Confessions and Cautionary Tales

[christina]

Hey! We've all heard stories from our relatives about mishaps and accidents we've had growing up, right? It's the trail and error life of being a parent. I feel the same applies to pet ownership. Nobody is perfect, especially when we're just getting started. This is a place to share all of your embarrassing stories. Do any of you veteran pet owners have a confession or cautionary tale to tell?
It can be anything; doggy disasters, birdy blunders, critter catastrophes, feline fiascos, herp havoc and well....you get the picture!

I'll give an example. This one isn't so much about my animals, but about their feed! We had just bought a fresh batch of crickets for the lizards and hedgie. Typically I'm not the one handling the live feed, my boyfriend does, but one night I couldn't sleep so I went to get a cricket to treat the hedgie with and left the lid off the cricket box all night long! It wasn't until the next evening that we heard chirping from the kitchen. And the spare room. And the bedroom. And the linen closet. Now, we get to hear a cricket symphony in our house at night. It's like camping underneath the stars - without the stars.

Okay, now it's your turn! Let's have fun with this.

 

[DQTimnehs]

Well, when I first got Pogo I tried to cut his nails with cat toenail clippers (prob around 5 months then). I only cut a tiny piece off one nail but he yelled "owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" (not sure how he knew this meant pain) and bled like a stuck pig! I thought I killed him as I couldn't get the bleeding to stop (tried cornstarch but hard to get it on). Finally did with pressure. I was so worried & kept asking him if he was ok. Awhile later (a month or two?) he kept saying "are you ok?" in a very shaky voice, most of the day. I have since done them with a cordless Dremel tool or emery board or let the pet store do them for those unhandleables (won't mention any names *Quack* and Darwin before but now he's good with the emery board, and sometimes Itsy because she flies away when I try to do it alone).

 

[SallyQZ]

Oooh, I have a story about our cluelessness with pets! Many years ago, we bought a Whippet puppy. Sweet little thing, but had really bad separation anxiety. We were told to crate train her, but thought it sounded cruel and unnecessary. We thought if we started leaving her alone for very short periods of time, eventually she would adjust.

Well, the first time we left her alone, she chewed up the corner of our dresser in the bedroom, and an end table in the living room. Second time we left her alone, she jumped up on the leather sofa AND loveseat and clawed until she tore every single cushion on both pieces of furniture. Being slow learners, we left her alone the 3rd time, and she dug a hole completely through the linoleum in the kitchen exposing the plywood in a 1 ft square spot.

Tried leaving her outside briefly. She dug a hole through the hot tub cover & nearly drowned. Then she dug under the fence and it took us 4 hrs to find her in the neighborhood.

We were STILL reluctant to crate her, so I locked her in the bathroom. She clawed up the door, walls, and jumped up on the sink & shelves - knocking everything to the floor where she had messed several times, poor pup had the runs because she was so upset. So we finally decide to try the crate, but have to leave her alone ONE more time while we get a crate. I (clearly not the brains of the family) suggest putting her in the enclosed shower/tub part of the bathroom. We won't be gone long, I'll put her blanket in the tub so she doesn't slip, and this way I won't have 2 hrs of cleaning poop from the walls again. Husband says "She'll slip and hurt herself!" and I say, "No, she'll be fine!"

Get home, she's NOT fine. Limping (and the shower/tub was almost completely brown with smeared dog poop - YUCK!!!!) and subdued. Take her to the vet, xrays show that a small bone which runs parallel to her leg bone and is attached to a tendon, has been pulled & displaced. Needs surgery, two screws to attach bone back in it's correct spot. Gulp nervously, pray that credit card has room on it, and give the ok for surgery. Two weeks later, screws are working their way back OUT of the leg, so surgery was necessary again. Visa card is smoking by this point.

Even crate training was hell. Bought huge crate for her, but she'd cry & claw at the door until her nails bled. We finally figured out that as long as we put our long haired dachshund in the crate too, she was happy as a clam. So, she was finally crate trained & happy. It only cost us a sofa, loveseat, dresser, end table, kitchen floor, hot tub cover, two expensive canine surgeries, and sundry garden plants to discover that we should have crate trained her from the very start.

 

[christina]

Ohmygod hahahaha, I love it. It's like Marley and Me, but with lots of poop
And I love that Pogo remembered "are you ok????" so sweet.

 

[artgeek09]

This is going to be a fun thread!

I think my earliest pet blunder was when I was about 3 years old. I grew up with a 200lb St. Bernard, who was very much like Nana from Disney's Peter Pan. My mom would let her "babysit" us when we used to play outside, and if we were getting into mischief, Bella would go inside (she could open door knobs) and let my mom know.

Well, when I was about 3 years old, I though it would be a glorious idea to superglue Bella's hair when I was supposed to be napping. When my mom woke up form her own nap, she found little me with CHUNKS of long, St. Bernard hair in my hands and on my face. We even have a picture somewhere. But alas, Bella had to be shaved in the middle of winter. I feel so bad about it now thinking about it. Bella was such a good dog. She put up with so much...

 

[SallyQZ]

I'm pretty convinced that Super Glue is evil. I've never managed to use it without glueing my fingers to something. You got off easy if you just glued some fur to your hands!

 

[merlinsmom13]

I have one, I really didn't cause it, but it fits.

We were trailering my mothers horse to a summer pasture. He was a pain in the ***, so I was anxious for him to be on his way. We loaded w/o the center divider since he was the only passenger. We went back to the barn to make sure everything was closed up before we left. When we got back to the truck, Rebel had one foot hung in the small ventilation strip on the trailer. I didnt know what to do, my farrier was our driver & we were both stumped. He told me that "I've always heard that if you see the sole of their feet, take them to where they are to be buried" We discussed a welder, but I knew time was a problem because of his circulation to his leg. We finally decided that he had got himself in there, so we were going to let him get out. I opened the back doors & untied his head, in about 15 seconds he was free. Dont have to say that Rebel spent another week w/me, just to make sure he wasn't hurt. When we did move him the next week, we used the center divider to give him less room to get into trouble. I've noticed that more modern trailers dont have that ventilation strip down each side, wonder why?

 

[SallyQZ]

I have one, I really didn't cause it, but it fits.

We were trailering my mothers horse to a summer pasture. He was a pain in the ***, so I was anxious for him to be on his way. We loaded w/o the center divider since he was the only passenger. We went back to the barn to make sure everything was closed up before we left. When we got back to the truck, Rebel had one foot hung in the small ventilation strip on the trailer. I didnt know what to do, my farrier was our driver & we were both stumped. He told me that "I've always heard that if you see the sole of their feet, take them to where they are to be buried" We discussed a welder, but I knew time was a problem because of his circulation to his leg. We finally decided that he had got himself in there, so we were going to let him get out. I opened the back doors & untied his head, in about 15 seconds he was free. Dont have to say that Rebel spent another week w/me, just to make sure he wasn't hurt. When we did move him the next week, we used the center divider to give him less room to get into trouble. I've noticed that more modern trailers dont have that ventilation strip down each side, wonder why?

Yikes! Those dang horses! My friend always says that a horse is a 4 legged creature who's only plan in life is to die in the most inconvenient and expensive way possible. Every day that this doesn't happen is just another day to perfect the plan.

Way back in the late 70's, we had a young quarter horse gelding get his front leg wedged in the manger portion of the horse trailer. No one wanted to go in the trailer and try to unwedge the leg in case he totally freaked out and took everyone down with him. We were all shocked when he calmly untangled himself, and slowly backed out of the trailer as if to say "What's the fuss, losers?"

 

[DQTimnehs]

When I had my farm I used to pass by this blind horse that had a tiny little shack. One day he had his leg stuck in the fence so we stopped and helped him get it out. As soon as we were back in the car he had it in the fence again. I guess he felt secure there. But not too long after he wasn't there any more. He was probably pretty old. Poor thing.

 

[Anne & Gang]

the funniest story I have is..we live next to a dairy farm...years ago (our old dog Freckles was still alive)...I opened our back garage door and there was a huge cow standing not two feet away..I let out a holler & hubby called the neighbor to let him k now that somehow all his cows had gotten loose and were all over our yard..OUr dog took command and was herding them like an old pro..except for one female cow who refused to leave my hubby's side... my hubby would no sooner get one cow over to the farmer's field then this female cow would come back with him..it was even more hysterical when the farmer told us that particular cow was in heat and there must have been something about my husband that she found especially attractive.

 

[TextsFromParrots]

Oh boy! I have two that involve me as a kid with delusions of being a barber.

The first one was on our cat. Pumpkin was SO sweet and tolerant of us. She just loved to be pet and snuggled and didn't really care what we did. So after I saw my brother go to the barber I came home, put a towel around her and proceeded to cut all the fur off her head. She just crouched there and let me! My Mom said she walked in to me holding up a mirror and going "You like that, Punkin?" The entire time she just let me do it, but she had this entire bald patch on her head like a little old man. She has pictures somewhere though.

And the next one involved our dog. My Mom told me that she had to go to the groomers to get shaved, but it had to wait until the next day. She was panting and I decided I was just as good as any groomer! (You know, because I had already done in the cat) so I proceeded to try and clip all the fur off her with hugely mixed results. This time I tried to be sly and used elmers glue to try and cover up the bald patches. Needless to say I was put in time out... again.