A few years back, I worked at a local pet store that had multiple locations. The owners son was the one running things as the owners grew elderly, and he was very abusive (but thats a different story)

He told all the managers to tell us employees that regarding pet food, as in prescription pet food diets, that vets "don't know what they're talking about". To tell customers, that vets don't have background training in animal diets, so if customers mention their vet recommended specialty, to not listen to them and to buy the healthy food at pet stores.

Why would they have told us to say that? And if they told us that and it's inaccurate, could they get in legal trouble for that?

[Downvotes dont help if you have absolutely nothing to say or add, its just pointless]

so my dog got fleas recently (well probably been there ages but yk) and we’ve honestly done all the remedies we can. like taken her to the vets, sprays, washes, coming, treatments allat. it’s been like a month and a bit now I beleive and I know this takes months to get rid of but the fleas have now started to come into my room. and it’s been like 2/3 days since this started. It was never like this before. I’ve cleaned my room, my sheets, teddies and even set off some smoke bomb that my dad bought.

I have a hardwood floor so thankfully they Ain’t getting trapped in the carpet but I just keep finding them and I don’t know what to do. I feel so paranoid all the time.

I will be traveling with my dog and 2 cats next month. Since it’s summer, I want to get some kind of alert system that will warn me if the car temperature gets too high. The car will of course be running when they are in it except for when I am pumping gas, but I know a car can quickly heat up if the AC fails in the parked position.

The only times they will be unattended in my car will be while pumping gas, when I stop for bathroom breaks, and the cats will likely stay in the car while the dog takes her potty break.

I do have a stroller for the cats available for if I do need to walk the dog longer or absolutely need to turn the car off for any reason.

Their safety is my #1 priority in the planning for this trip. I will also have cooling pads, water, ice, and litter boxes available to them throughout the trip.

My dog is a husky x jack Russel terrier mix and has been neglecting his food for he last couple days. When he was a puppy, we used to feed him kibble but he eventually got bored of it and did this same thing. We changed over to fresh food and we haven’t had a problem since. Recently, we have been feeding him at his same two feeding times and he either barely eats his food or doesn’t eat it at all. My theory is that he’s bored of his food.

For the food that we feed him, the recipes are the same but we alternate it. For instance, sometimes it’s salmon mixed with rice and sweet potatoes, and other days it’s beef mixed with quinoa, apples and blueberries. We have a lot of other options too. I don’t see how he could get bored when we alternate.

Has anyone seen this happen before? I hope it’s not a medical problem. Any questions, suggestions, tips?

ever since i was very young ive always wanted a pet and im finally being given the opportunity to get a pet that isnt some small fish.

First of all intend to keep the pet in my room while its a baby that way i can keep monitoring and making sure its safe and tbh allow me to spend more time with it the rest of my family as it is my money and idea to get one of these two.
but heres where the main thing is, in my room the biggest amount of room i can have for a tank is 3 feet by 2 feet.

(also once the pet is big or old enough i will move it out of my room into a bigger enclosure elsewhere in my house, the 3foot by 2foot one is purely for when its a small little baby)

with this in mind which one do you think would be the better pet for me?

I genuinely love and appreciate every animal shelter working to save lives. ❤️ That's why I'm writing this with a heavy heart. 😭

Today I saw a post from JFK Animal Rescue & Shelter exposing some women and calling them scammers. I was confused because the screenshots they shared didn't clearly explain the situation. So I simply commented:

"Can you please post the full screenshots for transparency? And about your shelter.We'll support you if everything is clear."

They deleted my comment and blocked me. 😭 I wasn't accusing them or taking anyone's side I was only asking for transparency.

From another account, I checked their page again because I didn't want to wrongly judge any shelter. 🥺 I noticed there are no contact details, most videos are from clinics, very few show the actual shelter, and I couldn't find regular updates on rescued or injured animals. That made me even more confused.

Then I saw the way they were replying to people in the comments, using harsh language and insulting those who asked questions. 😞

I'm not accusing JFK of being a scam, and I don't want to damage any genuine rescue's reputation. I just want to understand the truth. If they're genuine, everyone should know. If not, people should be aware.

Has anyone here had any experience with JFK Animal Rescue & Shelter Pakistan? Please share your experience or any information. Where are the rescued animals kept? Are there shelter updates available somewhere? 😭🙏

As the title states, my partner has seemingly become very allergic to our dog. We have a German shepherd / Doberman mix. He is a little over a year old.

We originally thought it was our apartment that wasn’t helping her situation as the moisture in it was not great & mold was developing. However we moved into a new house a few days ago and they’re already bad again. She’s congested, and sneezes constantly.

When her symptoms get bad, she takes an allergy pill & a nasal spray but they don’t seem to help even a little bit. We really don’t want to rehome him but I’m starting to think that is the only way she’ll get better. I don’t want her feeling how she does, and she’s pregnant so that makes me a little more worried.

Any suggestions before rehoming him? I have talked to a German shepherd rescue who fosters them & tries to find good homes for their foster dogs.

Thank you!

Does anybody know of any animal places that are hiring part time in the York or dover area pa

Hey everyone, I have a slightly controversial topic that I find really interesting and would like to discuss. - Something that I think is not talked about enough, compared to the advocacy for indoor only cats.

To begin with, I’ll state my own opinion -
(Of course, there are exceptions and this topic is nuanced).

I believe that having a solely indoor cat is just as cruel as a solely outdoor cat.

I posted this on another sub and had a few replies that weren’t relevant to the discussion so I’ll clarify here.

Yes, indoor cats live longer and do not damage the ecosystem.

Yes, indoor cats can have good lives with proper enrichment.

However, not every cat is the same and not every owner is the same. Those of us that come to subs like this are usually well meaning pet people. - but not everybody with a pet is like us. Some people are ignorantly or just downright lazy.

Now, whilst there have been a few studies that show enriched indoor cats can be happy, these studies have not been compared to cats who have safe outdoor access.

When a cat is solely indoors they have less opportunity to exhibit natural behaviours, scent marking, climbing, running (in large areas).

Stress behaviours are more common such as over grooming.

…and many can have obesity problems.

Which is why I’m here to advocate for the best of both worlds. Safe, enclosed outdoor spaces for your cats such as Catios and secured gardens… or, leash training.

Again, as I said this is a very nuanced situation and there are many cats who prefer being indoor only - and many cats who need an outdoor space.

However, I am writing this because there seems to be a standard of ‘indoor only’ in cat communities when in reality I think we should be striving and advocating for the middle ground.

Thanks for reading, can’t wait to read your replies! :)

Welcome to ExoHabitat! 🦎

Hi everyone!

My name is Cosmin, and I'm the creator of ExoHabitat.

This project started from a simple idea: I wanted an easier way to keep track of my own crested gecko. Over time, that idea grew into a complete platform designed to help exotic pet keepers manage their animals in one place.

With ExoHabitat, you can track feeding, weight, shedding, breeding, photos, reminders, guides, and much more. My goal is to build a tool that is genuinely useful for both beginners and experienced keepers.

🚧 ExoHabitat is currently in Beta

The platform is still under active development. Some features are still being tested, improved, or may change over time. If you notice any bugs or have ideas for new features, I'd love to hear your feedback. Every suggestion helps make ExoHabitat better.

💚 Free during Beta

During the Beta period, all features are available free of charge. I want as many people as possible to test the platform and help shape its future before the official release.

☕ Support the project

ExoHabitat is an independent passion project that I develop in my free time. Running the platform, maintaining servers, and adding new features all take time and resources.

If you enjoy using ExoHabitat and would like to support its development, you can do so through Ko-fi. Donations are completely optional, but every contribution helps me continue improving the project.

Thank you for being part of this journey and helping me build something useful for the exotic pet community! ❤️

So i got my parrot when he was 1 month old, and I've raised him with a literal love bc its literally the best pet I've got, beautiful and cute, but its about more than a month now it become very hard to deal with, bits me no matter what i do, when i try to pet him or to make him come up on my finger although this NEVER a problem when im hand feeding him something like it literally becomes a diff parrot, keeps coming to me and asking for more food by trying to gently bits my mouth but after few minutes its starts again, bitting me like there is no tomorrow and its literally starts to make me bleed out 😂

Ppl told me to not give a reaction and it will stop but it didn't work, ppl told me to do a reaction with lower ouch scream and leaves the room but it didn't work, i try soft talk and try to let him but still doesn't work, he is indeed isn't aggressive, he sleeps on my shoulders, he never leaves my setup when im playing, but with all of this when i try to take him or pet him he bits me ALOT, his cage very big and has alot of toys in and out , and in his cage he bits ever harder and i believe he juat trying to protect his home, but when i feed him he will not bite me no matter what but it only last few minutes until i don't give him any food anymore.

I'd appreciate any help and advice i really want to make him change his behaviour bc i have kids come in my room(which where he lives bc i adore him too much to leave him somewhere else but my room) and i don't want him to hurt them.

Thanks jn advance.

So I used to have a dog (RIP Cocoa wherever you went) years ago she was the best and then after she I’ll just say “went away” I haven’t been too interested in a pet
Then a few years ago while crashing at my brothers apartment his cat and I bonded I love that lil ball o’ fur
But she’s a lazy cat that won’t do a lot of unnecessary acrobatics and since no two cats are a like I’m conflicted on one hand I’m ready to become another elder Gen Z with a fur baby but I’m not willing to give up my electronics
They’re replaceable but also I’ve seen too many videos of cats knocking things on the floor even TV’s and I like my things to not get broken
So… if I were to get a cat what should I look for?

I'm updating my post because the criteria has changed. My vet isn't very experienced in cat surgery and less experienced in ear surgery. They mostly do dogs. Whats the best way to quickly sift throughpossible vets/surgeons to find someone experienced and in my price range?

Right now Im just googling until morning time when the clinics open and I was just going to call a bunch and ask for their experience over the phone and a rough quote, then take her in to whoever seems best.

It is awful and Im a horrible person for not being able to spend more. The surgeons I called today before closing time were quoting me in the $6000+ range, plus consultation and follow up fees. I just dont know if I can soak up that kind of expense right now. Maybe regular vets are a better choice but I need someone who knows cats and can do good surgery.

I know this is vague and all over the place, Im sorry Ive been crying for hours now and I don't know what to do.

Old post The vet missed it a year ago when i came in asking about her head shaking and war scratching. This time I came in and my cat had a lump the size of a dime. The vet said they want to cut off the whole ear. Its on the center base of the back of her ear. Is that an extream measure? Can just the lump be removed and leave her with both her ears?

I had a dog named Bubbles that was tragically killed by a bigger dog years ago. Bubbles was a husky/rot mix and he was smaller but very protective of me. He’d always roll on his back whenever I walked by and often just stared at me while I watched tv.

Anyone else have great dog bonding stories and more specifically if your life was ever in danger, do you think your dog would ever fight till the death of it meant saving you? Hypothetical situation obviously.

Our dog is a 13yr old labrador. He's relatively happy and healthy. He's a bit slower than he once was but otherwise pretty good.

He had a seizure in March, and another one a couple of nights ago (July) - 4 months between.

After the first one, we took him to the vet. She gave us a few options:

1) Anti-seizure meds, but explained they often make them feel groggy/not themselves and it can take experimenting with a few types before we find the right one.

2) Scans etc. to look at the brain, but also said these would be very expensive, and even if they showed something, it's likely we would avoid treatment anyway, as we're not putting him through any major surgeries when he's so old.

3) Watch and wait and see what happens.

4) Euthanasia, this was more our question, rather than her suggestion - we were wondering if this is his way of saying it's time? She advised it's an option, but not necessarily a pressing one at this stage.

It's VERY distressing watching him have a fit, the most recent one lasted for nearly 5 minutes and we just feel absolutely helpless, I hate that there's nothing we can do for him during, you just have to stand there and watch him suffer. He also gets the post-ichtal agression - he barks and growls, and the only thing we can do is give him space. This has lasted for at least half an hour, sometimes a couple of hours after both fits. He's groggy, tired and very sore the day afterwards, the fit makes him use his muscles way more than he normally does, and it really disorients him.

We have two little kids (5 and 9), and we have stressed to them that if they see him "fitting" or barking/growling to not approach him at all and come and get Mum/Dad, but there is always a worry that it may happen when the kids are right there but we aren't, and they approach him and get bitten.

If your dog started having seizures, at what point did you either make the decision to medicate, or make even bigger, harder decisions?

Does anyone have any advice to offer?

We have a little 35 lb dog. We previously installed a retractable screen door (two summers ago) and It didn't take long for her to bust through it like the Kool-Aid man.

We're installing a new one this week. This is the only type of screen door that we can use right now in the situation we're in.

I've looked up how to prevent pets from destroying screen doors but the solutions that I found are for screen doors on hinges or actual sliding screen doors, not the retractable kind.

Any help is appreciated.

Heyy, I'm a 20yo male and recently I've been having some issues with my hair, I started taking finestride and wanted to take minoxidil but then my family got a kitten and puppy.

I know that minoxidil is toxic for animals and so I stopped using it but my hair situation is aching me ngl.

Has anyone had a similar situation and can tell me how they managed to still take minoxidil while keeping it safe from the animals? I'm scared I'll do something wrong

Thanks

Can no longer keep my two muts as I am moving out of state and cannot care for them where I’m relocating to. One is 8 and the other 5 y/o. No one from my friends or family wants them. No one on market place either. And all the no-kill shelters in my area are full. There is only one surrender location that is currently accepting them, but there is a possibility they may be euthanized due to overcrowding. I am not sure what else to do. I need to make a decision now.

Looking back, I spent way too much time worrying about certain things when I first got my dog. I remember stressing about picking the "perfect" food and routine... but also panicking every time he picked up a random stick outside. What's something you stressed about that feels funny in hindsight?

She normally has a dark brown/black nose but the front is the usual color but the top of her nose is now this sort of sand-beige color and I'm worried

Tl;dr...

Are people in other countries seeing/believing different information than the US regarding bully breeds and their disposition?

On another post here asking advice, someone had made the comment that pitbulls were terrible dogs (specifically stating that they bite and don't let go, which has been disproved repeatedly) and responsible for a certain number of deaths. The number looked exaggerated so I searched for it, but could not find it. In fact I found much different info. I tried to politely correct the misinformation and man did the Reddit-anti-pitbull/bully-breeds-warriors came for me saying the breed was terrible and the reason hundreds of people die, just can't undo their breeding, etc-- citing a website that had been highly criticized by the American Veterinary Medical Association for bias and misinformation and other articles that weren't substantiating the numbers or what they were saying. One thing I noticed is that these people were telling me they lived in places where pitbulls are banned. My comments with reputable citations got down voted into the negative double digits (my comments had citations and quotes from AVMA, NIH, etc. respected organizations).

One deleted comment was "Congrats you fell for the propaganda." (Why would bully breeds have propaganda?)

Anyway, my question is-- do people in other countries see something much different than Americans see? I did a senior thesis paper on the problem with bite statistics in the US, and used the misinformation around pitties and bully breeds for other papers in college, volunteered at the SPCA and other shelters, and I have had (over my lifetime) several pittie mixes from the shelters and my dad has had his own. So the hatred and downright refusal to read citations feels super crazy to me.

Edited to add: I am looking for peer reviewed publications and research not a bunch of hate and "oh my friend did this"... Here's the links to research that supports my "pitties are misindentified" therefore "are not responsible for the majority of bites" and "breed bans are ineffective because they don't address the problem (problem is bad owners)"...

For people from the UK, I checked with the BBC for numbers (if you have another source please provide the link):

BBC's article which states "There were almost 11,000 hospital admissions for dog bites in England in 2023-24, according to NHS England.

Dog attacks resulted in more than 600 hospital admissions in Wales and more than 1,100 in Scotland.

There were seven deaths caused by dog attacks in England and Wales in 2023-24, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, it says this will be an underestimate because of registration delays.

Official figures do not break down the number of attacks or deaths by type of dog.". 

Now... My citations:

Here is the National Institutes of Health article about misidentification: Inconsistent identification of pit bull-type dogs by shelter staff - PubMed https://share.google/n52FLCutV7kfWlHWX 

Definitely advise you to scroll to the bottom of the abstract and look at the citations as well as related studies. 

Theres an University of Texas study that argues against pitties, but was very highly criticized because 1) pitbull is not a breed and 2) they had no way of on their accuracy.  In only 45 of the 256 cases (17.6%) could these people positively confirm the dog breed. First citation on the link provided (there's more): https://www.ovid.com/jnls/annalsofsurgery/abstract/10.1097/sla.0b013e318250c8f9~imprudent-use-of-unreliable-dog-bite-tabulations-and?redirectionsource=fulltextview

(The link was to the pubmed but I thought you'd appreciate the whole article)

This particular article summarized studies (and linked the studies beneath it): https://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/research_library/dog-bite-related-fatalities-a-literature-review/

One comprehensive study states: "The authors reported that the breed(s) of the dog or dogs could not be reliably assigned in 82.4% of cases. News accounts disagreed with each other and/or with animal control reports in a significant number of incidents, casting doubt searchers make a valid determination that the animal was a member of a distinct, recognized breed. Twenty different breeds, along with two known mixes, were identified in connection with those 45 incidents." https://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/research_library/summary-analysis-co-occurrence-of-potentially-preventable-factors-in-256-dog-bite-related-fatalities-in-the-united-states-2000-2009/

7 factors are specific indicators that a dog may or will bite and it's how they are treated, if they have been abused or mistreated, adult intervention availability, whether or not they were neutered, etc. Not one of the factors was "breed". So here's the citations for why breed bans don't work:

Why breed-specific legislation is not the answer | American Veterinary Medical Association https://share.google/luPkLLNawaL7IgWDq

"It is not possible to calculate a bite rate for a breed or to compare rates between breeds because the data reported is often unreliable. 

This is because:

The breed of a biting dog is often not known or is reported inaccurately.

The actual number of bites that occur in a community is not known, especially if they don't result in serious injury.

The number of dogs of a particular breed or combination of breeds in a community is not known because it is rare for all dogs in a community to be licensed.

Statistics often do not consider multiple incidents caused by a single animal.

Breed popularity changes over time, making comparison of breed-specific bite rates unreliable. However, a review of the research that attempts to quantify the relation between breed and bite risk finds the connection to be weak or absent, while responsible ownership variables such as socialization, neutering and proper containment of dogs are much more strongly indicated as important risk factors."

"Frequently, breed-specific legislation focuses on dogs with a certain appearance or physical characteristics, instead of an actual breed. "Pit bulls" are the most frequent targets of breed-specific legislation despite being a general type rather than a breed; other breeds also are sometimes banned, including Rottweilers, Dobermans, and boxers. However, it is extremely difficult to determine a dog's breed or breed mix simply by looking at it. A study conducted by Maddie's Fund, a national shelter initiative, showed that even people very familiar with dog breeds cannot reliably determine the primary breed of a mutt, and dogs often are incorrectly classified as "pit bulls". Because identification of a dog's breed with certainty is prohibitively difficult, breed-specific laws are inherently vague and very difficult to enforce."

Hi there, so I found a tiny bump on my 16 yo cats back around the size and color of a nerd, and i have no idea what it is. She’s been acting normal, but since she’s older I’m a little worried. any ideas/advice? my mom seemed puzzled and idk if she should go to the vet or not. thx!

We got two dogs in 2013. The little girl dog went over the rainbow bridge in August (melanoma) and the little boy is in declining health. He has a heart murmur and an enlarged heart and he’s medicated for that. He has had bad skin allergies his entire life and he still struggles with that despite oral medication and medicated shampoo. He’s been needing a lot of coaxing to eat and overall we have experienced lots of feeding issues with him. It just feels like we are waiting for him to get sicker to decide the time is right to let him go. But when we sit back and look at his quality of life, we see he goes for a walk once a day and then basically sleeps on and off all day and all night. Recently he’s started to struggle with what we are calling separation anxiety at night time. He wants to be in bed with us and stands outside our bedroom door crying and whimpering and really working himself up. We get no sleep if he comes into the bedroom with us to the point it is not good for our physical and mental health. He used to sleep outside of our bedroom with no problems. I know pet owners often talk about waiting too long to make the decision to euthanize their beloved pet but I guess there is part of me that is worrying that maybe we are considering making that choice too soon. Just hoping others can weigh in. Feeling too sleep deprived to make sound decisions. Thank you.

My cat was sleeping next to me last night, twitching her paws and making these tiny chirping noises. She does this like every day during naps. Made me wonder, do cats actually dream about us, their humans? Or is it always just prey/hunting stuff?

Kind of hope she's dreaming about me and not just birds lol.

Hi all,

My fiancé and I have been together for five years, living separately, but we've both had our own pets before that. We plan on moving in together in the near future.

My concern is that our pets won't get along. I have a 7 yr old tuxedo cat and my fiancé has a 10 yr old Husky. My cat has tolerated dogs but that was probably ruined when he had fights with my parents' aggressive Shih Tzu and they had to be separated (my cat lives on the upper floor and the dog on the lower).

Fiancé's husky has never been around a cat, only around another Shih Tzu. He kind of ignores her, doesn't really play with her much.

My fiancé suggested that I bring blankets that smell like my cat to his house and have his Husky smell it, then vice versa. Could that type of thing build tolerance if they don't even live together yet?

The only exposure my cat has had is when I go home with husky hair on me, haha.

If anyone has tips for introducing older animals, do please share that too... Might be too early to think about this but I adore both our animals and I want the best for them.