i know there are many pet owners here.the question is....

[Mara]

LOL Patty at the hedgehog story, too funny!!

Oh and if you do xrays of the dogs, which we did one for P because she was sickly for a few days, well nothing showed up but it was $350 anyway. And then we take her home and she poops out some tiny miniscule hard rock object which was what was causing all the turmoil. Couldn''t have done it BEFORE the vet appt right?

Lil that rabbit is too cute!! But I actually had a traumatizing experience with my old rabbit from when I was young. She was a french lop and she was huge, overweight, we got her from a rescue or a friend or something and she was always a really big girl. About 15 lbs! Anyway she was fine for a long time and then just stopped grooming herself and stopped eating all her fave stuff (loved bananas and lettuce and not carrots), so one night I had to bathe her because she was filthy from not grooming herself, I put her back in her cage which was this huge mesh house on stilts above the ground and covered her with her blanket/tarp and went in to bed...well I guess she was cold and still a bit wet (we had never had to bathe her before) and probably sick inside which we didn''t know at the time and she died that night, oh it was so sad to come out the next day with a banana and find my stiff little rabbit! We buried her in the yard. But it was kind of traumatizing, I was about 11 and I felt guilty because I hadn''t dried her off enough and thought maybe she had frozen to death. (Even though it was California!) It was probably a combo of things. But very sad! So if your rabbit stops grooming itself, worry!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/12/2006 12:08:04 PM
Author: GemKlctr

Date: 2/12/2006 1:27:10 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 2/11/2006 7:04:43 PM
Author: GemKlctr
So far, I think my koi are only $10-20 per month for food, and they are growing like weeds. I was already paying for the waterfall pump when the koi were thrown in, so they seem pretty cheap. My dogs, on the other hand, cost considerably more - most recently, $180 for the vet for one toy poodle and over $3k over the past several years for my sheepdog''s 2 cancer surgeries and chemo (unfortunately it came back incurably last fall and I had to put him to sleep). No idea what food, etc., is for the remaing 3 dogs, but I assume at least $100 per month. Fortunately, I don''t pay for my oldest son''s python amd tarantula even though he, and they, are staying with me now.

some koi keepers in the cold weather areas are heating their ponds during the winter time and it''s costing them like $700 per month,just for natural gas.

i guess

if they could afford a $80k-$100k koi collection,$700 per month means nothing.

DF, I''m told that''s not necessary here, but their pond is now covered with a layer of slush from all of the overnight snow, and it will likely freeze over tonight. I hope they make it. There should be plenty of unfrozen water below the ice. My koi are nothing special - 1 solid orange, 1 orange and white, and 1 white, orange and black - and cost about $8 each at 4 inches long last year. They are now 8-9 inches. Any advice?

Gk
make sure there''s a little openning on the ice (like when people go ice fishing) so gas can escape. if your fish survive last winter they should be okay.

 

[Gemklctr]

Thanks DF. I''ll check the pond later tonight. I skimmed the slush earlier to delay the freezing. I didn''t get them until last Spring, so they haven''t survived a Winter here yet.

 

[littlelysser]

My FI and I have two dogs...and they each go to doggie day care two days a week and we have a dogwalker that comes two days a week...so that is about $500/month. And we also spoil them with toys and treats...honestly, I have no idea how much we spend each month...too much! I''d guess probably between $600-$700/month.

and nevermind the vet bills. Our one dog seems to only get sick on evening and weekends, so we have to take him to the emergency vet...

 

[Dancing Fire]

wonder is it too late for me to go to veterinarian school

they make more [$$)] then MD''s. it really is amazing the amount of money americans spend on their pets.

 

[Blue824]

OK, so when I added it up I was like woah! Because I came up with an approximation of $3000. And I felt like I was underestimating. Have three cats and one hamster. One of mine is also elderly and has medications that add up pretty quickly, and I guess when you''re spending $30 here or $20 there picking things up you don''t really keep track of what things cost. Regardless, they''re worth every penny and more

(that''s not with any injury or illness vet care, thankfully we''ve only really had to do that once, years ago.)

 

[monarch64]

DF, our next door neighbor (when I say next door, I mean I can put a toe on the side of my house and touch his with my hand--typical Chicago lots) has a koi pond in his backyard, well it is pretty much his ENTIRE backyard. We enjoy looking at it from our deck in the warm months. He puts a solar cover on it during the winter while they are sleeping. They are beautiful fish, he''s had some of them for 12+ years. They have two dogs, who never mess with the fish. One of their dogs is a beagle/border collie mix, and the other is a sheepdog/shepard mix. They''re also very stern with their dogs and they have them well-trained.

 

[diamondlil]

Can''t wait to see a pic of your hedgehog, Patty. That is a very unique pet -- love that.

Oh, Mara, your bunny story is so sad.

How old was she?

I have already started talking to the kids (especially my daughter who is 11 now) about what will happen eventually with Snowball. I really did not expect her to live this long. Is 5 or 6 an old age for a rabbit? I''ve heard anywhere from 3 to 11 years. That seems like an awfully wide spread though. She does lead a rather pampered life for a rabbit though. We keep her in a cage the garage (the garage has windows so it is daylight and insulated so stays cool in the summer and warm in winter) to protect her from the elements, and we have a large wire octagon-shaped fence that we unfold and put in the yard (weather permitting) for her to hang out in during the day. She snoozes and nibbles the grass all day long. She loves to be outside, but as soon as it gets dark, she starts to get nervous and wants to be back in her indoor cage. It''s funny how we have learned to read her signals and communicate with her.

Here is a pic of Snoball when she was only a couple of months old. What a difference from the previous pic I posted which is what she looks like now.

 

[rfath]

let''s see... $600 a month to board my two horses. $80 every two months to have their feet trimmed. Massage for my injured youngster is $45 each session... worming comes out to $10 a month between them, probably. $250-300 a year for vaccinations. This is if they stay healthy. I''m not going to think about what it cost when I brought my poor lame baby back from the trainer''s and had to pay for exams and x-rays. Upset tummies, etc... *sigh*

Then again, I just dropped nearly $500 at the vet and emergency hospital this weekend for our sick ferret. I would have spent multples of that without blinking, though, to have him home healthy. Normally he costs $20 a month in chicken parts for treats, about $10 a month in food, and $200 a year or so for typical vet work.

I''m poor in the wallet but rich in things fuzzy. If I say it enough, I''m sure I''ll feel better

 

[portoar]

Yeah, those koi can be expensive. I had a koi pond in my last house, beautiful koi . . . problem was, they attracted blue heron and red tailed hawk (we actually used to get buzzed by them when we tried going in our back yard. Oh, yes, the pond maintenence, cleaning, the medicine, the food, the stuff for the water . . . but just as expensive, replacing the koi when the birds found them . . . in the three years I owned the home, I think I fully replaced my stock (I usually kept 3-5 koi in the pond) oh, 3 times? And most of those were predator casualties.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/13/2006 2:05:01 AM
Author: monarch64
DF, our next door neighbor (when I say next door, I mean I can put a toe on the side of my house and touch his with my hand--typical Chicago lots) has a koi pond in his backyard, well it is pretty much his ENTIRE backyard. We enjoy looking at it from our deck in the warm months. He puts a solar cover on it during the winter while they are sleeping. They are beautiful fish, he''s had some of them for 12+ years. They have two dogs, who never mess with the fish. One of their dogs is a beagle/border collie mix, and the other is a sheepdog/shepard mix. They''re also very stern with their dogs and they have them well-trained.

m64
if my wife and daughter decide to get a dog,hopefully they can train him/her to stay away from the koi pond.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

I have a little bitty Pomeranian so I only spend about 250 bucks a year on supplies, vet bills, etc. He''s very healthy so the only vet visits are his annual checkup and teeth cleaning.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

A picture of my baby:

 

[partgypsy]

Dancing Fire, would your wife and daughter consider a breed of dog other than golden retreiver? They really do love the water, normally jump into it any chance they get, but other dogs are not so water-crazy, like collies and chows. They might drink the water, but that''s about it.

I think I''m reading too much pricescope. In the past 2 weeks I''ve had 2 dreams with koi fish! Very strange.

 

[Caribou]

I have 2 indoor cats, although I got all the shots that are needed when they are kitten (distemper, etc) and got them both fixed I don't take them to the vets now. As far as food and liter goes, I'd say I spend about $30-$40 a month. Depending how much my fat arse cat decides to eat that month.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/14/2006 12:28:27 PM
Author: part gypsy
Dancing Fire, would your wife and daughter consider a breed of dog other than golden retreiver? They really do love the water, normally jump into it any chance they get, but other dogs are not so water-crazy, like collies and chows. They might drink the water, but that''s about it.

I think I''m reading too much pricescope. In the past 2 weeks I''ve had 2 dreams with koi fish! Very strange.

PG
here ya go....

http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35256&page=3&pp=10

 

[mepearl53]

We have Nick the dog who is 3 years old today. A valentines day baby. 2 cats and 2 love birds ( who I can''t stand) All they do is poop and chirp Nick''s a big mommy''s boy and is spoiled rotten. At least $200.00 a year in nylabones, 400.00 food, vet $200.00. Cats and birds another $700.00 per year. $1,500.00 looks like the cost! Plus house cleaning.

 

[Kaleigh]

We have a cockateil, forgot about adding her. Her food costs about $12 a month if that. Her name is Khackie, and she is a diva.

 

[Dee Jay]

The Demon Dog cost:
- $55 to adopt him from the pound
- $350 within the first week because he was really sick when we got him (if someone at an animal shelter tells you the dog "just has a cold" and it will go away in a few days, they are LYING), and who knows how many vet bills since then
- $2,100 for training (because he somehow got it in his little doggy brain that it's OK to bite strangers if they are wearing baseball caps)
- $200 in for tetnas shots for the people wearing baseball caps
- $275 for the first trainer (who told us to send him for $2,100 worth of training)
- $400 for an electric collar that we never used on him after testing it out on ourselves (that sucker HURTS!!!)
- $13/day for walking (now my husband works from home a lot so we don't have a regular walker)
- $23/day for doggie day care while the kitchen is being remodeled so he doesn't get in the way of the contractor or get out while something is being delivered
- $40/night for boarding when we go on vacation
- $8/pack for his alergy pills (he has hayfever...)
- countless $$$ on food, toys, and god only knows what else

But I wouldn't give him up for all the $ in the world!!!

 

[pricescope]

Dee Jay, how is he doing lately?

Baseball caps was a big problem with one Rottweiler i had worked with. He was a retired police dog who use to be a part of NY drag patrol.

Any man with baseball cap backwards on made him furious, he was adopted by the family with 2 small kids and a teddy bear to them.

 

[Dee Jay]

The Demon is doing A LOT better--thank you so much for asking! He's back to eating his regular food (although I'm sure he'd much rather live on a diet of Progresso chicken soup and lemon pound cake!)

But yes, he has his quirks, which stem from him being badly abused before we got him. If you tried to pet him on top of the head he would hunker down to the ground and start whimpering like he was expecting to get hit, and if you touched his rump he froze up and his eyes would roll back in fear. These are just a few examples. We had several trainers tell us the the various ways that his behavior indicated he had been hit/kicked/and who knows what else. Genuinely heartbreaking!!!

And baseball caps, fast moving things on wheels (not cars, but bikes, roller bladers, skate boarders) -- they all freaked him out to the max.

He's made a ton of progress, and we've gotten VERY good at reading his signs so now we can pretty much tell when something is upsetting him enough that he might snap out. Nevertheless, we are OVER cautious with him so as not to put him in any situation like that if we can help it.

One other oddity: On his leash you can't get him within 50 feet of another dog without him lunging and barking and behaving like a wild animal, but off his leash (like in an enclosed dog park) he's totally fine with any dog. Bigger, smaller, make, female, these behaviors hold trule regardless. We've NEVER been about to figure this out at all...

And he LOVES children. Pull his ears, bite his tail, pull on his tongue -- if you're a child he'll just stand there and let you do it!

(Sorry for rambling on on what's not my thread, by the way!)

 

[Jensia]

I hear your pain thought is not really pain I have 5 cats from 2-10. Two on a special diet, and since you cant seperate the food, they all get the expensive diet,lol Then the vet bills and everything. My husband tells me think if the diamond I could have if I didnt have cats,lol But they are more precious to me than any stone

Jensia

 

[Mara]

DJ...sometimes dogs exhibit ''leash aggression'' but when they are off the leash they are fine...I read somewhere that sometimes it''s attributed to feeling ''trapped'' on the leash aka like if they had to defend themselves or you they are not able to when they are on the leash, but off the leash they feel more safe as though they could run or fight or whatever if they had to. My friend''s Jack is kind of like that, he always is much better off leash!

 

[partgypsy]

I think our chow mix has that leash agression. She is so much better off the leash than on it. When she was a puppy the first few times we put a leash on her she literally bucked like a wild animal trying to get away, we had to take it off before she hurt herself. I had never seen a dog act that way. Now she can go on a leash but she pulls and doesn''t really obey very well. Off the leash she will walk alongside us and can trust if she does go a short distance will come back if we call. We have even gone on walks with her to places where you can sight wild deer and if we tell her to stay she will.

To give you some background, she was a pup from a wild dog pack in northern Durham. A friend''s dog when going on a walk led her mistress to the litter in an abandoned house. She monitored it for a few days, but the feral mommy was spooked and wouldn''t come back, so she took them and adopted them out to friends (including us). The reason she did that was that chows and chow mixes are considered unadoptable and often put down before being offered for adoption. The following year the same thing happened. she managed to grab the puppies, but animal control caught the mom and put her down. One of our friends has one of Betty''s half sisters from that litter, and they are best friends.

 

[Dee Jay]

Mara - It''s interesting you say that. More than one trainer has said that, based on his behavior around other dogs, it''s obvious The Demon was attacked when he was younger (probably as a puppy), so maybe he does freak out on his leash thinking that he''ll have to defend himself and won''t be able to. Of course it doesn''t help any that a neighbor in our old building had a black lab mix that was NEVER on her leash and she came out of the alley one night and attacked Dino while Bill was walking him. Dino''s foreleg was all torn up and bloody, and the worst part was the other owner couldn''t have cared less. I''m genuinely convinced the problem is usually the owner and not the dog!

Do you have any suggestions on how to "cure" behavior like this? We''ll try anything at this point...

 

[Caribou]

Oh DJ, your poor little demon!

Stories like that make my heart break. What a horrible thing for an animal to go through. I''m glad he''s in a good home now though.

Where did you adopt him from? Did you know of some or all of his quirks before?

 

[Dee Jay]

Gypsy - You bring up another interesting connection about your dog being from a wild pack. The pound told us Dino was probably a German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix, but we've since learned he's a Carolina Dog.

Here is a blurb from a website:

During the last 30 years, the capture and study of free-ranging dogs in remote areas of South Carolina and Georgia has revealed the existence of dogs of primitive appearance fitting the typical long-term pariah (i.e, primitive/dingo) morphotype. They closely resemble types of dogs first encountered by Europeans near Indian settlements in the region as is evidenced by paintings, drawings and written descriptions made by these early explorers and settlers, and are thought to be a direct descendant of the ancient pariah dogs that accompanied Asians across the Bering Straits land bridge 8,000 years ago. Their closest genetic relative is the Australian Dingo (maybe Garry has one of his relatives!!!).

He also has a VERY STRONG hunting instinct, and exhibits a lot of the behavorial traits specific to the breed (e.g., he likes to sit up on his back legs like a bunny to "look over the tall grass." [We don't have a lot of tall grass in our townhouse, mind you, but he does this all the time!]).

So, maybe he was born out it a swamp somewhere and got taken in as a pet ??? We have no idea, though, how he would have gotten to Chicago...

ETA: Forgot to say that the common sentiment is that "Old Yaller" was based on a Carolina Dog.

 

[Dee Jay]

Caribou - We adopted him from the Anti Cruelty Society in downtown Chicago. We had very fortunate timing in that he was a stray (picked up near Wrigley Field -- he must be a Cubs fan!), and right after we got him the ACS said they were going to stop taking in strays because they often had health issues that forced them to be put to sleep and ACS tries to be a no-kill shelter, so all strays were going to the city pound -- where they are almost assured to be put down...

Anyway, we chose him because he was the ONLY dog not barking or going wild in his cage. In retrospect he was probably just so incredibly freaked out by the whole experience that he was about in shock, but he was very very gentle and interacted with us nicely. (Not to mention those big brown eyes... !)

NO!!!! We did not know about his crazy quirks at all before we got him, and it took several months for some of them to become apparent. Who knows, maybe he's even got a few more up his furry sleeve that we just aren't aware of yet!

 

[partgypsy]

It''s funny, our other family dog (who passed away a couple years ago at age 14) was a Chicago stray too. He was a puppy found in downtown Chicago. My husband to be adopted him. He was a medium sized black and white dog with medium long hair. Anyways as time went on, border collies became more and more popular, and people would ask us if he was border collie, and we said no, he''s a stray. A few years ago I was walking Mel and this man walking a border collie approached us. He asked what Mel was and I said a stray. He was all intense, crouched down and grabbed Mel''s face, then felt along his body (like he was at some kind of dog show!). After saying though his haunches were a little high he thought Mel was pure border collie.
Now we don''t know what he was other than a great dog, but if true, it beats me what a pure bred border collie puppy would be doing wandering in downtown Chicago, because there really isn''t much residental housing where he was found.

 

[cpster]

Hmm...this is hard to total up, but I would say between $1000-$1500 a year. Like so many others have said though, it''s all totally worth it. We have a Shih Tzu fur baby that is eight years old now (though she doesn''t look a day over two

). Once in awhile I think of my life without her and I totally freak out. She is so devoted to us and we to her.

I think we should ask WF to come out with a couture line for our furry babies. The tag with a 5-10 pt ACA sounds divine. I even considered buying the Tiffany heart tag necklace and having it modified for my baby!