Great pet, shame about that bad habit
BY NICK BARNETTHave you ever had a pet who was a really good pet - such a good pet, overall, that you happily put up with its one glaring defect? I've had a couple.
I've blogged about our cute puppy Connor a couple of times. He's a troubled wee chap and we're working to make him feel more secure and to get the skills he needs to pass in polite society (such as pooing and weeing in the right place at the right time).
But there's this one thing about him that I don't expect to reform. He is, and has been from day one of his time with us, a prodigious and poisonous farter.
(Please skip the next couple of paragraphs if you can't face this subject over your Kornies or your afternoon tea.)
Connor weighs in at about 4kg, but his farts would do credit to a horse, in potency and staying power.
These are not showy, spectacular events. They come like submarines, silent but deadly. The attack is over before you can wail "all is lost". You can only lay blame and try to rebuild.
It doesn't matters what we feed him, apparently. Chicken, pet roll, veges, frozen brand, dried brand, biscuit brand - all are fuel for Connor's disproportionate emanations.
I suppose it's like people, really. Some are more prone to it than others; reputedly, males more than females. But I had assumed that the smaller the dog, the smaller the problem. Not so.
Things could be worse, of course. We have a couple of major problems with Connor to iron out before you could say he's a well-rounded dog: separation anxiety, inappropriate barking, fearful aggression against other dogs. These are much bigger, in the scheme of things, than windiness.
The farts, as it were, are swallowed up in the larger issues. We'll just put up with it, if not exactly embrace it.
My other case of great-pet-bad-habit was my russian blue cat, Pierre. Handsome to look at, funny, cuddly - Pierre had it all. Except that he dribbled like a leaky tap.
I know some cats drool a bit when excited, especially if they've lost some teeth. But Pierre's dribbling seemed to be organised and targeted. Very little would go on your clothes - it would almost all go on you. Especially your hands. Pierre loved to drool-bomb your hand and then gnaw it.
It was as though he could turn on his salivary glands with an instant's notice, and then aim it like a targeted missile.
I had to learn sneaky techniques for picking him up and petting him, so my hands could escape a messy fate.
But Pierre was the Cat of My Life (so far), a pet so noble and loyal that a little spittle wouldn't put me off.
Now that I've completely turned you off your lunch, let me know: what oddities and weird habits have you tolerated in a pet because, well, you just loved it too much to get worried?
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Picture: Patrick Burghard
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Exactly the same issue as Paul. Male 'fixed' cat spraying inside due to the addition of a new cat. He's on prozac, xannax, pet calm, rescue remedy and feliway (along with doing everything people say you should do with cats that spray due to territory stress). He's a lovely friendly cat, but he is pretty much on his last warning now. I don't think this is a glaring fault that I can live with. I refuse to live in a toilet for a cat.
Our Poppet was a ferocious hunter. You get pretty sick of standing on bird carcasses in the middle of the night. Though he did bring me energy food in the form of a baby rabbit when I was in labour!
Paul & Leon, I have the same prob with my fixed FEMAlE cat, Yes females spray too!
I find Feliway great, I highly recomend it, the plug in difusser, not the spray bottle.
Another tip. When you find the spray and clean it up, don't use a harsh astringent cleaner, just something mild so that you yourself can no longer smell it, but your cat still can, and so he/she will be less inclined to re-spray.
I am now just happy Lucy the Cat is toilet trained.... But he has an annoying habit of humping the pillow on the couch at imappropriate moments- in spite of being neutered. he also will only drink running water from a faucet. To the point of dehydration and dizziness- he makes himself sick sometimes during summer while I am at work and the pet fountains don't work either. He used to be a hunter of birds, but ever since he found rats he hasn't touched a bird- fortunately I moved and there are no rats either. And the birds are safe.
(I'll start by stating that my cats are regularly wormed lol) Sanchez the tonk has this unfortunate habit of bum-dragging on the carpet. It's pretty funny cos he waits till he thinks no one is watching (despite being in a roomful of ppl) and then inches forward dragging his bum with this super-funny look on his face.
Rambo the mog has what some would call a very close relationship with his bum. He loves licking it, the more frequently the better. Any time of day or night, doesn't matter if you're eating or in polite company either! The one habit that the Mr finds most annoying bout Rambo is that when it rains he loves to go outside and get wet, then come inside and have a cuddle. He's always the most cuddly when he's soaked. Apparently wet cuddles are the best lol
Our family cat (RIP) was a bit like Loz's one... Would frequently bum drag across the carpet, and then shoot you a filthy look when you called her on it... She also had a habit of sleeping between my parents, and on more than one occassion refused to be shoved off the bed for, ahem, anything... I have to admit, its rather distracting to realise that the cat is sitting on your bed, watching you, while you erm, get physical with your partner!
I know exactly what you mean about the stinky farts! We have an english bulldog pup who is 9 weeks old and MAN his farts just clear the room! They're just like Connor's - silent but deadly. Even my partner, who farts A LOT, cannot stand it! And the cutest thing is, the pup usually does it when he's asleep and he wakes to us gagging and running away... poor thing!
My dog (Lab Pointer X) has a few problems which we are working on, but one which we don't think we'll ever be able to fix but that drives us crazy:
He's a licker. Of anything and everything - your face, your feet, your arm, the sofa, the cat, the table legs, the air. Constantly. It drives me mad, especially when he does it ninja styles and you aren't expecting it.
He has a great trick of being able to run up to you, do a quick jump to give you a lick on the lips and then run off before you know what's happened.
But he's a good dog that tries his best to behave so we put up with it and occasionally even let him give us a slobbery kiss.
Both my moggies have bad habits. The female is a stealth hunter and constantly brings birds and bugs into the house for my daughter (her human). They are always laid out neatly on the carpet in my daughter's bedroom, waiting for her to arrive home from school for a feast. The male cat has started spraying inside recently and we can only assume it is is due to the large & sudden increase in other cats around our close vicinity. Needless to say the cat flap is permanently locked these days!
I'm training my neutered male adult cat (over and over again) to go outside in the mornings and not to spray on things.
Have cleaned, sprayed cat-repellent and put him outside at regular intervals - but he still sometimes gets stupid or lazy and feels the need to mark things. Probably due to the incursion of another cat occassionally into the house.