My dog Kona has very thick fur near her bottom / back of her legs and it has a tendency to get a bit matted. It never seems to bother her, but I find I have to really focus the brushing in that area to try to keep the fur from matting into a dense clump. She loves being brushed but really wants me to spend the whole time brushing her chest and tummy so I have to work hard to keep her from rolling over on her back so I can actually get some productive brushing done. It's a tough area to work on because I don't want to accidentally brush somewhere tender and not fur covered, if you know what I mean. Oh and while brushing helps, she sheds an insane amount and my house needs constant vacuuming to keep up. It's a good thing I love her so much.

Different area but still on a pet topic — we have always had female dogs, and the rule of thumb was to spay them at 6 months. When we asked the vet about our male pup, he said people often wait a bit later ”unless he’s barking a lot and acting up.” Waiting will also affect the dog’s shape, at least for a frenchie.

General update: he was about 3 lbs when we got him, and now is over 8 lbs! Still a peanut. Still working on housetraining — he hasn’t pooped in the house ever, but he still has pee accidents…a few times a week...although fortunately has slept thru the night since day 3 after we got him at 8 weeks. He is now 14 weeks old. He is a very busy boy.

Of course we never take pics of him.

Great thread!

I just have pictures to share. :)

My granddog, taking a break from exploring his new back yard:

We have a “pet“ deer, Doey. She loves watermelon, squash, carrots, apples, pears, and bird seed. She comes in the yard at least once a day, grazes on native grapevines (in back), then gets a few treats. She has two babies, but they rarely come out. She’ll be moving on soon, I’m sure, and we’re so going to miss her.

I want to stress that we aren’t giving her supplemental food or interfering with her natural habits, just treats here and there. I don’t disturb her when she’s foraging. I read up on what’s good and bad food for deer, so no corn, etc.

Drinking at the bird bath:

Baby at bird bath. Made my heart smile. 🥰

NOCs enjoying The Olives on a very hot afternoon:

Couch Tiger on his fav blankie:

ETA: The only plant I have that Doey nibbles on is some portulaca in a planter. She hasn’t touched anything else.

Sue, he has the cutest little face I’ve ever seen!

Prickly, both of our dogs are half labs and shed all year also. One loves to be brushed with my cat brush (has metal spikes) the other runs away.

Sue, same rule of thumb for cats & three of them were dumped here around 5-6 months old and in heat. I called the vet and he said it's perfectly fine to spay them while in heat. He did and he was right. The meowing was incessant! Raven came via UPS and wasn't in heat thank goodness!

Your pups are adorable! Mom raised both Pugs and Dobermans. What a combination. :)

Jilly, do you have woods behind you? We have tons of deer but they mostly come out in the winter. There are also lots of deer hunters. :( Except down the road one day my son was on his way to work, rock road, and a deer jumped out at the creek. DS ended up with a new truck a few hours later. They're scary but I love them! I recently read if you find a baby deer laying down in your yard to leave it alone. Because they can't stand up after birth like horses can. I'm so full of trivia my family hates me. lol

Raven aka Ravioli

Callieco

And this makes me hungry!!!! Haven't fixed it in a while.

Oak, just a small strip of woods right behind us, then pastures, other wooded areas, and some walking trails and parks nearby. I’ve had a herd of deer come through the yard before, but none stayed around. I read that it’s normal for a doe to stay alone in summer, and forage and bulk up for cold weather, then join back with the group.

We feel very thankful she decided to spend her summer here, with her babies. 🥰

So nice to see photos of the doggies and kitties--and deer!

We are still missing our dearly departed 15 year old former ferral kitty. Our memories of her miraculously overshadow the sorrow though. She was so lovely. Always brings a smile to think of her, like seeing the photos of your dear little ones does.

My pet talk would touch upon how we are sure losing the battle with mice, without her. She was a busy working cat...we knew this, but didn't realize just how much she taking care of business until she was not here anymore.

Here's one of our last photos of the little sweetie. She's lamenting on how she can't go outside with all the snow and missing out on her patrols in the backyard. We used to call this rare pose 'outside cat pretending to be inside cat'.

I've read lately that your dearly departed sends your next animal to you. If that's true, little sweetie has sent us a pair of blue heeler puppies who glued onto us on a walk one day. We spent an hour trying to find their people going door to door. Finally called animal control to come get them while we babysat them in the street sitting on a rock. Lots of hugs and kisses from those two. That was fun and I had thoughts of no one claims them, maybe we would. Owners came to pick them up two days later at the shelter. Then a lose dog attacked a woman walking her two dogs in front of our house. We went out to help her and dh took her dogs into our backyard while we helped her with her wounds and composure and calls to animal control and whatnot. The woman ended up keeping the dog who attacked her since animal control said they would have to put down the dog since it attacked unproked. I know... Then, a bear broke into the house. Not a pleasant experience. I think little sweetie can do better than that choice. :) Then a lost kitten tried to move in. Goodness. Lots of attempts! We babysat her on the front porch until her people came by to get her after we took a photo of the number on her collar and blew it up to readable size. Kitten had other ideas though and really wanted to move in with us. Maybe we are done for a while now...sure hard to replace this lovely cat. Not in a hurry.

Sea, that's so sad. If you want a pet go to a kill shelter. Our first dog came from one and he was one of the best ever. They usually are because they long for human companionship.

We don't have a dog right now, but I bought dog cookies at the grocery this afternoon. DH treats the neighbors little elderly dog. They have to be soft (few teeth) and chicken (allergies). I bought a large can of homestyle chicken soup for us because it was $1 cheaper than two smaller, and spent $10 on dog treats - the only type they had that would work. And even those were on sale, and it was a really little bag ;)

We have deer daily all year around. They make gardening difficult and I've found I miss growing a few things for us to eat. If I put in something deer proof, it will be expensive produce once enclosed.

The does leave their fawns here a lot. Some times for hours. Or they stay here with them, or sleep in our island bed in the driveway. We're within city limits. And they do drink from DH's bird bath, it's not overly large and he has to watch it, refill if they haven't left enough for the birds.

I can spray things with deer repellent if not something we're going to eat and keep damage down to a minimum much of the time.

When I become annoyed and have DH trying to chase them is coming up in about a month or two....breeding season. The bucks rake shrubs and small trees with their horns and have done some costly damage. How do they know a coral bark maple from a self sown vine maple when trying to impress the ladies. I don't know, but they've ruined two of mine :(

Jilly, our black tail coastal deer don't herd. They tolerate each other and will sometimes show up as more than one family group, but they don't form a herd and move about all at once.

When my daughter went back to college, my cat Indiana took over her bedroom and displaced Arizona, who is now hanging out in my bedroom a lot, both day and night. Arizona is a bit of a bed hog and manages to place herself where she will either get kicked or it gets very awkward for me. Their brother Texas usually sleeps in my bed, but he's very good about keeping to his corner and not walking on me or putting himself in a position to get whacked.

My ex's cat Princess, who we adopted when we were still together, had an ocular cancer (diffuse melanoma of the iris) and had to have her eye taken out a few weeks ago. I handled all the arrangements because my ex was overwhelmed with other stuff and he isn't good at things like that anyway. She's doing fine and getting along fine with one eye. She looks very rakish. My ex says he's going to dress her as a pirate for Halloween.

Aww! Trixie is so adorable! 🥰

I saw a think with the talk buttons, where dogs and cats can be trained to step on the button that says an English word to convey what they want. Some pets have been trained with lots of patience to have a fairly large vocabulary, and I saw one where the dog kept saying "Sick" and they asked "Is doggy sick?" and it hit "No". and then conveyed "Friend" "Friend Sick" and one of the people in the household came down with something later that day. It's fascinating.

However, I have seen some videos where the pet really becomes a pest "Out" "In" "Walk" "Out" over and over.

I would like to try it with our cat, but it would be "Snack" "Snack" "Hungry" "Snack" "Sardines" Snack". And then it would be "Litter" "Litter" "LITTER" "Clean" "Clean Litter" "Now" Clean Litter Now.

Because those are the words she says all the time anyay, just not in English.

2pups, better lock all your doors and windows tonight cause it's tempting to take that darling of a girl. How darn cute she is!!

Morz, is fall and winter mating season? We have wheat and pasture surrounding us and a creek less than a quarter mile down the road where they hang out. There are large herds that come out once it gets cold, I think eating new winter wheat. DS lives on a hill behind us and said he sees them in the summer but I never do.

Reminds me of something horrible I saw one day when I walked down the driveway to get the mail. Across the road was a dead deer with his head stuck between barbed wire. I bet a coyote spooked it. Pretty soon the coyotes will be forming their packs and all the howling starts at night. I love hearing them along with Owls who are starting to mate.

Okay Cawaps, what's the story about the cats named after states? I love it! We had a Boston Terrier who lost an eye and it was so sad, but he did great.

Pal, dogs can smell sickness, especially cancer. I read cats can tell if their owner is also sick but they don't get the strong scent like dogs.

I already know what my dogs and cats are saying. I can feed them and come back five minutes later and they all show up saying feed me, feed me. lol

This is embarrassing but I don't care. DH fixes himself bacon/sausage, eggs and toast every morning. The dogs get their own plate except for toast. Spoiled rotten. They're huge and burn off the fat.

We had friends over, this time they brought their kids. Ages 12 & 15. Ivan, the tuxedo cat, sits on a towel @ the top of the sit-up-bench and slides down. Put the towel at the top, he ...slides down. The kids were entertained. :0) Then the laser pointer....Ivan runs 100mph chasing it. Sounds like a herd of elephants.....

I keep looking at the Humane Society's list of dogs up-for-adoption. I just think the cats will feel their territory is being invaded and start marking. And....now...We're working 8 hours a day landscaping a rental's dead yard....used to be lush lawn. It's easy to leave the cats with fresh food, water & cat boxes....a dog....not so much.

One dog, a chow chow mix, the write up said it's owner died. It wasn't attached to anyone else, the relatives didn't want it. I was VERY tempted to go get him....someone got to him first.

They had a full sized poodle @ the yard where I was buying gravel, named Wallace. He was so friendly.

We have a new family member!! We have had her about 9 weeks. She has a story!!!

We were parked at Starbucks, and DH had just delivered my coffee through the passenger window when a lady walked behind us with a silver Standard Poodle. We watched as the dog was handed off and we heard her say, "If it does not work out, she can can come back, no questions asked".

The lady turned on her heel and high-tailed it back towards her car, so DH backed out and caught up to her, yelling out the window, "I want a silver Standard Poodle!!!".

She turned and said, "I don't have another silver, but I DO have an apricot", to which I responded, "We will TAKE her!!".

She told us she was in her 40's and pregnant with twins, plus being in the middle of moving, and the dogs were just more than she could do.

We met that afternoon and got our precious Guinevere!! She is THE most amazing dog. 3 years old, glued to me like no other dog I have ever had. We have travelled with her, and she lays at the foot of the table(on dog friendly patios, or inside with permission) and attracts children like a moth to flame!! Everywhere we go, people smile at her. Even possibly agressive dogs melt when they get near. Our cats lay next to her on their backs.

Springroz, love that story! She’s a beauty. 😍

We have deer here too. Last year we had this group of six that would show up every evening. They got to where they would even parade down the street, it was so funny! They love our acorns. Just this past week or so, we've seen quite a few young deer. I wonder if this is "birthing season"? I don't know if there is a specific time for deer to have their babies, but it's odd that we have seen so many lately. We also narrowly missed hitting one down the road this weekend. Thankfully the first one jumped across the road and my husband stopped and waited. It's seldom you only see one.

I love living in the "country". : )

Nicole, that's hilarious! Wish you could get a video. Our two dogs came from the Humane Society and all their pets are spayed and neutered, so spraying shouldn't be an issue. OTOH, I'd get a kitten if you can. Older cats around strangers aren't fun and don't bond as easily. Not with me anyway.

Spring, I've always wanted a poodle like yours. And what a beautiful color! Are poodles really as smart as I've read them to be?

Forgot. Ms. Raven is in trouble, but she doesn't know it. :) This morning I was brushing and shaving her mat a bit at a time. She had no problem, then suddenly she wanted to play & barely nicked me on my forearm. No blood, just a light nick and a light scratch. About ten minutes later it was itching like the dickens. No amount of rubbing it and washing my arm helped, it just got worse and worse. I couldn't take it anymore so I took my fingernails and scratched it so hard I opened the skin and now I have a huge blood mass under the skin. My arm looks like I'm a 100. lol Should have gotten the itch cream. Ya think?

Well, I seemed to have acquired a pigeon, hopefully temporarily.

Last night I heard a thump on my porch. It sounded like a package being delivered badly, so even though it was late for package, I went out to check. And there's a pigeon sitting right on the threshold that didn't move when I opened the door. I figured it had made the thump and was dazed. I checked again before bed and it was still there, though it had moved a bit. I figured by morning it was likely he would have flown the coop or I'd have a dead pigeon. Nope, he's still there. So I put out a bit of food and water for me. I think it was a good sign that he was flustered enough by that to move a few feet away.

So what should my next step be?

cawaps, if its upright on its own, I'm not sure there is much you can do since you've provided food and water other than give it some calm quiet time. I'm told getting them upright is important if they haven't done that on their own, something about swelling if their heads are down while they need some time to recover.

We have a local wildlife rehabber who is more than helpful. She is licensed as is her young married daughter. She will take anything from crows to owls and even deer that would be illegal for us to keep and feed. She raised a fawn in her house one year, I've seen the pics of it watching her husband shave with great interest from the fawn.

I've taken her a humming bird that had conifer pitch on its neck and chest. She hydrated and cleaned it, brought it to release again stage. She even asked if she could release in our yard and of course I said yes. We have about a half dozen green anna's that live here year around and other than some size differences, I can't tell one from another so don't know if it stayed.

When I had an injured quail on my deck, the city’s animal control officer picked it up and transported it to a nearby bird rehab facility. I had put out seeds and water, but the bird hadn’t left after two days. We have predatory crows, so I didn’t want to leave a defenseless quail to heal on it’s own.

The pigeon has vanished, hopefully of its own volition. I had started making calls to wildlife rescues, but most don't take pigeons.

I know someone in NYC who has a pet pigeon and a cat in a studio apt, and has to keep the two separated. The pigeon was injured and they nursed it back to health years ago, so I think the pigeon is relatively elderly for a pigeon.

Hopefully if there were no feathers laying around the pigeon flew off. This is has become a fun and interesting topic.

I mentioned owls appearing now beginning to mate. It's cold in the mornings and hot in the afternoons and I only hear them talking to each other during winter. I keep the window behind the bed cracked and this morning I heard them again, one was close by. Usually one is up at my son's, which he told me, and one is here. Right as the sun came out there he was on the electric pole and I could see his/her silhouette plain as day and it was beautiful. I think I could see it's horns too.

I remembered this today too. Years ago I went to the front porch and my cat Ayla was walking up the driveway and a deer was right behind her. lol One time I saw a badger walk up the driveway and I ran like heck! Saw a really pretty cat outside the backyard fence once and I decided to see if it's friendly. It was a bobcat. :)

Fun, after we moved here every Fall/winter a covey of quail would come to the oak tree where I put out a lot of feed for them. Now I haven't seen or heard one in years and I have no idea why. When I was little and didn't live in the country we'd call them bob white. Had no idea they were quail.

We had an owl for months that we could hear in our bedroom each night. It must have found a new home. Earlier this week we had a hawk sitting on our fence. Chased a bird out of one of our bushes. Has been stalking the bird feeders.

Sadly we sometimes have birds who fly into the windows of our sunroom. Many times it kills them, sometimes they are just stunned.

We have urban hawks and I have witnessed them carrying off pigeons. One morning I was walking down my street and this really mangy dog trotted up and walked beside me for part of a block and then sat in a parking lot and scratched. Except it was a vixen who was obviously lost and seen trotting all over downtown

Tina, I bought a roll of the wet first, then squeegee on window film for the garden window in my office. At certain times of day in particular light, I will have birds strike the 4-pane window. Nothing worse than concentrating at my desk and hearing bang, seeing something fall in front of me.

I have my desk facing out for the view and didn't want to cover it. I cut the film with a light vine pattern in it in about 4" strips about 2, 2 1/2 feet long and place them about a foot apart. It's helped without looking terribly distracting or affecting my view. I seldom have a mark or scare from a bird strike. And it peels right off leaving no marks - there is no adhesive. I apply to outside, can often take it down in winter when we have no robins and fewer big birds here. I've also left it up year around sometimes and it has staying power through the seasons in our NW coastal weather.

After seeing all of these adorable photos of your dogs and cats, I figured I'd include one of Kona from one of our runs this week. We stopped for a little water by this empty lot owned by the city that had all of these cheerful flowers.

Love seeing all the pets. Our kitties made a heart shape the other day on the recliner, and Blue got to supervise the A delivery. Panda just turned 14, and Blue is 4.

I always enjoy these threads. Such cute babies.

Coco turns 15yo this month. Such a sweetheart. Always by my side.

Feral colony is doing great. Most days they all show up at same time, less feedings for me. But something one or two might get an extra meal.

Frankie (l) and lovebug Charlie (r). Scout, the only girl, is always giving me her resting B face.Exibit A.

Exibit B:

Frankie looks a LOT like Riley (the 3rd black cat that stays gone more than here, and not shown). If/when Riley shows back up, since I have seen Frankie almost daily since April, I should be able to see something to tell them apart.

Charlie rubs against my legs while I prepare their bowls, he even purrs and lets me pet him as long as he hasn't eaten yet. He is not only the lover of the group (constantly rubbing against the others) he is quite the talker. They all know the sound of treat container rattling when I go to collect the bowls.

Only the best for our babies. I feed them outside of the feeding station unless it's raining. These are cedar and I stained instead of painting. (Oakley, I purchased them on Etsy from different sellers). The double decker arrived in three boxes. Some assembly was require, but very easy. Comes apart to clean/replace straw. The feeding station arrived in five pieces. Both are very well made. The one on the far left, out of sight really, is one the local rescue gave me. I use it for my meal prep table, and will give it back soon.

During the summer of 2020 Covid lockdowns, I randomly bought a $1,000 soft sided above ground pool at Costco. We spent a lot of time that summer floating around (as much as we could in our tiny pool) drinking cocktails.

Waylon (our rescue dog from Texas) came along early in the summer of 2021. He was obsessed with the water and wading around in the brook. My husband put the pool up again and created a "shallow-end" platform (built out of PVC pipe and composite deck boards) & a set of stairs so Waylon could swim in the pool too. It was (is) totally redneck (but hidden in our backyard), and he loved it so much that we put it back up in 2022 and again this year. It's Waylon's pool now. This summer I taught him to float.

We have definitely got our money's worth out of that little pool. We're now getting quotes to have something more permanent and grown-up installed next spring. :)

Our first red Aussie, so dear, with present black tri I title

this one ,”phewww”

Allison, the feeding stations turned out great! I have two, and their both inside. Dry food on top of the dryer so the dogs won't get it, and their evening meal of wet food pushed far back in the big corner of the kitchen counter, so our dogs won't get it. They can get the wet food by using their paws if I set it on the dryer. :)

These pictures are all so beautiful!