Do You Have A Special-Needs Pet?

[Bertha Venation]

Our Harry, fourteen and a half years old, won't use the litter box. We put puppy pads out for him and he uses them perfectly.

Now, maybe that's not exactly special needs, but it is odd.

Do you have any special-needs pets?

[fizzgig]

1. one of my dad's cats needs a bit of extra help

she was the runt and, although she is now the biggest cat we own, she has a hard time cleaning herself and the fur back there mats up, so my dad and i have to shave that area every couple of months.

poor thing hates it, but we always see a change in her mood after she's done being mad at us

[Heidi]

2. The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger can't go to sleep

on his lambskin throw without first having a fight with it. By fighting, I mean fighting. He claws it and bites it, taking bit chunks of the wool out with his teeth. And then he's exhausted and goes to sleep.

I dunno if this is a special need, but it's sure strange to watch.

[MissMillie]

3. My Millie has asthma

she gets daily medication for it. She hasn't had an episode since she was diagnosed and the vet says she's doing well.

She'll be 10 this July.

[Bertha Venation]

12. Do you give her pills?

How long did it take until the meds-giving was routine?

[tbyg52]

4. We currently have a dog who has forgotten that you are supposed to go to the bathroom outside.

Fortunately, we have hard floors. She has doggie Alzheimers, but still seems to be happy, so we are just cleaning up after her. Sometimes we grab her in passing and push her out the dog door. She *does* find her way back.... ;)

[BuelahWitch]

5. My cat has decided she no longer wishes to eat her food out of a bowl

It tastes much better on a newspaper on the living room carpet.

Before I resorted to that I first: a. cleaned the old bowl then when that didn't work; b. gave her a new bowl. Still not satisfied. I'm not the sort to play battle of wills with her, I'm just happy she's eating. I'll move the newspaper out to the kitchen later today. I hope she gets tired of "roughing it" and goes back to eating out of the bowl again soon.

Baby is not a special needs cat per se, but she has to be the goofiest cat I've ever lived with. But she's sweet and cute and I guess I can live with a goofball for awhile.

[Dangerously Amused]

6. I've had two kitties with diabetes.

One lived a long time with insulin treatments. The other overcame his diabetes completely and hasn't been on insulin in years... although he has run quite the gamut of other health problems. But he is the sweetiemost kitty ever, and well worth the extra vet bills and effort to keep him feeling good.

Other than that I just have pets with quirks that take a little extra effort to manage, but make me smile while I'm doing it.

[Bertha Venation]

10. Did you give the kitty insulin shots?

[Dangerously Amused]

11. Yes, gave both kitties insulin shots.

One eventually died of cancer, one is still living and no longer has diabetes, so no more shots for him.

[TroglodyteScholar]

22. I had to start giving Mao Mao daily insulin injections this past summer...

He's doing SO much better. The only drawback, really, is that his special diet makes it breath pretty bad. Oh well, getting his teeth cleaned periodically is a small price to pay if he's able to stay healthy....

[Critters2]

7. OMG!!! That's Shamu!! To a T!!

I just said to my assistant yesterday, "Well, I give up. I've used different kitty litters, different boxes, just now I washed and then bleached his current box, filled it with new cat litter...and he walked over and peed on the puppy pad in front of it. Apparently, Shamu would just rather use puppy pads."

[Bertha Venation]

9. A cat named Shamu . . . I love it.

So Harry's not alone! He'll be heartened to hear it. :)

[Critters2]

15. His official name, on the vet records, etc, is "Shadow".

But everyone knows him as Shamu. Something to do with his weight...though that's gotten better. The name has stuck, though.

[sakabatou]

8. Nope. Never had one.

[LisaL]

13. I have a cat who I think is mentally ill.

He hides all the time.

[Aristus]

14. My brother and his girlfriend adopt rescue-dogs. Dogs taken from abusive owners.

Their first was a Border Collie named Tipper. She had been severely beaten by a prior owner and was just a husk of a dog. She was permanently disabled in her right hindquarters, and had difficulty walking. My brother took great care of her and lavished her with love and attention. When Tipper died, he wept inconsolably. I told him to remember that the last three years or so of her life, she had been loved and well cared-for, and that she must have been happy.

[Lil Missy]

16. Oh yes.

I call him "snarly butt."

He can't stand visitors, and always hides in the basement when anyone comes over.

He will only take water from the faucet or the bathtub.

He hates to be held, (except when I get out of the bath??) Then he wants to snuggle??

He won't let anyone touch him, except me, especially when I am trying to sleep. He will bury his head under my hand to get his face and head squeezed.

He always sleeps ON me.

Much more with him. He's just a special case and always has been.

Now, I have a special needs dog too. He's deaf now, and needs extra TLC. He does't understand some things now, and wakes me up when he's scared.

[yewberry]

17. Yes, a cockatiel who's blind in one eye.

When we found him, his eye was punctured and one of his nares had been sort of torn up. He still has the eye, but we don't think it gives him any pain, and something about the way his little nares are makes him sound like he's snoring a lot (a mucus plug, really).

Here's the story of the day my husband found him: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6457070

Otherwise, he's a healthy, happy little guy. The only real trouble he has is depth perception, which makes it hard for him to find an appropriate landing spot when he flies.

[Lucian]

18. I have three dogs who are special-needs.

Charlie Brown, my first special-needs dog, came from a puppy mill. He was so terrified of humans it took him a couple of years to come around. Eliza, my seconds special-needs dog, is the same way. She also came from a puppy mill. :cry: :( Munchkin, my third special-needs dog, is blind.

[Shell Beau]

19. Maybe not special needs but my Lolly has a heart condition.

She takes 4 pills every day and will for the rest of her (hopefully long) life. Her sweet little ole heart is enlarged. It presses on her lungs. She hacks like an old lady who has smoked for 100 years.

[jane_pippin]

My dog has a weird ear disease.

The blood doesn't flow to the tips properly (apparently? That's what the vet said anyway) so that combined with dry winter air/heat in the house makes them all crusty and gross so we have to wash them with special soap and put ointment on them every day. It's not as bad in the summer. And he has an ear infection now too, so we get to put drops in his ear twice a day for a week. Poor guy.

[KathieG]

20. I have a 13 year old Maine Coon cat with inflammatory bowel disease.

He has had two gastronomy surgeries, and he on a special diet and meds (Metoclopramide) 2x's a day for the rest of his life.

Here is Kenny...

[MorningGlow]

21. I don't know about special needs, but one of our cats is a neurotic pain in the ass

All of our cats are rescues, and when we picked this one up (a friend's daughter found her in the neighborhood and begged us to adopt her) I KNEW she was going to be trouble.

She refuses to poop in any of the litter boxes--uncovered, covered, in a separate room, doesn't matter. She wants to be an only kitty and gets pissed off that she has to share the boxes, food, water, and us with the other cats (who were here first, BTW). If she has a hairball, after she yaks (successfully or not) she poops right where she is. Luckily we have hardwood floors.

As I've said in other threads, she's lucky we didn't turn her into a hat years ago. My mom keeps insisting we should take her to the pound, but nobody else would ever put up with her (literal) shit. She's lucky she has us, and we can't get rid of her now. For better or worse, she's part of the family. And she makes the other felines look normal. :eyes:

[canoeist52]

23. yer cat might be of the republican persuasion

"gets pissed off that she has to share the boxes, food, water, and us with the other cats"

[MorningGlow]

31. LOL she does have that "I got mine, screw you" look

:rofl: You might be onto something, there!

And welcome to DU! :toast:

[BuelahWitch]

24. Aw, you're a good Cat Mom!

:pals:

[MorningGlow]

32. Thanks...

Either that or we're suckers! :hi:

[Ikonoklast]

25. My second oldest son's cat Hobbes.

He had a fractured femur as a kitten, walks with a permanent limp, and has had a gastro-intestinal disorder that thickens his intestinal wall, hindering proper absorption of both food and water. He takes Tumil-K, a potassium supplement, on his food, and a cyclosporin suspension daily using an oral syringe.

Last week he somehow got a nasty scratch on his right cornea which got infected, so he got a topical anti-biotic cream applied three times a day, and this week he gets Dexacidin drops three times a day.

He sometimes uses the litter box, sometimes not. He has issues with b/m as a side effect of his condition.

We love our old guy just the same as ever. Fourteen and still is my son's shadow.

[seemunkee]

26. My shaky rescue boy needs lots of love

He's a sweet boy that didn't get a good start in life. He's very nervous and insecure, loves to be petted all the time.

[cloudbase]

27. We had an eighteen year old cat

that crossed the bridge last October. In all the time we had him, he pooped in the box twice, all the other times pooping about three or four inches outside of the box. He had three boxes to choose from. He never missed urinating in the box, though. His last two years we also gave him vetsulin shots twice daily.

[rainbow4321]

28. Not really special needs, just odd personalities

Jack Russell/dachshund mix: will NOT eat nicely out of the doggie bowl. She will take ONE kernel of dog food out of the dish, literally throws it across the room, chase it down, paws at it a while, and then eats it. And then goes back for the next kernel. Instead of telling my kids "stop playing with your food", I have to tell it to my Jack Russell.

Schnauzer: Besides her obsession with shredding packets of toilet paper and napkins, she goes into panic attacks when it's thundering. You would think someone was beating her. During the day I can hold her in my lap..middle of the night storms have my entire bed vibrating from her strong trembles.


Terrier/poodle mix: doesn't seem to know how to *turn around* and walk. He'll walk backwards the entire length of a room instead of turning around and walking out. Really pisses off the other dogs when his butt rams into their noses. He needs one of those built in "beeeeep---beeeeep-beeep" things that industrial trucks have when they back up.

[lukasahero]

29. I did

My Lab had epilepsy for 11 years. Then he went deaf. In his last year, he developed laryngeal paralysis and had to be hand fed. He was 14 when he passed away last spring. I don't begrudge him a moment of his special needs - he was worth every second of it. I still miss him terribly. :cry:

[applegrove]

30. I housesat a diabetic cat once. I had to give her her shots daily. She took it like

a man.