All ActivityMost RecentMost LikesSolutionsRe: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story} chemisd wrote: Those ears are incredible! What kind of dog? Shepherd? Great pictures! I call her a Maricopa County Shelter Shepherd :B When I adopted her she was about 6 months old, had been a street stray, had skin and ear infections, and reeked. The person that made a comment about her 'big personality'....you have NO idea, :E what an understatement!! :WRe: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}Link to pet pics Well, I can never get pics in the posts to work so hope this link will work. Rommie thinks SHE could make Old Fella play...she's gotten lots of dogs at the dog park to give in and play with her. Most of the cats were rescues as well, of one sort or another. Powdie, the long-haired black one, was adopted the day she was supposed to be put to sleep around 12 years ago. She's licking my fingers as i'm trying to type this... I get a lot of CBIFOS errors (Cat butt in front of screen)...Re: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}I'm sure I won't be able to make the rally (wish I could) but might I suggest you have a "Parade of Rescues" as part of the festivities (or has this already been suggested?). Perhaps we should take up a collection to have special bandanas (of course OF's would have to be extra fancy) for all the rescue pets who attend the rally, so you could see just by looking who'd been a rescue... come to think of it, it would be cool to just have special rescue bandanas for rescue'd RV pets so you could always tell at a campground who was a specially lucky kitty or dog...Re: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}We have a really good, small health food store near us. I just went in and looked and asked a couple of questions (the people who work there are pretty knowledgeable). The stuff I have now is called "Multidopholus"...mostly because it was the biggest bottle they had (they have smaller bottles formulated specifically for children or older folks or pregnant women, depending on their nutritional needs).Re: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}One thing I forgot to mention in the discussion about food... When I first got Rommie, and ever since then when she gets loose stools (she's got a sensitive tummy and is prone to this), I have given her probiotics. Especially when they've been given antibiotics, which kill the good bacteria in the gut which aids digestion, in addition to killing the bad stuff. Probiotics, which can be found in the refrigerated section of most health food stores, really aid in digestion and help them get the most out of the nutrients they eat.Re: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story} Dixie Flyer wrote: I feed both Levi and Old Fella Kibble and Bits and early morning they each get can food. I leave the dry food out so they can eat as they feel like it. DF, I have some pretty strong opinions about the importance of top-quality nutrition for cats and dogs. Hope I don't offend you by saying Kibbles and Bits doesn't meet my standards :)... I once adopted a litter of Maine Coon kittens (it was supposed to be a foster situation but they all stayed). They were malnourished, had pneumonia, and ringworm so bad they all had about 3 hairs left on the top of their head. It took me 6 months to get them well but I had a lovely wall full of cat show ribbons from their respective careers in the show ring. What got them, not just well, but in blooming good health, was mostly good nutrition (once we got the pneumonia taken care of). My dog was adopted from the shelter at the age of 6 months, with ear and skin infections and a horrible body odor. Within just a couple of weeks, the best food I could find for her had turned her around an amazing amount, the vet could hardly believe it. I just got another compliment today on her condition when I picked her up from a weekend's boarding. The FIRST place that nutrition that is "less than optimum" will show up, is the skin and coat (smelly ears are included in skin issues). A dog who's susceptible to skin trouble needs the best nutrition you can give them. My advice would be this: never feed anything that comes from a grocery store (except for raw bones...more on that later). Nutro Natural, which you can find at Petco and Petsmart, is acceptable, but what I would really recommend is a 'super premium' brand, that uses human-grade ingredients. They're a bit harder to find, but they are definitely worth it. They're also more expensive but you save the money on vet bills. Why use medicines to try to suppress a skin condition, when you can just keep it from happening by feeding a high quality food? Super premium brands include Canidae (there's a Felidae for cats), Innova, Eagle Pack, Flint River Ranch, etc. I've tried both Canidae and Innova, but Rommie has a bit of a sensitive stomach and something in them gave her a bit of loose stool (Canidae uses multiple meat proteins, which increases the chance that one of them will not set well on the stomach). I've fed her Eagle Pack Holistic Select (http://www.eaglepack.com/) for about a year and a half, and I'm VERY happy with it. My cats get Eagle Pack Holistic Select cat food as well. As a bonus it's a bit less expensive than Canidae and Innova. I'm really lucky that a store that carries all of these brands plus a few others is only a couple of blocks away. When we lived in other places, though, I made the extra effort necessary to get the super premium foods. If you want more info or help finding a place that carries these, just let me know. Most of their web pages have retail locators you can use to look up stores. Also, every couple of weeks, Rommie gets a RAW bone (soup bones, knuckle bones, rib bones). This cleans her teeth til they GLEAM. Dogs or cats shouldn't be given COOKED bones ever, but RAW bones are very good for them. As for leaving food out...I, personally don't do that. There's some evidence that it's better for them (dogs and cats, after all, aren't "grazers" like a cow, they're naturally predators that eat big meals at intervals). Another argument is that a dog or cat who 'grazes' a bit all day, has a more sluggish digestive system than one who eats only once or twice a day. If the blood's not being used for digestion that frees it up for it's other important bodily duties. People have said that dogs or cats who had 'less than ideal' skin and coats, or eye gunk issues, cleared up once the food quality was improved and food was not left out all day. It's easier to keep their weight under control, plus they really enjoy the excitement of mealtime (my cats in particular act like food that's been sitting out for an hour or 2 is 'stale' and needs to be replaced).Re: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story} Dixie Flyer wrote: The first thing he did was go and eat the cats food, that was just to show who is really going to be boss around here. Izzie seem to sense that Old Fellow wanted to be friends and they hit it off right away. Cats won't eat what they can't smell, so cat food is made much smellier than dog food, which is why dogs like it better. (it's also why a cat with nasal congestion can starve itself) Once or twice is probably not a problem but as cat food is higher in fat and protein, etc, elderly dogs shouldn't regularly eat it. It's great for a sick dog who doesn't want to eat, though, who needs to be 'tempted' to get him/her to eat again. LizRe: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story} Dixie Flyer wrote: He has gotten so use to the A/C he wants to get back inside as soon as he has done his thing and then waits to get his treat for being a good boy. Yeah. Powdie, our cat who was a 'street kitty' as a kitten, and Rommie, who was found by the Humane Society on the street as a stray, are both like this if the weather is at all unpleasant. Their attitude is, "I didn't leave nuthin' out there, so I don't need to go back out." Our other animals, many of whom have been rescues in one way or another, but not strays, are more curious about the outdoors. It's worse for Rommie, who, as a dog, has to go outside sometimes. If it's raining, Miss Desert Dog has perfected the art of the 3 second pee, if it's hot, she wants back in the house immediately. She didn't even particularly enjoy our 2 tent camping weekends. She LOVED riding in the car and taking hikes, but when it got hot during the day or an ant bit her, she was right at the back of the car wanting in her crate and wondering why we weren't going HOME where it was comfortable!!Re: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}A better solution would be to use a live trap if you can get one. Some humane societies will let you borrow them. I don't know if they'd be big enough... Leave it set up with food (really smelly like canned cat food) in it a day or 2 before you set it to trap him. A sedative in the food the time you trap him might help with his anxiety. I've tamed feral cats and stray dogs it can be amazing how quickly some of them calm down when they realize there's no point in trying to fight it.