Hey there, I am 17 years old and I adore animals. I live with just myself and my mother and I currently have 4 cats (soon to be more probably) 2 gerbils, and 2 goldfish. I look after my pets very well and make sure they are happy and healthy.

I have always loved birds and have always pictured myself having a parrot (such as a macaw) I have owned finches, budgies, and other small pasts in the distant past, but I haven’t had any for a while thus I will not get a large bird like a macaw. One that has really caught my eye is a Sun Conure. I think they are beautiful birds and would love to have one as a pet to commit my time to.

I will mention in a list-styled fashion what my concerns are:

-I am 17, very young and my life is just beginning. I don’t travel much but will likely travel every so often. Not to mention I may be starting university soon.

-I have 4 cats, obviously cats and birds don’t mix. My plan would mainly be to just make sure they are seperated at all times in the house but I am still concerned, should I be?

-Gerbils natural predators are birds, as far as I know, Sun Conures do not eat rodents, however they would still terrify my gerbils. Gerbils only live until around 4 years old so maybe once they are gone I will get my bird.

Besides what I listed, I cannot think of any reasons as to why I would not be ready. I will always commit my free time to looking after it and spending time with it, I will be sure it’s healthy, regular check ups, and so forth. Would like to hear some feed back. Am I ready?

Hello, I am writing because I’m really desperate at this point. My dog hasn’t been feeling good for a few days now (nearing a week now) she had been steadily losing her appetite and vomiting/trying to vomit. I was really concerned and took her to the vet 3 days ago. He told me that physically she looked fine and asked me if I’d be ok with a full blood work (because it would cost) I told him that that was the least of my concerns and that he was free to take blood and check her for everything he was afraid she might suffer from. After the vet drew blood I noticed my dog started limping so I called him.again and he came straight back to check on her again he checked her leg and it was completely fine her nerves were responding, he muscles were also ok and when he checked the movements of her leg everything was fine too but she was still limping so he started checking her spinal cord and when he reached a certain point my dog jumped and turned around to try and bite him that was how intense her pain was.

Her blood work came back completely fine and he told me that her organs seemed to be in perfect condition too. So he started administering 2 injections one antibiotic and one for pain relief. My dog was back to normal again and the limping has gone away completely but she steadily goes back to feeling weak and depressed until she takes the shots again. She stopped vomiting but today she started again. My vet instructed me to withhold food and just offer a small amount of water and I should check if she still vomits today. Unfortunately, where I live I don’t have the option of taking her to second vet for a second opinion on the matter so I decided to post here for help or at the very least ask someone here if these symptoms remind them.of something specific. The vomit was phlegm like white sometimes she throws up the water she just had after that she started vomiting anything I tried feeding her followed by a yellow substance today I found a dried brown like substance that scared me because I thought she might have thrown up blood?! But after I found that she vomited again and it was mostly water again so I figured if it was blood she would have thrown up blood again? She hasn’t gone to the bathroom for a few days (which is ok I guess since she hasn’t been eating much) but when she did go two days ago her feces we’re very soft and a few days before all these I noticed there was also mucus in some of her feces. She’s a pitbull mix and she is family to me I love her so much and I hated seeing her suffer and me being unable to do anything about it… The vet has recommended some pills as well because he suspects an intestinal or stomach parasite but my dog is way too clever as I’ve tried everything hiding in into food which she refused to take, tried putting it into sausages which she found again and proceeded to take the sausage out on the floor and eating it from the floor little by little around the pill, I’ve tried peanut butter which she outright refused and I even tried opening her mouth and putting the pills inside which she coughed out again and now when I try to open her mouth she keeps it tightly shut. Please help me if you can does anything ring a bell? Do these symptoms remind you of a case you might have encountered? Will my dog be ok?

Hello,

My 18 and 1/2 year old lab mix just suddenly lost about 50-70% use of his hind legs few days ago. The vet recommended MRI which was financially not feasible nor did I think giving him anesthesia given his age was a good idea. He sent us home with prednisone and to call back with updates. I took him to a vet acupuncturist but she said that probably won’t be very helpful. I’m going back tomorrow to see if I can convince her to do acupuncture. Boston has otherwise been a super happy and healthy dog (sans nerve sheath tumor surgery 7 months ago from which he has made 100% recovery).

It’s been 5 days and since I wasn’t told about crate rest, I allowed him to wonder/wobble short distances around the house to go potty and to/from bedroom and living room and he has fallen few times when his back legs gave out. Given his age, I just don’t think surgery is an option. If he doesn’t get better in a couple of weeks, is euthanasia pretty much the only option? How much time should I give him? I just hate seeing him in pain but my husband is on deployment and I really want him to hang on until he comes back as it was my husband who rescued our dog 16 years ago. He is currently on prednisone and tramadol. Please advise. I just cannot make any drastic decisions on my own right now but I also want to do the right thing by our loyal and loving baby. Thank you.

my dog ( 1 1/2 year old small mix terrier) is a sweet guy when it comes to humans and dogs he is familiar with. sadly, he has picked up aggressive behaviors from my brothers large dogs. He will growl at people he is not familiar with on the street and when they enter the home. he will growl at outside noises and also at other unfamiliar dogs. he doesn’t bite people he just growls and when they try to pet him he runs away and gets shy. minutes will pass and he will warm up to people. he does fine at the dog park, when a dog approaches he smells the dog and runs away( which makes sense, he is a small dog) i’m more concerned when we go on walks. i’m looking for advice and tips i can do to help me and my dog work on his excessive growling. i would love to be able to go on a walk with him and be able to pass people without him growling and he can just keep walking.

My dog just bit our neighbor out of nowhere?!? We recently (2 weeks ago today) brought home a 2 year old great dane/lab/retriever mix. We’ve been doing out “trial” run as we call it to see if he’s our perfect fit. Well so far it’s been amazing. We keep saying he’s a turn key dog, perfect. Until today. Our neighbor, whom he’s never met, walked over to us and the dog, who was on the chain lunged and bit her. Out of nowhere. She had and ready let him sniff, do his thing, pet him, he was andlreadyll good, then BAM! Luckily he didn’t puncture the skin and she was understanding when we apologized multiple times, but my husband is irritate. He has zero tolerance for this. He wants him gone. I’m wondering if maybe it was just andlreadyll glitch persay? I random act of over excitement? Does anyone have any ideas? He’s never done it to anyone we’ve had over or taken him to see. I understand my husbands concern as there are people that walk around here, kids, smaller animals, and he doesn’t want them hurt seeing as how this happened with him on a leash. Any ideas?

My Golden Retriever puppy of 87 days does not eat his food but if it is mixed with his treats he eats it why? And how to make him eats his food.

Our dog has been having seizure episodes, is there anything we can do to help her?

She is a two year old border collie mix. They have been recurring late at night since mid October about every other month. When they happen she loses her balance and can’t walk, she has heavy drool, and she vomits and loses control of her bowels.

These symptoms last around twenty minutes. She has the shakes for about an hour after she regains her balance and the other symptoms pass. After about two hours she is back to acting like herself.

She’s very scared while these are happening, we’ve been comforting her until they pass. Is there anything we can do? What could be causing these?

My six month old pitbull has a large hematoma after a routine neuter. He was fine with no swelling for two days after the surgery, but day three his scrotum started swelling. We took him into the vet who explained it was normal for some dogs and sent us home with some sedatives to stop his moving around and told us to monitor. Later that day, the scrotum swelled to the size of a medium to large orange. We returned, and we’re given antibiotics just in case, as there was no evidence of fever to indicate infection. The next day, he the wound started draining, a pink substance likely blood mixed with some other bodily fluid. The suture area looks fairly normal, just a small amount of redness and swelling, and the fluid smells of iron, not infected. We were advised to place a warm compress on for a few minutes a couple of times a day, but our pup won’t let us near the area. He is a sweet dog, but the sedatives combined with the pain are causing him to snap at us when we go near the back legs. He refuses to even sit down for hours at a time. Do you have any advice for how to help him through this? My wife and I work 8-9 hours during the day, though we have family that stops by for a few hours at a time to watch him. I’m just worried that he is in so much pain he won’t let us help him heal.

My 7-year lab mix tore her chest apart on a hose bib earlier this year. She developed a large seroma on her chest after her vet closed up the massive gash. We drained it once after the port holes naturally closed. She does not want to reopen the holes because of infection risk. To help the seroma shrink, she suggested a compression vest which I immediately ordered since I couldn’t find one locally. It will get here tomorrow. I hadn’t seen any comments regarding compression vests for seroma. Thoughts? My girl is happy aside from being a little dopey from drugs – she had an allergic reaction to who-knows-what and is on Benadryl. She’s been through so much over the last couple of weeks and we just want our Casey back to normal.

I had run out my house leaving butter on my counter to thaw. I arrived home to find 2 large piles of what I assumed was bile. While cleaning it up I realized it was in fact butter, to my horror my dog had consumed 3 sticks of butter. I have a call in to my vet but would love to know how bad this is to ease my mind. My boy is a Border Collie/GSD mix, 80lbs, 4 years and in good overall health, aside from vomiting he seems to be his normal self. (And yes, I know better than to leave anything on the counter.) Thank you!