Your neighbor is blessed to have someone like you next door. I hope he takes your note to heart. My new neighbor got a new dog and doesn't have a fenced yard. The dog was a half grown pup. The dog started going into the pasture and barking and nipping at my horse. It was also chasing cars. I wasn't as diplomatic as you about the situation and marched over one Sunday morning and told them they needed to keep their dog out of my pasture. They ended up chaining the dog and then another neighbor called the city. The dog is no longer there and I feel pretty bad about the whole mess. Now their son is driving way too fast in our neighborhood (narrow streets with lots of turns) and 2 of us have paid visits to the parents about the situation. I feel like the mean-old-lady-at-the-end-of-the-street. I have never in all my years had neighbors who weren't basically responsible and considerate so I'm at a loss. Good luck, Jen. LindaJ

If money is a factor, tell your Vet. Our Vet makes allowances and gives discounts when she can. Our Vet supports those who take care of their pets properly because she knows how expensive it can be. When our pets have died in the past, we have given her all of our leftover medication and she has handed it out to other pet owners free to those that need the financial help. I'm sure they also must get free samples like the doctors get from drug companies as well. Apparently from what the receptionist told me, lots of people turn in their leftover medications to be handed out to others as needed. There have also been times when our Vets will write a prescription to a pharmacy rather than sell us the drug themselves. The difference in the cost is substantial. Your Vet will appreciate the fact that a diabetic kitty costs a lot of money and will appreciate the fact that you are willing to make the investment in your kitty's health. Lots of people would not make that effort and just euthanize the kitty but you are willing to take on that extra responsibility. Your Vet also will know that you will be an ongoing customer which makes a difference as well.

thx nancy! that gives me positive hope - not just my 'wishful' hope. he was fine when we were doing the dirt pad out front - or seemed to be his regular 'ol self! we noticed a few changes when we moved his pen (now called 'man cave'). I attributed that to several things - the change, he was then away from his sister on her trips out to potty (they were within ft of each other before) and I was out there each time and walked over to give him hugs etc. and he was penned in so I thought he just didn't like that! after about 2 wks I started cabling him again on the outer side of the man cave - he could go in...or out. I did that for several hrs in the evening hoping it would help him adjust. and of course, the heat here now! ugh! and he took to flipping his pool over so water would go all over the ground and then he'd lie in the mud. I didn't like that (he'd never been so dirty!) but figured if it cooled him I'd deal with it. prior to the pen change he was as active and ornery as he was when he was a pup. my sister said the same thing last night - that she didn't think he was ever gonna age and then boom! he is acting more alert today. not getting up tho. he did try to get up and bark at a worker - it was a sad sounding bark! I'm gonna spend some time tonight raking some of the stones in there over to the sides so he doesn't have to sleep on a bed of stone.

Bingo Graywings! Thank you! As stated in my post above regarding the beans in today’s kibble. “I’ve read that the ingredients on the dog food label have to be listed by the order of the ingredients by measurement or weight (I don’t recall which) however the first item is the primary ingredient and so on; and the first 4 ingredients are what the food primarily is made of. The reason there are several kinds of beans in a dogs food isn’t because they each have a different nutritional value, they’re all protein, it’s because the weight of a single type of bean will move that ingredient to the first item listed and the meat product will look insufficient to the buyer reading the label. It’s a trick.” I couldn’t agree with Dragonfly’s comment about animal needs differing more. Every animal is different, as are it’s owner’s preferences and resources. One training method may work for one, while it won’t for another. Some people crate, some don’t. Crating was not, is not and will never be for us. I feel very fortunate that even as a puppy, our dog has never destroyed anything or purposely had accidents in the house. I can leave a roasted bird on the living room table and she’d never touch it. It’s her breed and training, she’s never needed a crate. Some people prefer Raw food over Grain Free or normal kibble. I know of someone who’s dog can’t tolerate any kind of kibble or manufactured food and a boutique mix does the trick for the little guy. IMO, Dogs have been domesticated way too long and do not have any of the same needs a wolf would. When I was talking to our Vet about all the variety of food options, his response about a lot of the specialty foods was that even if a dog does still have similar food requirements as a wolf, the life expectency of a wolf is not very long and one reason was/is because of their diet. “The pet food industry is one of the most regulated industries out there. Nearly all pet foods sold meet AAFCO standards "Most state feed laws and regulations reference to the AAFCO Official Publication as part of the nutritional adequacy labeling for pet foods. This reference is to an AAFCO-established, science-based, nutritional standard." I find this claim to be almost laughable. “Nutritional standards” must not cover animal biproducts (which can get pretty gross) and chemicals that aren’t fit for anything to consume. Sorry but that whole idea is BS.