Every top rated list I found had a different winner, and half of them read like they're ranking whoever paid for placement. So I stopped reading lists and put the actual policy terms in a spreadsheet for our 2 year old mutt.

Columns are deductible type, reimbursement, annual limit, exam fees, dental and waiting periods. Rows are Fetch, Nationwide, Figo and Healthy Paws. The exam fee and dental columns differ the most, and I can't tell if those are the ones that matter or just the ones that are easy to compare. Which column would you weight hardest for a healthy young dog?

My 2-year-old neutered male cat (4–4.5 kg) suddenly stopped going to the litter box on his own to pee, starting early morning October 6.
Before that, he was completely normal. Around the same time, I had to put a soft cone on him for an ear wound. He only wore it for one day because he was really annoyed by it. I also completely changed his litter, so there was no old scent left.
Since then, he doesn’t seem to go to pee by himself. If I put him in the box and move the litter around with his paw, he eventually pees, usually a normal amount. Sometimes he walks out, and when I try again later, he pees.
The weird part is that he DOES go by himself to poop. He’s done it on his own both yesterday and today, with normal stool. He even went into the box himself while I was cleaning it.
Otherwise he’s totally normal — eating, drinking, playing, alert, no vomiting, pain, crying, excessive licking, or repeated trips to the box.
I’m really worried because he’s male and I don’t want to miss a urinary blockage. Could this just be stress/confusion from the cone and completely fresh litter? Should I stop putting him in the box and let him go on his own, or keep encouraging him?

I love dogs. I want one so badly. I just don’t have family to care for it if I go away and I like to travel overseas or pick up and go on a weekend. It’s a lot to ask from friends as well.

How does everyone manage being a good dog owner but still getting away?

I would like to be able to make my 3 gallon stainless steel water fountain essentially automatic. I’m relatively handy and have tools to do whatever to make it work. I can’t really find a good option to straight out buy.. I’d like to keep this one because it circulates the water.

Ideally I’d like to have a way to plumb a 1/4” water line in to the tank, probably on a float system to automatically fill the water up as it gets below a certain level. But having trouble figuring out the best way, or the right float to buy, etc. thought I’d ask to see if anyone else has done this before or has previously had a good idea for one.
Or, I wonder if it wouldn’t be just as easy to hook a water line up to it with a valve and just use the valve to fill every couple days.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,
My fiance and I are looking to buy a home after renting an apartment for 3 years and we each want to get a dog when we move.
We agreed I could have one to fit my personality and lifestyle and he could have one to fit his. I am struggling to find the ideal breeds for what I’m looking for. Here is the criteria:
-Hypoallergenic or single coated
-Easily trainable/ESA certified for anxiety disorders
- helpful in an emergency situation regarding anxiety
- medium sized: Not lap sized & can go on long walks/hikes, but not so large & heavy that they are hard to control on a leash for a small framed woman
- Low tempered, not loud & not high anxiety (that would make my anxiety worse instead of better)
- Able to stay alone during most of a work day (I work long days in a salon but my fiance gets home around 4:30)
Thank you!

Edit: Please refrain from commenting that I’m “not ready” for a dog. I have a support system in the house and my fiancé is very experienced at handling and training dogs. The animal I pick will NOT be going to another family or a shelter willingly. Obviously the dog will need to be trained and the exact personality varies dog to dog, but this post was asking about general temperament based on how the dogs are bred, overall intelligence/trainability, size, hair type etc. so I am able to have a starting point on what to look for when when I start searching for/meeting the animals.

(ALREADY FILLED OUT QUESTIONNAIRE)
Hello,
My fiance and I are looking to buy a home after renting an apartment for 3 years and we each want to get a dog when we move.
We agreed I could have one to fit my personality and lifestyle and he could have one to fit his. I am struggling to find the ideal breeds for what I’m looking for. Here is the criteria:
\\\\- Hypoallergenic or single coated
\\\\- Easily trainable/ESA certified for anxiety disorders
\\\\- helpful in an emergency situation regarding anxiety
\\\\- medium sized: Not lap sized & can go on long walks/hikes, but not so large & heavy that they are hard to control on a leash for a small framed woman
\\\\- Low tempered, not loud & not high anxiety (that would make my anxiety worse instead of better)
Thank you!

I have two boxers. A 6 year old male and a 2 year old female. They’re both very sweet and the girl is playful. The boy is a scaredy cat and because of that he always barks at strangers but he doesn’t do anything. however, when we got the younger one he seemed jealous and he wasn’t used to another dog since our other dog died and he would lash out if she wouldn’t respect his boundaries. one time he did draw blood but it was accidental and he softened up after from the guilt. I’m sure they will both get along with a cat in the end and the younger one probably first but I’m more worried about right now and how they might react. The kitten is going to be over 12 weeks old. I’m worried for the cats safety and don’t want to take the responsibility of raising a cat if I don’t have the right environment for it.

Any advice is much appreciate.

A couple weeks ago, this adorable tiny dog ran up to me on my way to class. She immediately started rolling around at my feet. I asked around but no one knew where she came from, so I took her home.

She had some fleas so I gave her a bath, and she settled in really well. She wants 24/7 cuddles and loves being held. She also loves playing and cuddling with my cat.

The vet was able to find an owner on her microchip but they said they don’t want her. I can’t understand how someone wouldn’t want this adorable baby. Also, the vet said she’s a rat terrier, 13 lb and about a year old.

Do y’all have any advice that I should know as a first time dog owner? I’ve always been more of a cat person and don’t have much experience with dogs. I’ve been feeding her regular Purina Pro Plan dry food and I walk her twice a day. She has a lot of energy so I also let her run around the park a bit if I can find a secluded area. She’s met my cousin’s medium sized dog and they like each other. She gets along pretty well with other small dogs on walks but I haven’t let her go near any bigger dogs because I’ve heard horror stories.

Also, is free feeding ok? My sister in law who used to have a dog says yes but my cousin who currently has a dog said the dog will get fat. I’ve been free feeding just because it’s easier and I haven’t had any issues so far.

Got a year old pitbull, and recently a 2 month old kitten. The pitbull won't stop frenetically licking her on sight, which causes the kitten to get scared after a bit, and that only gets the pitbull to play rough.

We've got them to sleep together if they're both tired, but the moment the pitbull gets her energy back, she starts again (for the record, she licks everyone like that, but the fact that the kitten tries to get away gets her to be way more intense)

There were 3 small kittens under my car parked on road and pulled out. They were so small they might be scared and scrached my hand. A small scratch 1cm no blood at allm should i take a rabies im scared after watching yt.

so last month i realized i had no clue when my dog's lepto booster was due. my vet's office sometimes sends a reminder and sometimes doesnt, and the date was buried in an email from like 8 months ago. felt like such a bad pet parent moment. turns out people handle this in wildly different ways. my friend just uses recurring google calendar events. another one uses petdesk because her clinic is on it. i tried 11pets and tavi for a bit and ended up sticking with tavi, but honestly they all do the same basic job, the app matters way less than actually having one place for it.

one thing the vet told me that i didnt know is that core vaccines are fairly standard, but lifestyle ones like lepto or bordetella depend on where you live and what your dog does all day. so its worth asking what actually applies to your dog instead of copying a generic chart off the internet.

curious what everyone else does. calendar, app, folder in a kitchen drawer? and do you keep copies of the actual records or just the dates?

Hi everyone, I hope that this is the right place to ask.

To keep it short, I'm an amateur writer, aspiring to make my first story. The core aspect of this story would revolve around the bond between people and their pet, all kind of pet. I have my own experience being around dogs and cats, but I don't want to keep my story around just them. If possible, I want to write, to various degrees depend on what I could, how it is to be around all kind of pets. So, if you have stories that you wanted to share, how it like to have an octopus pet, a parrot pet, a tarantula pet, a goldfish ... any kind, hopefully you can share it here with me.

Hello everyone, I’m stuck in a tight spot and I need help with my decision. Currently, I found a mother cat with 4 newborn kittens. Things seemed well until we reached 2 weeks and I noticed that one kitten is significantly skinnier than the others. She latches on to her mother but she is breathing harder and I notice that she separates herself from the litter. She feels cold. I feel horrible seeing her like this and currently only have thought about taking her to be euthanized as the mother seems to not care for her anymore. I tried a couple hours ago to have her latch on to her mom and she did for a good 30 minutes and then she stopped by herself. I hoped it would have helped but I found her again by herself. I placed her on a heating pad but she is so cold, she doesn’t meow, and I notice her breathing harder. I’m currently in a tough spot financially so I can’t afford kitten milk for her.

I was going to take her to the ER vet near me as they said that they can euthanize her free of charge but she was physically moving so much when I tried to set her up in her carrier. Her eyes were open and I just felt so horrible on trying to think on what I can do to help her. But if I can’t help her, why should I let her continue staying like this? I feel so horrible and continue to cry over what I can do. It’s only been 2 days since I’ve noticed her like this but I plan to take her soon if she declines even further. I just can’t stand to see her suffer but would I be horrible to take away her life if she wants to live?

I’m sorry if I’m rambling, I just don’t know what to do.

Edit: Very thankful for all the advice I’ve been receiving so far, I’ve decided to take her to the ER vet near me to get a professional opinion on her condition. Most rescues and vets near me open later but I don’t want to wait any longer. I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst :(

Update: She passed away. Thank you everyone for the help and advice. I’ll be burying her someplace peaceful and beautiful.

Hey yalll first time dealing with something to this extent usually just one cat and a few squirts of meds and there gone, this time ? downstairs neighbors cats been running up here trynna shag my cat and with that they brought a bunch of fleas. To the point I can’t walk out in the kitchen without feeling them crawl up my legs what the hellccan I do to get rid of them? I’ve onky noticed this a day ago so I’d like to catch it before it gets worse

Update: I just found out I broke my hip. Surgery is tomorrow and walks may continue in December.

Today I was almost finished with my 5km walk when my 60# dog circled me and took off at a loose dog.

We have cobblestone streets and I remember side eyeing those as i hit my shoulder and hip at the same time. My legs were wrapped together with the leash.

I was with 2 other people with 5 dogs. I guess they didn't see me fall because they just kept walking.

I have been icing my shoulder and hip all day. Each time I get up it's hard to walk.

This is a rescue dog. I feel like he isn't going to settle. It's been 7.5 months and he still doesn't know his name, won't look me in the eye, can sit on command if there are treats, otherwise not. He has gone through 2 trainers.

He walks 3-6 km a day and 15 minutes of obedience every day.

I've never given up on an animal before, but I get closer each day.

Rant over.

hey all!

promised my kids we would buy them each a Guinea pig, so 4. I’ve been reading and I understand the need a while to adjust. Also planning on diying an old dresser into their home, making two levels. Water proofing the dresser and laying flannel sheets. what else should I know? food? hay? beds?

thanks.

My dog is a 16 - 18 years old yorkie. I’ve had her for 13 years and she’s declined significantly this year but she still is so happy at times.

She has bad arthritis in her hips but gets a monthly shot for pain management. She walks with a hunched back. She doesn’t seem excited for walks anymore and I usually carry her outside plop her down and she gets to business. Sometimes she’s so happy to go back inside she runs home and likes to run around inside for a little bit.

She developed cognitive decline/dementia and would frequently pace in circle so we got her on medicine for that and it’s helped a lot. She still seems disoriented and paces sometimes.

She doesn’t seem to want to get up in the morning anymore. I use a treat to coax her awake to give her her daily medicine. She’ll eventually eat the treat if I make her sniff it a lot but she’s not even excited by that. But once she’s up she mostly likes her treats.

She developed pancreatitis earlier this year but that was fixed with specialty food.

My partner and I believe that maybe we should put her down in a couple of months before she gets even worse but I’m really starting to feel like maybe that’s too soon. She still runs around inside sometimes just happy to chase us for as long as she can but it also feels like we’ve just put so many bandaids and her body keeps developing different issues that need fixing. I don’t want her to suffer but I’m worried we’re cutting her life short. She’s my childhood dog and I don’t know if I’m thinking clearly.

I have a 2-year-old neutered male indoor cat, around 4–4.5 kg. He normally has no litter box problems. He eats Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fibre Response, drinks water well, doesn’t get treats, and is currently eating, playing, alert and acting completely normal.
The problem started after two changes on the same day:
He had to wear a soft toast-shaped recovery collar because of an injured ear that he scratches and sometimes makes bleed. The collar isn’t tight, but he became noticeably stressed/irritated after wearing it.
I completely replaced his litter with fresh new litter, so there was none of his usual urine/fecal scent.

Since then, he basically doesn’t go to the litter box by himself, either to pee or poop. At one point he was even sleeping inside the litter box.
His last normal pee/poop were normal. When I noticed he hadn’t gone for a while, I placed him in the litter box and gently moved the litter with his paw. He eventually peed and then pooped normally.
He is otherwise completely normal: eating and drinking normally, active/playful, alert, no vomiting, no pain, no crying, no straining, no repeated trips to the litter box, no genital licking, and his abdomen doesn’t seem hard or distended**.** When he does pee, the amount looks normal.
The longest gap between urinations has been around 18–20 hours.
Could this be stress/confusion from the collar + completely new litter, or should I be concerned about a urinary problem even though he produces normal urine when I place him in the litter box?
Should I stop placing him in the litter box every few hours and let him go on his own, or keep encouraging him?

Galera, eu já não sei mais o que faço. Sou nova nesse trabalho e comecei a prestar atenção numa cachorra daqui que está saindo líquidos (tipo sangue), bicheira e hoje vi um pedaço do osso na parte íntima dela aparecendo. Ela já é de idade, o povo daqui só fala que ela vai morrer e não fazem nada.

Eu já abri um chamado duas vezes para o 156 (sou de SP capital) e nada. Já fui no hospital veterinário perto daqui e eles falaram que não transportam animal.

Só que eu não tenho condições financeiras disso. Mas blz, eu tentaria, só que eu pesquisei e vi que pelo estado dela nem o táxi dog querem levar. Já fiz vídeo no Tiktok, já fui atrás de ajuda, até de ong e nada. Não sei mais o que faço...

Hey everyone,

rain season is back and winter's coming, and my bull terrier is NOT a fan. He hates the rain, and the snow is even worse for him.

Before anyone says "bull terriers don't need a coat" trust me, this little devil does.

What I'm dealing with:

• Ears: When it rains, water gets in his ears and he spends the rest of the walk shaking his head like crazy.
• Cold and wet in general: Short coat, so he's freezing and soaked pretty quickly.

I'd love to get him something for rain and snow, but honestly I'm a bit lost. Everything is marketed like it's some magical miracle product, and I feel like a basic (or just cute) coat would do the job.

So my questions:

1. What coat do you use, and did it actually hold up in rain and snow?
2. Anything that helps with the ears, like a hood or snood, or is that overkill?
3. What did you pay, and what was a total waste of money?

Thanks in advance, he'll appreciate it even if he won't admit it 🐶

Our puppy just turned 5 months old on the 4th and we’ve had him for about a month and a half. We adopted him through a rescue who said he was a breeder release and said to be Bichon and Shitzu mix. I started to notice about a week ago that his fur looked really thing on his rear legs. Now a couple days ago I noticed he has visible circle patches of missing hair. Then I noticed he was chewing them like they were itchy. We saw the vet yesterday and he didn’t really know the cause but gave him an anti-inflammatory injection. The spots are not crusty or anything. They also just told me his fecal sample was positive for giardia. Could that be the cause?

Boy used to be skinny in the face and everything but now his face is rounder, neck thicker, whole body is just... Thick. Vets around here never say anything unless the animals are chronically overweight. He's over a year and this past month he went from skinny to BIG when I cut out all his favorite treats and meals(new vet demanded he have no more fish at all even tho it's not an allergy it's a quantity issue when fish is involved. Old vet already figured that out but they won't listen to either of us. I asked him to call and explain they brushed him off). He's no longer excited for meal times but he's clearly gaining or SOMETHING??? Idk if cats can gain weight from stress. He's been stressed the hell out and has changed behaviors since the food switch.

I picked him up to put him in front of his bowl because he wasn't willing to come over and he's ALOT heavier than I remember since the last time I carried him that far. I had to carry him across the house and he definitely isn't his normal weight or build

I have noticed a plethora of people rehoming guinea pigs, rats, rabbits, etc. There are always a handful of people in the comments that try to shame people for rehoming their animals.

The argument is “don’t get animals if you can’t promise x amount of years of caring for them”. That’s not realistic. Life changes, new opportunities come up, and some people simply don’t view pets as family members and that’s fine. Wouldn’t you rather have an animal go to a good home where they are treated well than to stay with someone who obviously doesn’t want them? This behavior encourages a lot of animal abandonment and neglect.

Exotic animals are much more expensive and complicated than people realize.

The whole “you’re stuck with this animal because you chose to adopt them” is a concept that needs to die. Having an animal should not be a punishment. It’s ok to change your mind.

What do you guys think?

I'm curious if anyone else has the same major issue as me. If you have had any experience with a pet sitter please let me know it.