You're right, Curt! I need to change the name on their pictures in my Photobucket account. I looked up hog sphinx/Virginia creeper sphinx on the Bill Oehlke site, and the markings are the same. I also looked at the azalea sphinx, because I get those caterpillars on my native azaleas and viburnums every year, but I've never seen the adults. The scientific names for azalea and hog sphinxes both start with the word darapsa, so they're obviously closely related. We have tons of wild muscadine grape vines and Virginia creeper here, so it's logical that I'd get that type sphinx, too. Susan, my moonvines have just started getting their true leaves. I think I'll go ahead and plant them tomorrow - once they get planted, they should grow like weeds, at least they did last year. Nothing could attract more sphinx moths than moonvine flowers! MissSherry

Agree on the declawing thing. When Mushroom was a kitten, she would climb the curtains and sleep on the rod until someone would come home from work to get her down. We finally decided to have her declawed. My brother-in-law did the surgery, so she had a lot of special attention after that. I didn't think anything about it until I read about surgery itself. It is VERY painful - worse than having nail tips pulled off - OUCH!. At the time she wouldn't leave the front door even if I left her there all night - until she was in season, so I didn't worry much about the protection issue. She was a Siamese and LOUD!! Before she was spayed, my neighbors would complain for me not to let her out because she sounded like a newborn that had been left out, outside. I have hesitated to get another cat because of the clawing thing. If I do, I'm pretty sure I would - at least the front claws. So, at this point, I haven't decided - tough one because I really think I want another Siamese. In fact I know of one now -male. But I can't do the furniture/curtain clawing thing either.

If you think a cat is going to help her and not make things worse then go ahead and get a cat. As far as male vs. female I would have to say its all up to you. You can look at it several different ways. Lets say you get a male cat I am not sure about your area but here you can't fix them until they are 6 months old. I myself just got a male cat him and the dog get along great it took a while but now you find them sleeping together on the dogs bed. But before he was 6 months old he was spraying in the house and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't want to let him outside for fear he would be out tomin and never be back or be back in need of a trip to the vet. So I had to get more bleach and that get the cat smell out stuff. Female cats I guess are cleaner but if they come into heat early or you can't get them right to vet you have to deal with the loud near non stop meow they have. Then if she does get out she might come home and you will have deal with kittens in about 60 days. So its really all up to you. I wouldn;t go and see if you can find a adult cat. Don't get me wrong I think getting them from the pound is great but with a cat I always think what is wrong with the cat. Are they dirty, loud, rip the house up. Or it could just be the owners where moving and couldn't take the cat and they are the best cat ever. Its really like rolling dice you never know what you are going to get. I know you can find free kittens, just by driving around this time of year. Between my house and the center of town I think there are two or three signs.(apox 5 miles) Barn cats have a better knowledge of outside life but may come with alot of medical problems and are not litter trained. House rasied cats should be litter trained and may come with less health problems. So if you are looking for price vs. sex of the animal females cost more to fix then the males. But if I had to do it all over again. I think I would go with a female cat. But I have never been much of a cat person, I was a sucker and co workers had them and the condition they where in I could just leave him here. I am a sucker for a lost cause! Just my two cents.

Right Dominant type males can tend to mark in the house. I had it with one male. I put him on a short lead and tied him to the couch foot. I slowly lengthened it to where he could get around the entire LR. After awhile of that I took him off the leash and he was AOK after that. He had a large yard to run in so exercise was not the reason he marked. The other male who lived in a separate part of the house never marked. They were both stud dogs. Small dogs and hounds, with SOME exceptions are harder to housebreak. The pup you get will grow up to have the traits that pro breeders breed for if you bought from a pro person. If you bought from a pet shop, pet farm or backyard breeder than since they practice NO quality control you have NO idea what traits are latent in the genes. You get a pig in a poke. Most pro breeders choose for stable and outgoing personality. ONE growl or snap or bite at a judge and that dog can never be shown again. Still, some breeds can be trained to behave in the ring and still not be friendly to strangers elsewhere. Know thyself equals know thy dog. Temperament problems can come from even 4 generations behind your pup, especially in the more aggressive types. There are no small problems with big dogs. Friendly pups do not always grow up to be friendly adults. Adult personality can easily be very different from puppy personality. If you are adopting I think a grown dog is the better choice as then you are quite sure of what you are going to live with. Personally I always choose an adult if possible, unless it is a really rare breed with few puppies bred and available in the market sense. In the rarer breeds adults are seldom available as they are usually not impulse buys since there is usually a waiting time for a puppy. Impulse buyers usually don't wait. They just buy another breed. Seeing the parents and other family members is a good idea. I would often have 3 or 4 generations living when I was breeding regularly, so buyers could see the dam, granddam and sometimes great granddam. Sometimes grown ups from previous litters out of the pups dam and/or sire. Sometimes sisters of the dam. It all makes for a fuller understanding of the objectives of the breeder and the range of type, size and personality in the bloodline ( which of course most sellers of dogs do not have). A bloodline is the breeding of one person for 7 or more generations. That can lead to distinct qualities that are prominent throughout the line : ie good toplines, heavy muscles, strong movement, deep and wide chests, small ears, dark eyes, and so on. This happens because the breeder chooses what to keep or breed to that have those qualities. THAT makes a real breeder. People who only do random breedings with no intention of aiming for producing correct dogs ought to take up another hobby. They only flood the market with inferior puppies with no benefit to the long term advance of the breed. That is a MINUS for the dogs and the...