I had a kitty that I got from the Humane Society before my first baby was born, she was such a sweetie, we didn't notice anything amiss until the baby started walking, she started out swatting at his leg every time he would pass by her (almost like she was laying in wait for him) well one day as he walked past her in nothing but a diaper, she reached out grabbed him by the leg with both front feet and sank her teeth into his chubby thigh, I was horrified! she went to my brother and sister in laws that very day, as they had said they never intended on having any children. Every time he would visit them when he was older she would just hiss at him and run and hide. Well they had their first baby last March and are expecting their second this March (busy little beavers) she has to be around 15 now, and I haven't heard anything about her being bad to their baby, sure hope she is too old to get up the energy. Would hate for them to have to do something about her, but I know my brother, I am surprised they haven't already rehomed her to be honest, guess she is on her best behavior!

I went back to mixing Fresh Step, the old litter, with Tidy cat. ItÂs only been 3 days. I will have to check with my husband to see if he has picked up any "deposits" lately. I have not found any. She does not seem to be constipated. I bought some new hairball medicine, which is an oil I have been mixing with her wet food. Unlike all the others I have tried so far, she likes this one. I have been wondering if the oil will make her stool softer too. I started using that maybe 2 weeks ago. The hairballs have now stopped. The floor pooping predates the hairballs (which show up every year in the spring); but IÂm wondering if having hairballs could have caused the uptick in incidence I noticed. The newspaper mostly makes it easier to clean the box. When I dump it, it all slides easily into the garbage. But I have noticed (maybe this is me speculating) that she does not like the feeling of the plastic under the litter on her toes. When I have run out of paper she has objected (donÂt ask me how I know, she just comes to me with this lookÂ). I usually put a heavy sprinkle of baking soda under the paper. I find the paper, which goes up the sides too, wicks the moisture away from just the one spot and makes it dry faster. She does not cover what she does in the box and never has. Just does it and leaves. If IÂm nearby and smell it, I do it!

There was a dog at work who at age 2, for no reason whatsoever, became vicious. Absolutely, positively, unapproachably horrible biter, to everyone including his owners. Like a switch was flipped from nice to mean. We consulted a boarded behaviorist about the dog, and she said that it can happen. Usually male dog, usually neutered at ~6 months, appropriate socialization, training, and upbringing and they just suddenly become mean. She said she used to try to work with people, but hasn't had much success and recommends euthanasia because these dogs are downright dangerous. The client in this case did euthanize the dog after about a week, hoping maybe the problem would go away. We had another client and for the life of me I don't understand them. They brought a terrible horrible evil mean biting cocker mix from the shelter, on death row. I have no idea why they wanted THAT dog. Anyway, before they even took it home they brought it to the vet to be checked out. Lucky me was the only tech on duty at that time. They had him in a carrier and couldn't get him out because he kept growling. OK, maybe he's cage-protective I say, and suggested that I could put the carrier on the table and open it from the top. Fine. Did that. Dog tried to eat my face. Literally. I immediately put him down on the floor and he tried to jump up and eat my face. He was relentless, jumping and attacking me. Thank Gog he still had on the leash that the shelter had on him because he wouldn't let them take that off either. I used it to hold the dog away from me while I put the carrier back on the floor, dragged him into it, and slammed the lid back on. The owners saw what happened. I hadn't done a THING to the dog. They said he was scared. I said take him back to the shelter. They said he'd be killed. I said good. Only time I've ever said that, and I meant it too. They saw our aforementioned boarded behaviorist and refused to do anything she suggested. She had recommened anxiolytic drugs and a Nothing in Life is Free program. Also to feed him separately in a different room because he was incredibly resource-protective, that kind of thing. I have no idea what their deal was, thought it was "mean" to make a dog sit before they fed it and to "drug" the dog (it was suffering needlessly from severe anxiety- it NEEDED drugs and ws cruel to keep him without drugs IMHO). As far as I know they still own this piece of crap. They can't pet him at all, can't take him for walks outside, has to go in their yard separate from their other dog, has to be kept separatly from their other dog (meaning wife is in one room of the house with the evil one and husband is in another room with the nice dog- can't be good for a marriage), if anyone comes over to the house they have to cage him, he's sent the woman to the ER 2 times last time I heard, and he has to be presented to our clinic heavily sedated AND muzzled, and sometimes we still can't do a thing with him. All this time, they could have ended that dog's suffering, and I do believe that living with that level of anxiety is suffering greatly, and rescued a really nice shelter dog from death. I simply don't understand why they have that dog. He's never going to be a good pet for anyone, he's a danger to have around, and they didn't even try to implement a plan that may have made him OK (I doubt it though). They say that they are against animal suffering and couldn't euthanize it, but that dog is beyond miserable and they won't help it. I don't get it at all, and I told them that I wouldn't work with it ever again. Meant it too. Boss OK with that. I can understand people who have pets that are nice to the owner and nobody else. 99% of the time, the pet is just with the owner, so 99% of the time the pet is great. As long as the owner takes appropriate precautions when the pet has to be around other people, it's fine with me. Even though I get my butt kicked by such animals on a regular basis at work. I'm the person, and I've got my ways. I love some chemical restraint is all I'm saying. I guess my answer to the original question, "why do people keep mean animals" is the same for all "why do people do that" questions- because people are stupid.

My cat had been abused when I got him @ 7 years old. After two weeks he was really liking his new digs & people. He has no problems with throwing up unless we've just come home and we're late. He fretts that we've abandoned him. When we walk in the door he throws himself at our feet for belly rubs, mewing and celebrating. Then we have to wait about half an hour to feed him, for him to calm down or he throws up. He also no longer throws up hair balls....now we switched to grain free food. He has really long hair. Your cat sounds very attached. A good bond has formed. I like that you eat dinner together. :0)