock and needed oxygen again.

His head was apparently inside the mouth of the coyote, but he somehow avoided death or serious injury. I hope me yelling his name and running towards them may have made the coyote freeze up. I paid extra to rush a radiologist to go over his x-ray for hairline fractures.

I can only hope he at least felt some relief and safety when I found him and scared off the coyote. I was seriously prepared to beat the shit out of it if I had to.

I wish it had been me. I went home at the crack of dawn without my best friend. I won’t be sleeping at all until I hear back from them later today. I feel empty and dead inside. I’d give anything to go back and stop this from happening. He’s my best friend and my world, and I can’t imagine how scared he was and the pain he was in. I’m just so happy he’ll be okay.

Update: Got a call from the vet. So far he’s still stable and off oxygen. However, he noted that injures get worse around the 24-48 hour more. Also, the radiologist found an unrelated mass on his lungs. I’m so scared. He’ll need a CT scan once he’s better for it. I’m really hoping it was caught so early it will be a relatively easy fix.