Trash Bag is sort of called Pancake now (short for Murder Pancake), but only when he’s good. When he is a bit naughty it’s straight back to Trash Bag. Trash Bag and Wonka mostly spend their day like this:

Wonka’s Diary: Another day of being relentlessly stalked by the miniature black demon. I know not from which layer of hell it spawned, only that it is a miniature version of myself composed entirely of shadows, with five times my speed and unnatural agility. It can even jump onto tables! The humans do nothing to restrain the demon despite my wailing.

I am as yet unable to discern its motives. It mimics my every action, it is always behind or around me. It steals my food and toys and it is too fast for me to stop. I cannot keep track of it, yet when my focus lapses and I fall into the sweet surrender of sleep, I awake to find the demon curled around me, cleaning my head or sniffing my butt.

This mystery may forever remain unsolved.

Trash Bag’s Diary: Got onto tall thing today! Discovered what beds are for today! Learned that small screams in kitchen equal food today!

Followed Big Cat. Big Cat knows best places, best food, has best toys. Even shares!

RABBIT HEIMLICH MANEUVER!

You never know when your rabbit may have an emergency, so it’s good to always be prepared.

I am sharing a linking from “The Bunny Guy” on how to perform a proper heimlich maneuver which can be used if your rabbit is ever found chocking. Signs of chocking include:

1. The rabbit pointing it’s nose to the air 2. Gurgling noises 3. Labored breathing 4. Turning blue 5. Pawing at the noise/mouth area And, in my personal experience, increased mucus.

This really works and it helped me save a foster’s life. But I wasted valuable time looking up this information before I proceeded to try and help clear his airways.

Memorize this now, and give your bun the best chance in surviving an emergency situation.

You should probably ask someone in a country that actually has rabies. It’s been 6 years since I’ve even touched a vial of rabies vaccine, and they’re strictly for export only.

In Australia we don’t routinely vaccinate for rabies, because we only have the bat lyssavirus. So it’s one major aspect of veterinary medicine that I’m not overly familiar with, not compared to vets actually working in the countries where it’s endemic (poor, brave souls).

With DHP vaccines there’s no difference between 3 year and 1 year versions of certain brands, at all. They’re labelled as different products due to licensing regulations for prescription products, but in some brands they are literally identical, only the company wont guarantee three years immunity from a 1-year product.

The itchy dog or cat can be a real PAIN in the butt. Causes of pruritus (itchiness) can be: 

P: Parasites! Common offenders include mites, such as demodex or sarcoptes, which can be commonly referred to as mange.  

A: Allergies. Food allergies, environmental allergies, contact dermatitis, and most commonly… FLEA ALLERGY! If you pet is scratching and has hair loss around its rump… Check and treat for those pesky fleas! 

I: Inflammation, infections, immune-mediated (autoimmune diseases like Lupus or Pemphigus)

Signs of heat stress, before a patient develops heat stroke, include:

Panting

Seeking cold areas

Redder gums or ears, other other areas of the body that usually have pink, exposed skin

Vomiting, sometimes

restless, agitated

fatigue and lethargy

The next stage, heat stroke, can include

Muscle tremors

More vomiting

congested, purple gums

coagulation (blood clotting) disorders

bloody diarrhea

confusion

collapse

Seizures

death

If you suspect a pet has heat stress, provide them with ample cool air and cool water. Ice is not recommended because is can cause peripheral vasoconstriction. If you can take their rectal temperature then that’s ideal, but cooling until their breathing normalizes is a good start.

First, I would like to relay a conversation that I have at least once a day.

Me: Is your cat a strictly indoor cat?

Owner: Yes, but he goes outside sometimes during the day.

That is not the definition of a strictly indoor cat.

Outdoor cats are permitted under some local council jurisdictions, but there is increasing push to restrict their activities. Some locations have a cat curfew, some estates have an indoor only policy (and all pets must be desexed), and some locations are pushing to prevent ownership of pet cats at all (mostly islands).

There is a large population of stray cats and semi-owned cats. These cats might get fed by multiple people on the street, but nobody steps up to claim ownership of the cat. Nobody gets it desexed or gets veterinary treatment. Nobody goes looking for it if it goes missing, they assume it ‘went home’.

Our local council is pushing for more people to take responsibility for these cats, largely cutting down on adoption paperwork. They’re also allowing businesses and factories to take ownership of semi-owned local cats so long as they’re desexed. The feral colony living of McDonald’s dumpsters is an example. The council can’t force these people to keep barely tame cats inside, but they’ll settle for seeing them desexed. Folks wont hand cats over to the council if they think they’re just going to be put to sleep.

The simple facts about cats permitted to roam outside are these:

They devastate local wildlife populations. Even well fed pets will hunt. If you would like to see the approximately 50 animals removed from one feral cat’s stomach, there is a picture here. It’s a bit gore-ish. They kill a lot.

They do not live as long on average as strictly indoor cats.

This is mostly due to increased viral transmission and accidents - fights, dog attacks, hit by cars etc.

There is a portion of the human population that deliberately go out of their way to harm cats. Shooting in rural areas, running them over with cars, putting out milk with paracetamol (acetaminophen), etc.

People will also ‘kidnap’ friendly cats that they find on the street and ‘assume’ are lost so decide to keep them. I know one lady that picked up a cat on the street on holiday, drove four hours back home, and then presented it to me where I found its microchip. She did not get to keep the cat she kidnapped.

Cats with white faces are far less likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma.

Cats are safer if they’re confined to their home or properly secured cat runs. Both safer for them and it prevents their devastating affect on our environment. I would prefer to see them all contained, though I doubt that will happen. Society’s view of cats and how we keep them would need to change before that happens. Currently they’re perceived as low value pets because they’re so easy to acquire.

Note that a cat on a harness still counts as contained, because they’re not able to free-roam, as do cats in a secure enclosure.

like for example my cat always speaks to me when I come home and i meow back to her and she’ll meow again & even though i don’t think twice about it to her it’s probably a situation where it’s like

her, meowing: “im glad you’re home”

me, meowing back: “tax benefits”

“I’M GLAD YOU’RE HOME!”

“tax benefits”

“NO, I’M GLAD YOU ARE HOME”

“waffle iron”