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4th of July Warning

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Hi everyone-


Just my duty as a Licensed Vet Tech to ask all of you to keep an eye on your pets this long weekend!

Dogs are much more prone to run away during fireworks displays, so keep them inside or on a leash. Having worked emergency on previous 4ths I can attest to the fact that a lot more dogs get hit by cars over this next week when everyone has their bottle rockets and M80s to play with.

If you have an outdoor cat, keep them inside this weekend. Fireworks can be dangerous for them too. People can be really twisted and kitty makes an interesting target.

And now for yourselves, if the M80 doesn't go BOOM right away, don't pick it up or put your head over it, silly goose. Unless you're tired of having hands and a face. If that's the case, have fun and do whatever you want!
 
Good info SR. My uncle's Chesapeake Bay Retriever loves to grab lit roman candles and run through the party scattering everybody. He also dives for M-80's. It's amazing he can still hear. [lol]
 
Mine are pampered babies. The 2 stray cats we took in no longer go outside,and my one is bad enough with thunderstorms she has to be velcroed to me. She was on her own the longest. The dogs get crated,but my brother-in-law does fireworks for Atlas so even when it's not the 4th we have various window rattlers go off. They live down the road from us. You'd think by now they'd be used to it.
 
All our previous pups were scared to death of the fireworks. We maybe 1/2 a mile from the Haverhill Stadium and every 4th they'd be shaking and hiding under the bed (whether they fit or not). However, our pup now (Harley Dogidson) doesn't even blink. Soon after we got him we took him to the range to get used to shooting. We didn't take him on the range - kept in him the car parked near it. He's fine. The cat however.....
 
M1911 said:
Our cat is an indoor kitty. She'll likely be hiding in the basement in some darky, dusty, cob-weby corner.

Ours is too. He thinks the only two people in the world are Ed and I. When the door bell rings or the door knocker is used - he's gone, up the stairs and under the bed. Fireworks have the same effect on him, but the funny things is, thunder doesn't phase him in the least. Go figure.
 
My first stray,runs and hides whe people come over. The other one,he's such a goober, and loves people,attention,you name it. It's funny Smudge the female is soooo my cat,and Tigre the male is sooo much Glenn and Alan's. I do in a pinch when they aren't around. :D
 
MrsWildweasel said:
My first stray,runs and hides whe people come over. The other one,he's such a goober, and loves people,attention,you name it. It's funny Smudge the female is soooo my cat,and Tigre the male is sooo much Glenn and Alan's. I do in a pinch when they aren't around. :D

Merlin (our cat, and he's black to boot) comes to me for snuggling. He flops down on Ed when he wants to rough house. He tries to snuggle up to Harley, but Harl won't have anything to do with him. He give me that look that says, "He's touching me!!" [lol]
 
Tigre,loves to play and ambush you,I have gotten him so he knows the difference in playing with me,and playing with the boys. He doesn't use claws on me,and if he starts I tell him it's momma, and he quits. Now Glenn and Alan are far game they rough house with him. Although I think we should have named him Garfield instead. He's blimped.
 
We had to declaw Merlin about 5 years ago. He would NOT use any of the scratching posts I got him (I went through 5 different kinds). He much preferred the carpet covered stairs and my velor wing back arm chair. I didn't want to do it, but my house couldn't take it anymore. He was even beginning to climb up the custom drapes I made for the living room windows - that was the end of his front claws. Oh...and that stuff they say is supposed to keep them off of everything? HAHAHAHAHA...yeah, right.
 
Thankfully I have lucked out in that department with them. Neither are destructive. Thank god since they were both strays. We also have had no accidents in the house either. They were both good about the litterbox. Tig gets a little overzelous and we get kittylitter on the floor to walk through,but all in all I think I lucked out in that department. We also figured they had to live with 3 dogs and should be able to defend themselves. Neither one like scratching posts either. It's funny I hear all the horror stories,and I feel like I really lucked out with them.
 
MrsWildweasel said:
It's funny I hear all the horror stories,and I feel like I really lucked out with them.

Boy I guess you did! Mer was a rescue...come to think of it, with the exception of my first two dogs, all of them have been rescues or adoptees.
 
When we took the other stray in (Tigre) he was Houdini kitty,couldn't keep him in a cage. Smudge is a purebred burmese someone dumped off and according to her breed they only get along with other burmese. Tig is really laid back and would just sit on the floor were ever she was and not do anything. Thankfully if you tell Smudge No she listens. Well she would growl something awful. We'd tell her No and she'd stop. Tig always announced himself before coming in a room where she was so she knew he was coming. Tig still does this. If he hadn't been this good about it and so laid back about it all it probably wouldn't have worked. Now they are best buds. They remind me of the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp. Smudge is very prissy and he's just a big goof.
 
kittyminefield.jpg
 
Well, we just had our fireworks. We're fortunate - all we have to do to see them is go out our back door and set up two chairs at the end of the car. Harley came out with us. What a riot! He sat and watched like a little kid. On the grand finale, he kept cocking his head back and forth as he watched them. Ed and I were having more fun watching him!

(Emma's a cutie, btw - how's she holding up?)
 
Okay...we took Harley to our club. It's a nice place - it's right on a lake that's a back up water supply for Haverhill. We basically had the place to ourselves and we let him off leash so he could tear around and get some energy used up. Well...we walked down to the dock and Ed had the leash. He went out on to the dock and Harley followed, wagging his tail. Ed stood there and Harley was looking over the edge at the end of the dock. ....yup...you guessed it - right over the edge. Just stepped off. Ed pulled up on the leash and grabbed his halter to get him back up on the dock. He looked totally panic striken. I think he just thought it was one BIG puddle. I don't think he expected to go under. I don't think he's ever been to a lake before, or the ocean. We adopted him from a "city" and they estimated he wasn't even a year yet (that was a year ago March). His face is so expressive, it was a riot. [lol]
 
Ah I have 3 cockers. 1 3yrs old,1 10 years old, and the other 12 years old. The 12 year old was a rescue and has seizures. She is a sweetheart though. Non of the others are deaf though. The 3 year old is Black and Tan,the 10 year old is buff,and the 12 year old is white with buff spots.
 
I'm part of the cocker club too! I'm on my 3rd cocker right now. He's black, I rescued him about 6 months ago. Had to have his eyes removed because his glaucoma had literally burst one eye and was about to blow the 2nd. He's a great little dog, as are all cockers, if you ask me.
 
Aw Siamese that is so sad. I wouldn't have anything other than a spaniel. We had a springer too he was 14 we had to put him down. He was literally Alan's buddy. grew up with him since Alan was 5 years old. I have such a soft spot for spaniels. I wouldn't trade them even with their long list of bad genetics. One of my other Cockers I rescued she was black. She had the skin problems and I eventually lost her to cancer,but she is my only dog that renamed herself,and had quite the love hate relationship with my husband. Abby was the only name she'd come too. She was a sweetie.
 
I have to agree about spaniels being the best. Each time I've lost a spaniel I've said to myself, "never again!" because of all the problems, skin ,ears, eyes, heart, but after a month or two I just get this emptiness that I know can only be filled by a spaniel. And I'm always happy again when I have another one. All 3 of mine have been adult rescues too.
Great dogs. :D
 
I've done 3 rescues,and 2 paid for from breeders. My little black and tan is from a breeder along with my buff. The only thing with my black and tan is her son took the puppies to the vet for tails etc. I think the vet thought they were rottweillers. She has a real nubby tail. Oh well,she's mine and a sweetheart. It took me awhile to decide to get another dog after my mutt had to be put down to cancer. I wasn't going to get another,but spaniels definately rule. :)
 
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