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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Sept 8, 2009 9:10:02 GMT -5
- NOTE:This is NOT a petcare thread. That sort of thing usually goes on Byways. This particular thread has a specific purpose, for both pets and farm animals. Some of the animals on this thread may be working animals or become/produce food. distilled purpose of this thread:- to avoid squalor caused by animals,
- to keep our animals from living in squalor,
- and to avoid animal hoarding.
Any other posts about animals belong on Byways, the off-topic forum.
The focus of this thread is on cleaning up after our animals (and preventing further messes),
but also on choosing to create guidelines (healthy limits) for our own behavior as humans who live with animals.
Also, anyone who doesn't yet have animals, but is considering it in the future, is welcome to join here. Brainstorm and work on cleaning up in preparation for your dream. Get your home ready for a pre-adoption inspection. Strategize how you will safely crate or fence the animal. Plan on flea prevention. Figure out where to store the food so that your pet (or mice) doesn't invade the food bag. Etc. etc. etc. Be ready when it's time for your animal to come into your life.
The recent discussion of "animal hoarding" -- and also a separate discussion about overcrowded conditions for animals -- inspired this challenge for us all to to something ACTIVE to clean up. Cleanup challenge for anyone who lives with animals !Lets clean/organize something that relates to our having animals (pets or farm animals) Suggestions/options/ideas ... ... start one of the following, or feel free to create your own idea ... - Change litterbox
- Make appointment for spay/neuter
- Wash the animals' food and water dishes
- Groom your animals -- so that excess pet hair doesn't accumulate in your home -- and also do it for their own health. Find out how to gently comb out matted hair with the correct tool. Then brush out all the loose hair.
- Ask a veterinarian's assistant or an animal groomer to teach you how to trim dog and cat toenails
- Use a shop vac and quickly vacuum up mountains of pet hair -- or ... sweep up the majority of it.
- Get an air purifier
- Clean up poop and urine -- and/or old stains and stench -- from your floors and carpeting. Ask for help here if you need to.
- Repair the the wooden doors or furniture that are damaged by cat scratches
- Clean up the mess all over the floor from things that your animals have chewed or spilled.
- Truly and honestly consider how much time you have. Do you give enough to your pets? If you are overwhelmed, consider asking for assistance with chores from a local volunteer agency -- or ask a local LEGITIMATE animal rescue group to help you brainstorm solutions for your time/energy issues.
- Wash the blankets/bedding that your pet sleeps on
- Get appropriate flea/tick/heartworm medicine for your pet
- Organize where you keep the pet food
- Get your pet treated for parasites/worms, so they no longer have issues with diarrhea. And their poop will become easier to clean up.
- Cleanse your aquarium or terrarium appropriately according to directions
- Clean up birdpoop from your walls and floor
- Clean the birdcage, the rabbit hutch, the doghouse, etc.
- Clean out the barn, shovel the poop, spread fresh hay
- Clean up the dog poop from your backyard
- Clean up your cat's vomit
- Fix the gap in your fence where your animals have been escaping through
- Throw out old expired pet medicines
- Install a heavy-duty baby gate to cordon your pet into the kitchen so that pet does not destroy rest of your house when you aren't home.
OR
"Crate-train" your pet with the appropriate-sized crate.
- Find a solution for where to keep trashcans so that your pet cannot get into them
- Do a yearly budget to plan for flea/tick medicine, vaccines, and emergency pet care
- Make appointment for spay/neuter
- Bring your pets to a secure location elsewhere, and then flea-bomb your home
- Donate old towels and blankets to your local pet shelter
- Renew your dog license
- Get your pet some training so that he/she doesn't jump on the delicate furniture
- Find out how to more effectively potty train your pet so that you don't have to clean up after indoor messes
- Take a class at the gym to get in shape, to become more confident about walking your dog regularly. A well-exercised dog will be less likely to shred your home.
- Buy or make a simple thing for your cat to use as a scratching post, and thus protect your good furniture.
- Make appointment for spay/neuter
- Call the local university "county extension" or the 4-H or any other similar rural organization to learn the best hygienic practices for caring for your farm animals
- Make sure your barnyard animals have fresh clean water
- Have a meeting with your household members and come up with a schedule for each person to participate in animal care and cleanup
- etc. etc. etc.
⭐Focus on desqualoring and maintaining your home and property ... while caring for your animals. Prevent further messes.
⭐ Create guidelines as to what parts of your home/property will be accessible to the animals.
⭐ Create guidelines for the number of animals you can healthfully care for.
⭐ Animal healthcare may be posted here in this thread -- - if it is part of your commitment to ward off the tendency to be an animal hoarder
- or if it's to prevent squalor in your home
- or addressing animal health problems caused by squalor or overcrowding.
- Appropriate to this thread would be things like spay/neuter, or preventing fleas, or addressing health problems caused by squalor or overcrowding, or preventing worms, or taking the responsibility for annual checkups, etc. etc. etc.
- This is a "taking responsibility" thread.
All of these ideas are just suggestions. Do one (or more) item from the list, or come up with your own idea!  List your accomplishments in this thread. This thread doesn't care if you do large or small tasks. Don't worry if you haven't yet finished a task --- you can START a task and post about that. Don't need to compare yourself with anyone else. Just list whatever you do, and we'll encourage each other. Let's do what we can !
Note: Usually, we post about our animals in the "off-topic" (Byways) forum.
However, if your post is relevant to the theme of this thread, (i.e. stepping out of squalor/hoarding) go ahead and post in this thread. - |
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Sept 8, 2009 9:14:38 GMT -5
- Some smileys to cheer us on ... (warning, lots of graphics.
If your computer is slow-loading, click the escape key to stop this post from loading all the pictures so that you can proceed to posting)
ANIMAL HABITAT CARE CHALLENGE: |
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Post by Chris on Sept 8, 2009 10:21:09 GMT -5
[/li][li] Get appropriate flea/tick/heartworm medicine for your pet -[/quote] This is a great idea for a thread! This item is the one I am currently grappling with. The Vectra I have been buying for my cats is $45. It contains 3 doses. Finances have been tight and I used my last dose last month on my cat Tony. I'll need to work it into the spending plan quick -- we're flea free and need to stay that way. South Texas can be challenging. In the past when I was real financially challenged I had to comb each cat every few days and remove any fleas. It's not the best way to deal with it. I wonder if I can get the Frontline Plus a little cheaper. The Vectra works best though. |
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Post by yearning4order on Sept 8, 2009 11:55:17 GMT -5
Great idea, and timely--I have to clean the chicken coop!
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Post by skatters on Sept 8, 2009 13:21:28 GMT -5
I made a phone call about getting some financial help with spaying my puppy. I have been putting this off for months. I had to leave a message (of course) so now I get to anticipate a call back.
I hope they can help. My pup just turned one. Maybe I shouldn't have taken on the responsibility of a dog until I could better afford it... but she is here now. And we love her dearly.
(She is an indoor pup, so her chances of getting pregnant are pretty slim. Though there is always the possibility of her getting out at some point.)
But the other day, I did wash all the pet bowls and clean the floors under them.
I do need to change the two litter boxes though...
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Post by wendy on Sept 8, 2009 13:22:27 GMT -5
Dear Lion, What a great post! Your list is so comprehensive, I'm sure anyone who lives with an animal will find something there to do. As for me, I need to tackle a couple of messes made by our newest kitten resident... We had not anticipated adding a kitten to our established critter family of two cats and three hamsters, but the local no-kill shelters were full... And we turned out to be the person's "last resort"... So we adopted this mischievous little girl kitty, and fell in love with her instantly. I must say, however, that she is the naughtiest, messiest kitty I've ever lived with... As the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished!" (  ) So, I'll take you up on your thoughtful challenge today! Wendy |
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Post by AnnieOkie on Sept 8, 2009 13:43:20 GMT -5
Luv, luv, luv all the smilies!!! I am going to pick at least one thing and start with that.....probably something simple like wash the food and water bowl! Thanks, Lioness, for this post!
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Post by DJ on Sept 8, 2009 16:13:45 GMT -5
mancreature and i finished the hamsterarium, together, this morning
i think i'm going to see how often i can do something extra for them now.
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Post by Morningstar on Sept 8, 2009 19:46:25 GMT -5
Hi Chris
One way to economise on flea/tick 'spot-on' treatments for small pets is to buy the "large dog" version in your brand, use a 1ml syringe to suck up the contents and give each pet a measured dose. The up-front cost is higher than buying the dose made for your size of pet, but you may get 3x or more lots of treatment out of the one purchase.
Morningstar
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No More Squalor
New Member
Breaking my dirty habits once and for all...
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 34
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Post by No More Squalor on Sept 8, 2009 20:53:23 GMT -5
Great idea for a thread!
Since the beginning of the year, I've finally got myself into the habit of keeping the catboxes scooped and the scattered litter swept up every day. Plus, I now spot-clean the catbox room floor whenever I encounter a stray biohazard.
I'm still working on keeping the floor and the boxes themselves washed on a regular basis, but so far it's been an enormous improvement. During the last few days it's been rainy and damp, but there hasn't been so much as a whiff of catbox. My old house was like living in an ammonia factory because the boxes were so neglected; there was litter tracked everywhere in the house; and when I moved I found big piles of old cat poop and stuff that had been repeatedly soaked with urine tucked away behind things. I feel sick just thinking about it. But I think I can safely say I've got this particular bit of squalor beaten.
I'm also much better at cleaning up puke as I find it. I've spent the last few months re-programming my brain so that I now go get the paper towels and spray bottle of vinegar and clean each mess up as I see it, rather than think, "Oh, the cat puked again," and keep walking past it for the next six months or so.
Despite all the progress, however, I've still got a long way to go.
My big pet-related goal for the next month or so is to finally get all six of the cats up-to-date on their shots and in for complete exams. One of them has kidney disease, so he's been seeing the vet frequently, and the new guy had an exam right after I adopted him from the humane society. But I had some tight finances over the last few years, so the others have had their turns deferred. Since they are all older cats (between 8-13 yrs.), this isn't good at all. For example, I could have caught the one cat's kidney disease much earlier if he'd had routine checkups; I'm lucky he survived when he finally "crashed."
Fortunately, my finances have turned around; I finally sold the house where I lived out the worst of my squalor, so at the moment I have money. I have one guy who needs dental work, so he's going in next week, and I'll probably take one other cat at the same time. Then there's two others, who seem to be healthy, but should be checked out anyway.
This has been hanging over my head for so long; I feel like a lousy cat owner for deferring it. But I'm glad I can finally do it, and I'm determined not to put it off any longer.
I'm now good at washing the cats' dishes every day, instead of letting them pile up in the sink. But I still need to get in the habit of cleaning the kitchen floor around their bowls (and in general--it still gets really foul before I wash it).
Plus, I either need to discard the big scratching posts I've got, or re-wrap the posts in sisal rope and try to brush and vacuum all the clotted hair out of the perches. They really are disgusting, they're not healthy places for the cats to sleep, and they're like giant allergen repositories for me. Maybe I'll just ditch them and buy new ones; I'm not sure the little brats need such huge posts anyway.
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Sept 8, 2009 21:00:38 GMT -5
-- 🐈 Yay Chris for researching flea/tick medicine!  Yay Yearning4Order for cleaning the chicken coop! ⭐⭐⭐Yay Skatters for bravely researching a way to pay to spay!  w00t to Skatters for cleaning the food and water dishes ... and cleaning the floor underneath! 🐈 Yay wendy for tacking the messes from new kitten!  Yay AnnieOkie for washing food and water dishes!  w00t to DJ and mancreature for finishing a hamsterarium ! 🐰 Hi MorningStar ! Thanks for the tip about the way to economize on flea medicine. Clever! 🐈 Yay NoMoreSqualor on overcoming financial chaos, and now being able to attend to the medical needs of your kitties! (And congrats on all the other good new habits you've been building in!) - |
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Sept 8, 2009 21:16:56 GMT -5
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Today, I picked up a bunch of things on the floor that the dogs had torn up or chewed up.
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Post by Meme on Sept 8, 2009 21:31:40 GMT -5
well. of course, I have something to say as I do live a dog's life even if I am treated like a king. The lady of the house does take good care of me but she did tell me that if some day she could not that she would let me go to papa.
She gets me fresh water every day and I have a self feeding dog dish that papa made for me. she sends me out to my pee patch on a regular basis and keeps my deposits cleaned up so I do not have to step in them- and every night at 6:45 pm I get a special treat supper that while it is small -- I know that it is best for my health--I am not too fond of those baths but she does make sure the water is warm!
sometimes I have to remind her to get my treat --woof , woof, but she always gets it for me = this gives me time to get on the net, as she gets a clean dish and mashes it up for me and then does the dish drop -
but please understand that not all the pet owners out there can think like my lady does- some times they think they are doing a good thing by taking too many animals in the house but it is not the right thing- You should take me to make me happy and not your self happy- I am just a dog and I need to remain a dog so that I can live my life as God made me.
oh got to go
- I hear her coming-------and dogman hugs and woof woof wooffffffffffffffffff
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Sept 9, 2009 18:17:36 GMT -5
well. of course, I have something to say as I do live a dog's life even if I am treated like a king. The lady of the house does take good care of me but she did tell me that if some day she could not that she would let me go to papa.
She gets me fresh water every day and I have a self feeding dog dish that papa made for me. she sends me out to my pee patch on a regular basis and keeps my deposits cleaned up so I do not have to step in them- and every night at 6:45 pm I get a special treat supper that while it is small -- I know that it is best for my health--I am not too fond of those baths but she does make sure the water is warm!
sometimes I have to remind her to get my treat --woof , woof, but she always gets it for me = this gives me time to get on the net, as she gets a clean dish and mashes it up for me and then does the dish drop -
but please understand that not all the pet owners out there can think like my lady does- some times they think they are doing a good thing by taking too many animals in the house but it is not the right thing- You should take me to make me happy and not your self happy- I am just a dog and I need to remain a dog so that I can live my life as God made me.
oh got to go
- I hear her coming-------and dogman hugs and woof woof wooffffffffffffffffff Dear Dogman, Thank you for speaking to us. I am glad your human lady Meme takes such good care of you! You are right that sometimes humans think they are doing a good thing by taking too many animals in the house but it is not the right thing .... A woman should have a companion animal to make the ANIMAL happy and not for her own self-gratification. Meme has taught you well. You are just as wise as she is ! Hugs from Lioness and her doggies and kitty. - |
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Sept 9, 2009 18:20:14 GMT -5
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Today I bought new cat litter at the store, emptied the litterbox, and refilled it with fresh litter. And brought the used litter out to the trashcan.
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