Just Curious What do you do for your best friend, the little ones?

[gbrown]

I was feeding my dog, Joey, and I started thinking about this. I have been accused of "spoiling" him. I take a 3/4 scoop of dry food and mix it with 2/3 can wet food (AM) and 1/3 can (PM) and mix it well, along with a little warm water. Countless trips out and in the back door to bark at the neighbors dogs, post person, whoever. He is a joy to me and brings me a lot of happiness. 50 lb of love, waiting to be scratched, loved and enjoyed. Don't be shy, own up to it. My attitude has always been "raise your kids, spoil the grandkids!" Same with my animals. I remember my Dad, a very good man, but an ironworker (structural) who came up in the harshest times (depression) who would come home and feed our 2 dogs by hand. He would feed them some weird foods, such as turnip, mustard or collard greens cooked in left over stock from hogs head cheese and deer stock. Also, he would mix their dry food with left over stock. An act of love to 2 animals by a man who could be rough, but who had seen hard times. Again, cats, dogs, or whatever, don't be shy, tell us what you do for your loved companions.

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[x101airborne]

I cuddle my girl a LOT. Especially since her sister got hit by a car the other day. Ya gotta love them pups and kits.

[RickW936]

Well, I guess I must confess... I pretty much spoil all of ours. Special trips to the gas ststion for a jerky strip, maybe a few old venison ribs happen to get tossed on the grill accidently... You know, just the odd ocasional tin of viennies at bed time kinda thing...

[Pb2au]

Our cat Bentley is a rescue. Our good friend and vet took him from his previos owners after she figured out that his injuries were due to them abusing him. They had broken a couple of his ribs, burned his ear with a cigarette, and the worse was they broke his jaw at the joint.
When it broke, he couldn't move it, so as it healed, it fused. As a result, it sealed his jaw shut. So he couldnt eat.....thus his trip to the vet.
At the time he was at the vet, my wife had our English setter there. He had suffered a seizure, and had to be put down. On that day, my wife who was a wreck over the dog, spies this poor cat in a cage at the vet. She asked about him and gets the whole story about the abuse, can't eat, etc, etc. Well, though we lost our good friend Logan the setter that day, we gained Mr.Bentley the cat, 4 sad starved pounds of him.
We tried a few things to feed him, but my wife who is rather clever, gets some plastic tipped syringes used to dispense liquid medicine from our vet, mixed wet cat food with water to thin it, and at that moment invented cat fuel injection.
She was able to sneak the end of the syringe just behind his back teeth, and squirt a bit of food in. Bentley very quickly caught on, and two cans of food later, he was passed out on her lap, finally full after a long time.
So we carried on like this for about a year. He put on weight, got healthy, and despite his previous owners became the most playful friendliest cat we have ever had the pleasure to parent.
My wife got ahold of the vet school at Ohio state university after reading an article on experimental surgery on dogs there. She explained Bentley's situation, and after some consultations and inspections, they agreed to take a crack at his frozen jaw. The whole idea was to either regain some mobility of his jaw, or try and open it a bit.
The end result was a success by any measure. He did not regain hardly any movement in his jaw, but they were able to open it a bit. From this, he was able to lick, groom himself, and most importantly, feed himself. All we have to do his mix up wet food with some water in his bowl, and he licks it right up.
Sure, there was some cost involved, but to us, it was worth it. His quality of life was vastly improved, he's healthy as a horse and is a joy to us.
And he is sound asleep beside me as I type this.

[Swamp Man]

I flat ### refuse to let any of you know how well my 3 pit/chows have me trained,let's just say they think I'm their pet.

[gbrown]

Our cat Bentley is a rescue.

I deleted this so as to not make it overly long. Not that it does not have meaning, nor significance. My gunsmith has a dog that was badly abused. Has spatial issues, don't get in his space! He will bite! But still a great dog when he comes to know and trust you. How sadly it is to deal with children or animals who have been abused. My feeling is that God loves 'em all. Just the way I see it.

[x101airborne]

I flat ### refuse to let any of you know how well my 3 pit/chows have me trained,let's just say they think I'm their pet.

Oy! It's ok. I cry too. A good man makes others more important than himslef. A lesser man belittels others to make himself feel good. I am glad to be the former.
When Bonnie got hit the other day, I cried off and on for almost 24 hours. I cried when she got hit. I cried when I told the kids. I cried when I buried her.
If you dont have love to give you are better off as fertilizer. Gotta love them babies.

[bayjoe]

Mine aren't spoiled at all
They lounge in the house when they want and can run for miles when the go outside.

[429421Cowboy]

Yep, there is nothing like loving and being loved by an animal! Our horses, dogs, cats, cows, chickens, piggies and every other critter around here gets spoiled. The kitties at our shop has been the latest edition, they are really starting to grow on me. The little buggers just want to cuddle, i had them in my lap as i was reading my load manual researching a new .243 load yesterday. Along with the Border Collie, Sammi, they get their regular food and probably more treats than they should, i just feel like if i have food for myself, they can have a taste too. Also, i let Sammi ride in the front seat with me, most cowdogs stay on the flatbed but i think inside is safer and dang sure warmer for them!

[Alphawolf45]

I go by Alphawolf because I am leader of a pack of weener dogs..We have 4. One is blind but doesnt know it as he was born that way- chases squeekies all day long..Must throw it or he screams bloody murder..His biological brother is nearly blind and completely deaf, sweet dog .Then we have one that is obese and another that digs moles in the yard with a real vengence.....I built an electric doggie door that they must push a button to go outside or come back into the house....I sleep in spare bedroom because the weens hog the bed with my wife..Its just like having a house full of 2 year old children.

[Wal']

Have to confess since retiring this little thing has been my constant friend, right now while typing this she's on my lap keeping me company, this thing has got me totally worked out.

[btroj]

What do we do for our cats?
Nothing.

They are good enough to allow us to live with them, in our house. They pretty much have free run of the house but are purely indoor kitties. I don't want our cat in my yard so I keep mine out of yours. Sadly, we have had a few mice this winter. Cats are worthless in dealing with them. Other than notifying us that the mouse was around they didn't help at all. I ended up taking care of them myself. One of the cats actually jumped onto a chair when the mouse ran by. What a wuss.

My wife always says that dogs have owners, cats have staff. And it is the truth.

[10-x]

LOL, our new Greyhound has us well trained. Sleeps in any bed he wants(Greys always find the softest place to sleep), 3/4-1 mile walk every morning where he whizzes on so many bushes/trees he get "pee'd out", visits some of his buddies then a ride in his limo to bark at ducks, yea he's started the "drive by barkings". On the way back home he holds a dog bone in his mouth with his head out the window showing off that he has a bone,then home to eat and nap. Around 4:30- 5:00 in the afternoon he has to go do another "drive by barking" then home and has a made in TEXAS dog jerky treat. He is very picky as to eating, dry food recommended by his Vet and 1/2 can of good canned dog food. He does like potatoes buy the Vet says very little. Won't eat beef or chicken or most people food.

[TheGrimReaper]

Yea, My wife and I spoil our Yorkie-Poo. My wife has Lupus so we can't have any kids.....so our puppy is our kid.
When we go out to eat, doggy bag comes home for her, If I stop in the drive thru I usually pick up a $1 cheese burger for her, like a kid when we go shopping she gets a treat-new rawhide or what not, she sleeps in the bed with us and as far as she knows she is a human. My 4 yr old niece refers to her as her "cousin" and best friend. Yea, our dog is spoiled but to us she is family.

[DHurtig]

Well, my little ones aren't so little. I tell people that I have a medium dog, a large dog and a barking pony. All three are rescue dogs and are spoiled rotten. Lord Remington or Remmie as he is called is the newest member of the pack. He is 31" tall at the shoulders, 41" from nose to rump and 106 pounds. He was starved and neglected growing up, so his growth was stunted. He is a full blood Great Dane, and should weigh about 150 pounds to be average. Unfortunately I didn't find out til later that Danes have the reputaion of being the worlds largest lap dogs. Dale

[Doc Highwall]

Two of my cats Jasmine and Precious are laying on the floor next to me right now and Jason is in the bedroom with the wife. Queen Jasmine has already been combed both dry and with water. She runs and jumps into the bathroom sink demanding to be combed, and after that is done she head butts the faucet and demands that you do it again with water. I am glad I understand her needs being part of the staff you know, not like she is spoiled or any thing.

Precious had her usual ear scratching and kisses. If I put my thumbs into her ears any farther when I scratch them, I think my thumbs will touch.

Jason came over to my side of the bed when I was just waking up and got under the covers so I could scratch his belly and chin.

Since getting laid off last November and being home more often, all three of them have stepped up their demands for affection.

Here comes Queen Jasmine wanting me to hold her and cuddle her like a baby so I can scratch her arm pits and belly for the first of ten to twelve times today.

As soon as Jason sees this he will want to be next to be cuddled

I think I am ready to go back to work or school so I can get some rest.
I am going to school now for AutoCad 2013 and I am looking at more schooling under the TAA because my job went over seas.

[Olevern]

My wifes two little dogs are right beside me whenever I fix anything to eat. They "share" my meals, getting little tidbits under the table, despite my wife's complaints. When I fix myself breakfast, I always cook two sausage patties, 'cause I get only one of them, the other gets fed to the dogs (they like hot sausage, just like me). They sleep in my bed and sometimes the one gets between my wife and me and if he feels like he does not have enough room, he puts his back against one of us, puts his feet against the other and pushes. (I end up half hanging out of the bed) The other one sleeps on the other side of my wife and snores louder than any person I've ever heard. All one happy family; dogs act like we are here to serve them.

[DIRT Farmer]

Mine lets me go hunting with her, if I can keep up.

[shooter2]

We have two Springers that we adopted through ESRA. Buddy was 4 +/- and Makena was 6 at the time. This was the first time we had two dogs and we would not go back to just one. They are a joy. They wrestle with each other and it was love at first sight, for them and for us. Go to an earlier thread in this section and look for "spoiled rotten dogs" and get a lot of good reading. Heaven will not be barren and God says we will find everything we need to give us joy. I expect all our pets to be there. JMHO. S2...

[popper]

Murf got hit Thanksgiving, now we have Sydney, 4 mo. old. Buried Murf under the red bud tree last month. Syd went out a couple days later and sat on the site. Weird. I got 2 grand boys and 2 border collies to watch today. Syd is resting now after beating up on the year old collie. She's still trying to train me but I am resisting.