I thought about doing those automated feeders as well but at the time I was feeding my kitty wet food and had the same issue with it being perishable. Now she eats dry food though so I can just put a bunch in her bowl and she'll just eat when she feels like it. She doesn't seem to overeat or anything which is good.
that is good! my cat always leaves wet food behind on the plate when she's done, but she'll do this thing where if her food cups or plate are too full she'll eat a whole bunch really fast and puke it up, so we have to give her a puzzle feeder and make it difficult for her. she's not a big eater, i think she just gets excited or something. she did used to have two brothers who would always steal her food, so i think she just learned to eat as fast as she could.
Echo is a really cute name! My kitty is also entirely black apart from one or two hairs here or there. I think it's really sad that black cats tend to get adopted less because people are superstitious of them...
And killed more if they are found loose in the wild. Especially around Halloween
---------- Post added 01-04-2023 at 10:05 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by R a n d e h
That's actually a thing? That's so sad! My handsome prince is a Russian Blue and he's got 3 legs. I tell him all the time that chicks dig scars and to not be ashamed He's also 16yrs old, so he's my grumpy lovey old man.
And killed more if they are found loose in the wild. Especially around Halloween
my first cat was a black cat rescued on Halloween. he was such a sweetheart, but he had no idea how to be a real cat, he was very clumsy and nervous. he would chase his tail like a dog i'm so glad he was saved and we got him because he was really the cuddliest loviest little thing.
my first cat was a black cat rescued on Halloween. he was such a sweetheart, but he had no idea how to be a real cat, he was very clumsy and nervous. he would chase his tail like a dog i'm so glad he was saved and we got him because he was really the cuddliest loviest little thing.
I thought about doing those automated feeders as well but at the time I was feeding my kitty wet food and had the same issue with it being perishable. Now she eats dry food though so I can just put a bunch in her bowl and she'll just eat when she feels like it. She doesn't seem to overeat or anything which is good.
LOL When we used to feed kibble my cat would gorge himself on every single morsel in front of him. We had to leave out small amounts. Now when we go on trips we leave out kibble and he legit shoves his face into the bowl and probably rolls around like a chubby little peanut for hours after we leave
@ Kirin: I actually didn't know that, that's awful. [sad]
@ Ghosty: Aw, I'm so glad you saved him too! He sounds like an endless source of amusement.
@ R a n d e h: Do you have a nickname? All those spaces are getting to me, haha! When we first got my kitty, she was a rescue from the ASPCA. She is suuuper tiny and I think she likely had a hard time getting enough to eat because she would literally jump on the table and steal the food off of your plate. Eventually I trained her to sit on a little stool near the table and not jump up to grab our food and I think she got used to the food being delivered on a regular basis. She does throw up quite a bit unfortunately but it doesn't seem to be from eating too fast. I've been to a bunch of different vets and we've never been able to figure out the cause. I've tried specialty foods and slow feeding and probiotics and antacids and all sorts of things to no avail. Still, she's otherwise very happy and healthy!
@ R a n d e h: Do you have a nickname? All those spaces are getting to me, haha! When we first got my kitty, she was a rescue from the ASPCA. She is suuuper tiny and I think she likely had a hard time getting enough to eat because she would literally jump on the table and steal the food off of your plate. Eventually I trained her to sit on a little stool near the table and not jump up to grab our food and I think she got used to the food being delivered on a regular basis. She does throw up quite a bit unfortunately but it doesn't seem to be from eating too fast. I've been to a bunch of different vets and we've never been able to figure out the cause. I've tried specialty foods and slow feeding and probiotics and antacids and all sorts of things to no avail. Still, she's otherwise very happy and healthy!
LOL My actual name is Randee, so that works ;)!
Oh my gosh I love a good rescue story! She's lucky to have found you; a stool near the table for her sounds like the cutest thing ever. Does she throw up food or bile? I know when animals throw up bile it's often "hunger pukes" and my sister had a cat that would never eat even though her body wanted her to. Weirdest thing. Eros had feline diabetes and every single kibble had sugar in it, that would just make him explode in pain. He couldn't walk up stairs because his joints were so inflamed and he gained weight just looking at the food. We tried everything and eventually stumbled onto raw and gave it a try. It was exactly what he needed, with the no sugar his diabetes stopped bothering him, his joints are no longer inflamed and he lost all his pudge :) As long as your little gal is happy and healthy, that's all that matters at the end of the day, though I know finding a fix would be lovely!
She throws up both. Sometimes she throws up literally right after eating. Sometimes it's later. Sometimes it's undigested food. Sometimes it's digested food. Sometimes bile. Sometimes hair. It really varies which makes it even harder to figure out. I've never tried raw food though, I guess it could be something to think about but I'm afraid it will be a lot to deal with keeping it fresh and buying often instead of in bulk, etc. Do you have any suggestions there?
Right now it's just her. I had some fish last year but they all ended up getting a parasite and died off. I really wanted to get a bearded dragon in the worst way but we're moving in the summer so I don't want to do anything for that right now. It'd make moving more complicated with the giant tank and fragile little creature and changing environments moving across states, etc.
@Zig - Wow that is complicated! For raw for the cat, I buy 3-4 2lb tubs at a time, I leave them all in the freezer except one, and I let the one stay thawed in the fridge until it's done (usually about a week and a bit, but you could also buy 1lb tubs, or you could thaw it and separate it into smaller portions and then just freeze the extra). He gets fed twice a day, once in the morning and once around dinner time. It costs me maybe $30 a month CAD. BUT, it's not always easy converting a cat to raw, many give it the middle paw and go on a hunger strike lol. I'm very lucky that Eros, having been rescued after a year of fending for himself outdoors, is a hunter and loved raw when I introduced it! Could always give it a try. I like raw is pretty incredible, but it's not for everyone so I'm a big supporter of doing what works for you! Raw cat/dog food is very easily purchased here and we have a freezer for it, so it works out well for us (the dog is on raw too).
I love aquariums and def need to get back into it. They are so peaceful! Bearded dragons are so cute, I love their little grumpy bumpy faces haha! I didn't realize you were moving...or maybe I did. I have a terrible memory lol. What state are you moving to? Is it for work?
I have our cat Eros and our bullboxer Navi. I used to have a salt water aquarium and while I miss it, it was SO much work. We've contemplated getting a fresh water cichlid one going again, we'll see what this year has in store for those plans haha!
Random question but...is the food smelly? I really hate the smell of wet cat food haha! Yuna's not a very picky eater thankfully so I feel like she'd likely eat it. I think the complication would really be freezer space. I feel like we're always running out of room in there so it might be tough trying to cram more stuff in there. Maybe I could give it a try when we move and the freezer is empty to start with.
I was pretty devastated when my fishies died so I'm still debating if I want to do it again. I do love watching them and they're really cute and peaceful but the tank maintenance is a lot of work and it seems like the little fishies are just so fragile... I can't imagine making it extra complicated with a salt water tank... I think puffer fish are really cute and I noticed at the pet store a while back that they do have small fresh water puffers so I might consider doing one of those.
I never cared about lizards until I moved here to Florida and now I'm obsessed! They're EVERYWHERE! I love watching them, they're so funny! We'll be moving to Oklahoma for my partner's job so I'm really going to miss my wild lizard friends since they aren't really so prevalent there. That's probably the biggest factor in me wanting a beardie. I saw one at the pet store the other day and I completely fell in love. My boyfriend had to practically drag me away after I watched it for like 20 minutes straight. They're so active and intelligent! I really wanted to take it home. Here's a picture I took of it:
Last edited by zigbigadorlube; 01-05-2023 at 07:28 PM..
LOL I've never met someone who actively hates the smell of cat food, that's so funny! Since it's raw meat, it just smells like raw meat does, except if you get one that includes tripe - that smells something fierce, so I ensure not to buy that kind lol. Haha are you one of those "stock up because it's on sale" shoppers?! My mom used to keep our freezer, fridge, cupboards stocked so tight there was never room for anything. So now that I'm on my own, I never do that . Gives me PTSD haha. Our freezer is full of dog food, a bit of cat food, and then the odd Costco meat that we've portioned out and won't buy more of until we eat it all lol.
Salt water is fun, but it is a lot of work and maintenance and when you get a pest, it's a huge job to take care of...so I think I'll stick with fresh water since our city doesn't have a good salt water crustacean provider. Once upon a time we had a 90 gallon:
SPOILERX
And we eventually converted to a tiny little 3g bowl, I LOVED the bowl, but I got bored of it after a year haha.
I find with aquariums, the bigger the tank, the easier maintenance is truthfully. And small fish I did find passed faster, but they were cheaper, so it's a win/lose. Puffer fish are adorable, but they need a very steady supply of shells to eat so they can keep grinding their little teeth down, if you can keep up with that, they are super cool. Very curious and they love watching you!
Ohhhh I was just in Florida in November for 2 weeks, we stayed at my parents retirement home in Holiday FL, but we went to Tampa, Clearwater and Tarpon Springs too! And of course the week we spent in Orlando at Disney haha. There were little lizards everywhere! Such fun little things! I think a bearded dragon would be an excellent little hobby for you after you move :D! They are so fun! Especially that little regal gentleman, my gosh I love their grumpy faces!!
Bleh it smells so icky! I also don’t super like the smell of raw meat but I guess chicken isn’t too bad. Do you typically chose what kind of protein like you do for canned for or kibbles or is it typically a mix?
I’m not really a sale stocker upper more like a buy stuff and keep it around so I always know there’s something to eat shopper. If there’s something I really like I tend to stock up on it so I don’t have to go looking for it, especially if it’s a hard to find thing or like a seasonal flavor or whatever. We have lots of like frozen food because it’s easy to cook when we don’t have a lot of time. So like Trader Joe’s Kung Pao Chicken and then like frozen edamame and a microwave rice pack or like steam fresh veggies might be a weeknight meal for us. I get the Blue Apron food boxes too so we do do some cooking but a lot of the time we both have to work late and just don’t have the energy to put a lot of work into making a meal.
I definitely get the PTSD of clutter though. My mom is a bit of a hoarder and when I was at her house over Christmas I was cringing. I literally wanted to throw it all away. There aren’t like piles with walkways dug through, you can 100% move around the house, it’s just that ever surface has junk on it. Tons of half-used soap bottles in the fridge and like papers covering the desk and crap all over the table so you can’t really sit there and eat. It drove me crazy! I’m a super tidy person myself, I always have to have everything put away or organized neatly.
OMG that tank is huge! We definitely don’t have room for something like that in our apartment but maybe when we get a house! I didn’t know that about the puffer fish, that’s really interesting! Clearly I’ll need to do my research before I make a decision there. I like betta fish because they’re pretty and easy to take care of. I’ve never done a more complex fish than like guppies or mollies or goldfish. I think I’d rather focus on the bearded dragon though so I don’t think I’d do both a fish and a lizard. It’ll be too much upkeep methinks.
Ooh, nice! I’ve never been to Holiday but I’ve been to Tampa and Clearwater. How was Tarpon Springs? I’ve been thinking about going there. I totally love how everywhere you go there’s some little lizard scurrying around. I’ve rescued a couple of them from downstairs in our apartment building. They come in under the door from outside and then can’t find their way back out again so I put them out on my balcony where they can recuperate in my little garden until they’re ready to go on their way. I’ve learned a lot from taking care of those little rescues! I love the little head bob thing they do when they’re being territorial.
I rotate between 4 proteins, since each protein will have different nutrients so in order to ensure the animals get a good variety of nutrients, I rotate 4 different types. I generally feed beef, pork, turkey and chicken, but I also get rabbit, quail, bison, salmon, duck and whatever else becomes available to keep it rotated haha! The tubs of food themselves, can be mixed protein (if you buy that) or singular protein mixed with organ and bone (all of them have organ and bone too). I feed the brand Raw Performance, and I get the "pure" tubs so that it's just meat, organ and bone, like this. :)
Alright, that's a fair way to stock your freezer and when you work late, it's needed! We use the app Mealime for food prep/recipes and really enjoy it. I'll stock up on yummies when I go to the USA, y'all have all the best foods haha. It sounds like your mom and my mom are the same person so I 100% understand, it's exactly how I feel. I tell her all the time I'll gladly declutter for her and her reply is always "you won't declutter, you'll just throw it all away"...yes same thing mom, same thing. LOL
Guppies are fun but they breed like wild fire! Molly's too haha! I loved goldfish, but they are so messy that makes tank maintenance harder! Definitely go with the lizard, they are so fun. Have you had one before? I once had a gecko, she was lovely. Pretty low maintenance, I cleaned her sand every now and again, unburied her unfertilized egg she laid every month (lol) and cleaned out her sheds. Food wise she ate crickets which I'd get at the pet store and store in a little side tank. Not sure what the bearded dragons eat though!
Tarpon Springs was lovely, it's a quaint little sea side town with lots of sea sponges on display. I found the "touristy" stuff a little dated, but it was lovely to walk through. Lots of little restaurants that I could have spent time at too! Oh my gosh the head bob is super cute! Do you have trouble catching them?! When I lived in Brazil for a year I'd get them in my bedroom all the time and I used to try to catch them but they were too fast haha. So I let them live in there and eat the bugs that came in, win win.
Huh, that's interesting that it has bone. What is the bone supposed to do?
Haha! What is your favorite American food? When do you think you'll visit the US next?
I thought about asking my mom if she needed help decluttering but I knew she would take it super personally so I left it alone for now.
I made sure to only get males in my tank. I definitely didn't want a whole slew of new fishes! I've never had a lizard before but I think the care is quite similar to the geko that you had. They're omnivores so they can have fruits and veggies and bugs or they have this dehydrated food mix that you can give them from what I saw at the store. They need to have a warming lamp and certain levels of humidity too I think. How often did your geko shed? They shed quite differently from the other lizards. It mostly comes off all in one piece and they pull it off themselves from what I've seen. With the other lizards it can take ages to all come off. Also, I saw that little cricket cage you mentioned at the pet store. Is it hard to get out just like one cricket without them going everywhere? Do the crickets make noise? Questions, questions, questions...
It's definitely super hard to catch the wild lizards but the ones I rescue tend to be dehydrated so they don't move so quickly. I bring them up to my balcony and put them on one of the plants and then mist them with water. It's funny to see them drink! Then after a little while they go their merry way. I always love when I step out on my balcony and find little visitors in my plants! In addition to the lizards we sometimes also get little tree frogs! They're also super cute.
Oh yes! Bone is super important for calcium! Uncooked bones, never cooked!
Oh my goodness how does one select a favourite American food?! I love all the pickled items you guys have! And all the protein enriched stuff like taco shells etc. so many neat drinks too! When we went to Tampa we ate at Columbia and it was SO good! Opened in 1905 and so much history! The steak and salad were so tasty! We bought the salad dressing to bring home haha.
Lol my mom knows how I feel about her clutter, I’m still the favourite though thank goodness hahaha
Okay male only then that’s smart!! Okay yes that sounds very similar to the gecko! I’m believe she shed maybe once a month, and it usually came off all at once I think, it’s been like 15yrs though so I may be off my rocker! I remember you could buy crickets that made noise and crickets that didn’t, and I did sometimes struggle to get only 1 out. There was a time I would buy 12 and put them all in her tank and she’d pace herself over the next couple weeks but then she started gorging and I had to house the crickets separately haha.
Oh my gosh you’re such an animal mama, I love it. That is super cute and kind! Frogs are adorable! I love plants so I always wanted to do a little terrarium with humid plants and frogs!
Oh yes! Bone is super important for calcium! Uncooked bones, never cooked!
Oh my goodness how does one select a favourite American food?! I love all the pickled items you guys have! And all the protein enriched stuff like taco shells etc. so many neat drinks too! When we went to Tampa we ate at Columbia and it was SO good! Opened in 1905 and so much history! The steak and salad were so tasty! We bought the salad dressing to bring home haha.
Lol my mom knows how I feel about her clutter, I’m still the favourite though thank goodness hahaha
Okay male only then that’s smart!! Okay yes that sounds very similar to the gecko! I’m believe she shed maybe once a month, and it usually came off all at once I think, it’s been like 15yrs though so I may be off my rocker! I remember you could buy crickets that made noise and crickets that didn’t, and I did sometimes struggle to get only 1 out. There was a time I would buy 12 and put them all in her tank and she’d pace herself over the next couple weeks but then she started gorging and I had to house the crickets separately haha.
Oh my gosh you’re such an animal mama, I love it. That is super cute and kind! Frogs are adorable! I love plants so I always wanted to do a little terrarium with humid plants and frogs!
Oh, that's really interesting, I had no idea!
I'm not much of a fan of pickled foods myself but I'm glad you get to enjoy them when you visit! I've heard of that restaurant. Someone suggested it to us when we went to Tampa last year but we didn't end up going. It's great to know you loved it though! We'll probably end up going back there at some point so we'll have to put it on our list.
Oh wow I didn't know the gekos shed so often, that's crazy! The other lizards only shed as needed when they're growing I believe, definitely not every month. Wow, I had no idea that crickets that don't make noise are a thing haha but that makes me less nervous about buying them, minus the whole like a gazillion crickets getting out and jumping all over the apartment kind of thing...
I just can't stand to see them stuck in the hallways downstairs so I help when I can! I've though too about getting a frog but I think they're quite noisy, haha! Those terrariums look super cool though. You'll have to share a pic with us if you end up doing one!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirin Rosenbaum
Zig it is sad indeed.
I'll have to glomp extra love on my kitty now that I know that. [yumeh]
I'm not much of a fan of pickled foods myself but I'm glad you get to enjoy them when you visit! I've heard of that restaurant. Someone suggested it to us when we went to Tampa last year but we didn't end up going. It's great to know you loved it though! We'll probably end up going back there at some point so we'll have to put it on our list.
Not a fan of pickled foods?! That's an outrage! How do you even live
Oh my goodness definitely check the restaurant out if you can! They had one of the first air conditioned dining rooms back in the day, people had to pay $1 to sit in it, which was equivalent to the filet mignon price at the time, wild!
Quote:
Originally Posted by zigbigadorlube
Oh wow I didn't know the gekos shed so often, that's crazy! The other lizards only shed as needed when they're growing I believe, definitely not every month. Wow, I had no idea that crickets that don't make noise are a thing haha but that makes me less nervous about buying them, minus the whole like a gazillion crickets getting out and jumping all over the apartment kind of thing...
I just can't stand to see them stuck in the hallways downstairs so I help when I can! I've though too about getting a frog but I think they're quite noisy, haha! Those terrariums look super cool though. You'll have to share a pic with us if you end up doing one!
I went ahead and googled it now since it had been so long ago that maybe I was wrong! But no, it turns out young geckos will shed once every week or two and then adults will shed every 4-8 wks! Phew! Tessa was a "fat tailed leopard gecko", interesting little creature. Definitely check your area for the silent crickets before though! Only one of our pet stores carried them! Nothing worse than a cricket getting out, and it's not silent and it sits under your fridge making noise all night
Ohhh I hadn't thought of the noise of frogs, I would have to ensure they are downstairs so I could still sleep noise free LOL
He's also 16yrs old, so he's my grumpy lovey old man.
i'm so glad he was saved and we got him because he was really the cuddliest loviest little thing.
I really wanted to get a bearded dragon in the worst way but we're moving in the summer so I don't want to do anything for that right now. It'd make moving more complicated with the giant tank and fragile little creature and changing environments moving across states, etc.
Not a fan of pickled foods?! That's an outrage! How do you even live 
