Be Excellent To Each Other

Apart from dogs, of course.

Aw, so cute, easily worth £20 I'd say

Frog on my patio!



And then a hedgehog walked by! I didn't get a photo of that, though.

I think Pets at Home had just got their delivery in! Loads of gippies and rabbits! Also a lovely chinchilla.

WTBs post there reminded me to upload this video of the pile of cuteness Mrs B and I stumbled across the other weekend ('scuse the fucking shocking video quality; I'm getting a new phone this week and can then discard the rubbish handset I'm currently saddled with):

WTF?!? You can't just buy them like a product man!

I wouldn't touch Pets At Home with a bargepole - just Google:

Pets at Home cruelty

and you'll see why.

I didn't touch it, I went in it. And bought food for our rabbit.

Anyway, got anything more specific than "Google this"? Having trouble finding much beyond years-old forum posts talking about bad experiences with their stores. Which is hardly surprising considering they're a national chain with hundreds of stores employing thousands of employees at minimum wage. It's not so much cruelty I'm finding as it is uneducated, clueless staff. And as I say, most of it is pretty old as far as I can tell.

Not that I'm in the business of buying animals anyway. Our rabbit and lizard were from private individuals, and I only intend to get a dog at some point, and that'll be rescued. Gotta buy food for the critters, though.

Not that I've ever seen anything out of sorts in the stores I've been to. The animals usually look perfectly happy with adequate (albeit temporary, obviously) room, plenty of food, water, bedding and toys. Plus they have their own "rescue" service in there which re-homes small mammals that would probably be flushed down the toilet otherwise, so that's no terrible thing.

Pets At Home wouldn't sell me a fish once. Twats.

Why?

"My cat is hungry"

The fryer was broken

I've not bought a pet from them, but they are the only place I've found that sells basic stuff for my kitten like food and litter.

The litter is biodegradable, its quite expensive but this is what she used before we got here so I don't want to change it and have her stop using the tray.

I can get the litter at my local pet shop, each time I go there he either has none or one bag. I like to spend my money on local bussiness but sometimes they make it hard.

The food you would think Tesco had it, but no its either sold out or its the fish one that she doesn't eat. So I bought 90 odd pouches of it from Pets at Home.

I also had an issue with the kitten a few weeks ago when she just stopped using the litter tray and was going on the carpet, I got some good advice from helpfull staff on what to do and buy.

There was a watchdog (or something) program about pets at home, and the vet expert they had on was really critical of them, loads of examples of bad treatment (dead fish in fish tanks left to rot, hamsters attacking each other, malnutrition) they even had signs up reminding their customers about stuff, and then ignored them themselves!

Malc

Because I didn't have a water sample with me. I offered to piss in a jar, and he didn't even laugh. That was at the stage where I still thought he was joking.

That's unexpectedly responsible.

I wanted some fucking fish.

They often have fighting fish. I've never seen fucking fish.

Our buster

Dooohhhh. He looks like my Snowcake.

I have a friend that is a vet. She is @vet_that_tweets on twitter and probably worth a follow as she is quite interesting.

Over the past week, there's been a rabbit in the garden. I'm 99% sure it is next door's rabbit. I'm no expert on leoporidae, but it probably shouldn't be there at night and not where ever it is rabbits live. I've left bowls of water out for it and it seems to like to drink water. It doesn't like cabbage or carrots. Or romaine hearts. I've tried knocking on next door but they aren't in. not quite sure what to do now, so I got a collapsible crate and took one end off, to make a rudimentary shelter from the rain. I think that I'll call on next door tomorrow and if they aren't in, call an animal shelter or something.

Is it friendly?

It's a rabbit. Quick little fucker and all. I'll open the back door and it'll run up, sniff my shoes then retreat about 3 yards and quietly ignore the help I'm giving it.

Shit, I'm turning into YOU!

I need this problem sorted by 2pm Saturday. preferably without a Hessian bag and a bric and a quick trip down the road.

Has it got a shitty arse?

It's a rabbit. A black rabbit that I see at night.

Etc...

But seriously, some rabbits aren't into veg because their owners have simply never given them any. It probably lives on pellets. That's no terrible thing of course, but it's nice to give them some veg and stuff as a treat. The worry is, if it's not eating, their digestive system can shut down (or something, I'm not the expert on rabbits in this house). So, get it some pellets. Or just do the other thing you said you'd do. RSPCA and that.

yeah, if I can't speak to them tomorrow then I will. I'm not going to even try and help catch teh fucking thing though, they have near 360 degree vision.

They don't like being picked up, is all. Prey animals. If you hang around it'll eventually come over to you and then you could try quickly grabbing it. You really do have to be quick, though. And watch it doesn't scratch you with its rear legs.

Running about in the rain and the dark after a black rabbit that doesn't belong to me is somewhat beneath my dignity. I'll make a trap using string, a stick and some boxes.

Ha!

Inhumane misread-feex!

Airgun.

No, it's a rabbit and still there.

Probably the funniest thing I've read all week. The best bit is page 3 where you find out the entire story, complete with "Emergency Union Jack"

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... what-to-do

Had the kitten spayed so she has to have an E-Coller on for the next 10 days to stop her picking the wound.

Poor little sod is so depressed, she snarled at me yesterday when I tried to comfort her.

She looks freaked out the whole time and is very subdued. She won’t be able to clean herself for 10 days sure that will piss her off.

Sure she is trying to protest, went out for a run tonight and when I came back she was sat on my office chair and wouldn’t move. She has never sat there before in all the time we have had her.

So, er, we went to Pets at Home for Timothy hay and stuff. And we adopted two male gippies! Apparently they had been in the store for a few months and nobody had bought them - presumably because they're not baby sized anymore. Woo!

They're settling in now... Well, they're shitting themselves in their house. Will they be more active in a day or so?

Aw, I always struggle to resist the ones that have been there the longest... yes, it will probably take a week or so for them to start to adjust in my experience. A gippynig's basic state is terror, it takes a bit for that to drop to mere anxiety.

Signs of activity when I came down this morning! They'd eaten all of their hay and all of the chunks of carrot I'd put out. Also, poo everywhere! One of them was out when I came down but he quickly ran into their house when he saw me. Glad they're eating at least!

Oh, there's a question. What sort of veg do they particularly love? Also, we feed the rabbit nuggets twice a day and she gobbles them up immediately. Gippies are different, aren't they? Little and often? Obviously they'll also be fed plenty of hay and veg, but do we just keep their bowl topped up with fresh nuggets daily?

If you feed them at the same time each day the get sued to it.

Bloody lawyers.

They're still a little skittish, but they squeak incessantly whenever I open the fridge now! I fear I may have set a precedent with the spring greens.

We've called them Richie and Eddie.

Hey WTB, I meant to reply the other day but I didn't get around to it.

We've had a few guinea pigs over the years and its taken all of then a few days to settle in. They're very nervous animals by nature so they'll always be a little skittish if they're startled. Usually they man up if there's food involved though!

We keep their dry food topped up and they probably get through a bowl full every couple of days between two of them. They do tend to graze over it, where as rabbits tend to scoff it all down in one go. Feeding them pellets as opposed to the muesli type stuff is meant to be better, as with the muesli they'll just pick out the bits they like so they don't get the full range of vitamins etc.

You should give them plenty of fresh hay to aid their digestion and to play in.

As far as fresh food goes, we tend to give them a bowl full once a day, usually with a handful of spinach in a boredom breaker ball http://www.thepetshopuk.co.uk/images/34387.jpg We give them a mixture of a few things each day including carrots, broccoli, peppers (red, yellow, orange or green), sprout peelings, cauliflower leaves, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, spring greens, spinach, dandelion leaves, grass, romaine lettuce... Only give them very small amounts of anything "cabbage like" (sprout peelings, cauliflower leaves etc) as it can give them a windy tummy. And only small amounts of cucumber and romaine lettuce as they're very watery and too much can give them the runs.

They absolutely love anything green and will chomp through that first. They can see in colour, so I don't know if its the flavour or the colour they go for the most.

Guinea pigs are like humans in that they have to eat a fair amount of vitamin C to prevent scurvy so fresh food is good for that. I used to put the vitamin drops in the water but they didn't really like the taste and someone (I think Dimrill) told me it can give them kidney stones.

Anyway, they're delightful pets. Once they get used to you they'll start "popcorning" around the cage when they're excited and squeak like mad anytime you rustle a plastic bag because they'll expect to be fed!

Put some pics up when you get a chance

sorry to interupt the tales of cute and fluffy but there is a moggy problem for you to ponder:
A few days ago Joey (male mog, large, black, +4 health, super claws attachment) started having diarrhea and his third eyelid, the one that goes diagonally up, is covering up to half his eye. He's been to the vet and had antibiotics as a precation. We have been told that its probably a virus and all you can do is wait.

Anyone else had this problem? cat illness chart follows:

Shitty arse? yes\no

extreme smell? yes/no

droopy 3rd eyelid? yes/no

runny poo? yes/no (yes I checked )

otherwise acting completely normal. thanks for reading, any thoughts? I worry

The GPs taken with new camera

Misty recovered well from her op, after 4 days I took her for a check-up and there was some swelling, the vet said it was normal but asked how she had been. I said she had spent 4 days running around trying to get the collar off!

After this she became quite chilled and just slept the “operation off” it was really nice as I slept in the spare room a couple of nights and let her sleep on the bed, she just curled up next to me on top of the bed and crashed out.

The following Monday I got home and she had the usual wild shinny eyes so I knew she was on the mend.

A couple of week ago she came back in with a sneezing fit, took her to the vets twice (£100 later) who gave her some jabs and said she probably had some grass blades in the back of her throat. She has since has 2 massive sneezing fits, each time a blade of grass came out of her nose!

These days we need to watch her food, the operation changes her metabolism and she can put weight on easily, she certainly eats more now and will cry or even jump on my leg if food is not served fast enough.

Yesterday I let her out and after an hour she appeared at the patio door looking frightened, I went into the conservatory and the ginger tom from a couple of houses over (which is spayed and 12) was sat watching her, she hid behind me, looking out between my legs until I scared him away! Today she spent all day watching him from one of the windows at the front of the house.

All in all a great little cat, who I’m far too soft on but I don’t care I love her to bits.