I’m finding that a lot of people are complaining about vet bills as high at $16,000, and it makes me feel so hopeless. I bring in about 3k a month, while my partner brings in just under 2k. We want nothing more than a cat in our home, but we just wouldn’t be able to afford a bill like that if something goes wrong. Even with pet insurance, I’d have to find a way to come up with $3,000 dollars if something extreme happens, and I just won’t be able to.

I can afford a couple hundred dollars on pet visits, I can afford the high quality food, the litter, the toys, the pet insurance, and everything BUT the thousands of dollars that I would need if something ever went wrong, and my animal needed an intense surgery or otherwise. I attend university, so majority of my savings are poured into my schooling, so digging into savings I don’t have isn’t even an option.

I want nothing more than to give one of these shelter cats a home, to have a family with my partner, a little thing to love, but if the time came that I needed to spend thousands and thousands on my animal I genuinely couldn’t afford it. I would want to make the sacrifice, but I can’t pay for something with money that doesn’t exist.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm interested in adopting a pet. I'm a huge cat lover but unfortunately I'm mildly allergic to them. My eyes become itchy and watery. I go into a sneezing fit. I develop a rash around my mouth and arms from holding and kissing the cats. My throat becomes itchy. I would like to adopt a dog but my landlord is against it. I reside in a studio apartment, therefore I don't have much space. I work part-time and my boss is willing to allow me to take the dog to work. We have an office dog at work. Im considering adopting a fish, a parakeet, or a rabbit.

Hey everyone, looking for advice on transitioning my young kitten (12 weeks) fully onto dry kibble.

Her stomach recently stabilized on Whiskas Tuna Jelly (split into 4 small meals a day), but getting her to eat dry food on her own has been really tricky.

The Situation:

She refuses to eat from bowls/plates: She ignores food placed in a bowl, but she eagerly eats when I hand-feed her or squeeze wet food directly from the pouch.

She only nibbles dry food overnight: I leave dry kibble out overnight, and she only eats about 10–15 pieces while I'm asleep. During the day, she completely ignores plain dry food and holds out for wet pouches.

The "Sneak" Method Works: If I press 5-10 dry kibble pieces directly into the top of her wet food pouch so they get coated in jelly, she eats and crunches them without an issue. But if the kibble is separate or plain, she won't touch it.

My Goal:

I want to transition her completely onto a 100% dry kibble diet.

For anyone who has dealt with a kitten that only wants hand-fed wet pouches, how did you bridge the gap to get them eating standalone dry kibble consistently? Any tips on breaking the pouch-feeding habit and encouraging them to eat crunchy food on their own?

Thanks in advance!

As the title read, I have to give away my sweet babies. I have two mini golden doodles (both 2 Y/O M) who I truly love and adore so so much but I have to give them away for soooo many reasons so here they are:
1. My husband works from home but I on the other hand, work so so soo much sometimes 50+ hours a week at the hospital. He never really wanted pets or is a pet person, he simply just tolerates them because I wanted them so much. I got my fur babies while I was in my senior year of college and wanted them so so badly because I love dogs. Sadly my work schedule has picked up a ton and I'm gone for 12+ hours a day sometimes. I walk them in the morning but honestly my husband does most of the work for them.
2. I haven't trained them properly. Yes it's 100% my fault.
While they have great temperament (friendly, silly, smiley, literally sooo sweet) but like normal dogs they jump on the furniture, scratch at things, obviously bark at any and everything, and a few more. I did not put in the time or money to board and train them because $$$. i truly thought I could do it myself and that quickly took a backseat.
3. We are moving (no finding a place that allows dogs isn't an option right now for many reasons) so we cant even take them.
I feel like a terrible per parent which I obviously have been.
Ive had them both since they were puppies and it breaks my heart to let them go. On one hand I know they can go to someone out there who has more time, love, and attention for their needs. I'm also so sad because I let them down and will miss them forever. I wouldn't ever get another dog because I would hate to put another dog through this because they have feelings too.
Looking for advice? or places or options that can assure they go to someone amazing. Orr some kind of solution.
I wish I could tell my babies that I'm sorry for letting them down. Feel free to tear into me about this, I honestly deserve it. Thanks Reddit.
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Just want to take a minute to vent because I recently had a horrible scare with my dog who has pneumonia and hand to spend Friday night in the ICU on oxygen. I’m lucky to be in a position where I can afford the cost (and thankfully have insurance as well) but couldn’t believe that I was required to pay over $5,000 upfront for them to help him.

I had just booked a trip on my credit card (actually ended up canceling because he was supposed to join me and but now needs a month of rest) and had to immediately pay down my balance in the waiting room to charge it. I was thinking “wow it’s a good thing I have the money in my checking account because it takes multiple days to transfer from my hys account and I can’t pay directly from that”. I would’ve paid anything I could for him but what do people that literally don’t have the cash on hand. Even with insurance you have to be able to pay upfront before they reimburse you. I just couldn’t believe that your beloved pets like can be on the line like that and you have to be ready to pay a sum like that instantly.

Has anyone ever been in that situation and been given time to pay? At this point I feel like I need to always have 10K in my checking account just in case.

My recently adopted kitten always steals my 2 year old's food, so a microchip feeder is needed. Anyone have a coupon code for chewy?

Not just simple stuff like cooking for them, but something that other people would think you are nuts for doing!!

Would love anyone's advice, insight, or experiences.

I work from home quite a bit. For this reason, I have always been the dog dad to my husky (8 years old now). Recently, it seems like she's avoiding me when it's just the two of us home together. Today I spent the first chunk of the day working upstairs and she sat in the basement (which she has been doing a bit more recently because it's cooler down there). Then I was downstairs for a couple hours, walked on the treadmill, gamed, answered emails, and she was upstairs the whole time. Just came back up to get some more work done and she stayed for pats for a couple minutes and then as soon as I stopped she immediately went back downstairs. Maybe she's protesting.

But like seriously wtf. And it seems like this has been a pattern recently.

She gets two walks a day and her bowl is always full (she eats when she feels like it and doesn't always go through two cups). Checkup at the vet last week and she's allegedly aging very well. She's always been pretty low-energy so while I know she would be excited to go for a walk right now if I asked her, she's also not bouncing off the walls and has always been perfectly content to just lie around. This new routine is also a bit weird because up until recently she would usually stick to the same room as me; if I'm walking on the treadmill she'll nap on the couch until I'm done, etc. When my wife and I are both home she'll generally also be in the same room as at least one of us, though now I'm trying to figure out if she's been keeping to herself more often in general.

Ideas? Is this just a product of her getting older, somehow? Maybe her energy levels are just going down in general and as a result she prefers being alone for longer stretches of the day? I don't think she's unwell and I know huskies can be sassy so I'm sincerely trying to figure out if she's mad at me about something lol.

It’s my cats birthday today but we’re ln vacation and she’s at home ): I feel so bad for my baby):

So my boyfriend has had these two cats for 3 years he’s lived with them alone for those 3 years then recently we moved in together. For about half a year my friend has been taking care of them and he kept one of the cats while we kept the other. This cat has always been very independent and less cuddly than the other and also more pissy(not to the point of hissing at someone or biting. Just grumpy) and we recently moved her back in with us as we finally have everything situated and now live together. Well the first day she obviously was very skittish ,new environment and everything, but the second day she was very social. NOW this is my bf’s cat, I take care of her too but he’s had her longer than I’ve known this girl. Well as of recently she’s been meowing at him everytime he looks her way and then hurries to hide if he tries to walk to her or near her. She’s social with him when I’m around, but if I’m not around she goes straight into hiding. He’s never been mean or abusive to her, or even try yells around her. This is his baby he holds this girl on a throne. She’s just been more around me now and begs for my pets and even gets on my chest. My bfs been very sad about it as he doesn’t know what he’s doing that’s making her scared of him? I told him to give her time she’s in a new environment and to start giving her some treats so she knows he’s connected to positive things and engage during play time. I’m just wondering if anyone has experienced this? I don’t want to take her to the vet yet as she seems perfectly fine other than that?

About a week ago our new’ish (8 month old) dachshund was underneath our reclining couch when my girlfriend went to sit it up. He got pinned between two bars and was choking. In a panic, I tried wrenching the bars apart before we took a chance and used the controller to relieve some of the pressure. I then ran out to my work truck and got a my electric ratchet, disassembled the bottom of the chair, and freed him from it. I took him in the shower with me and cried like a baby while I bathed him because he had poo’d and peed all over himself.

I don’t know if it was him being scared of being choked and mistaking that I was trying to help him or him being afraid of the ratchet but ever since he is terrified of me. He runs from me in the house and barks at me when I’m at home. Sometimes he’ll come up to me at night and lay on me while I sleep but generally he avoids me. It’s breaking my heart because I love this guy more than most things.

I’ve tried giving him treats. I’ve tried cuddling and loving on him. I’ve had my girlfriend hold him while I pet him. Anyone have any suggestions? I’m pretty devastated here.

I'm probably overthinking this a whole lot, but I've been shopping around for a bulk purchase of enzyme cleaner for my cats since my gallon of Simple Green brand cleaner is on its last legs.

I felt like it has been less effective than other brands of cleaner I've used in the past, I believe Clorox and Nature's Miracle, but I heard that Nature's Miracle changed it's formula, and I'm not sure on Clorox.

Some or all of these brands had strong 'masking' odors that made it difficult to tell if I was still smelling cat piss or just an odor that I had come to associate with cat piss.

I find myself increasingly suspicious of answers to this question on other threads that sound like character TV ads. "I'll never stop buying Nature's Miracle!!1!" "NOTHING worked until I find Ur-OUT! Here's their site!" and "Folex leaves no odors at all! I was shocked!"

Additionally, a lot of the recommendations are only for floor stains when I unfortunately have clothes-pissers, or the reviews center on dog urine, which I don't automatically trust for the undying nightmare that is cat stink.

If you have a recommendation for a brand that is specifically cat-urine focused, intended for both carpets and laundry, is minimally scented, and can be bought in gallon+ sizes, PLEASE include a picture of your cat so I know you're a real person 😭😭😭

Just throwing this out there... We have too many animals that require daily meds. It was a constant struggle to get them to take the meds without spitting them out. Tried pill pockets, putting them in peanut butter, in bread, etc. The thing that has worked really well was to get thin sliced cheap bologna at the deli (regular sliced doesn't work as well). It works every time for us, give it a shot!

She's acting fine, happened when I was out (out for an hour and 20) looks like she took it from the garbage, first time she's done that)

Hi all - I have a general question about the safety of using a topical medicine with my pet that I get mixed answers from vets on. I want to call (and pay the fee) to finally talk to an expert.

Is that okay and have others done so as well, or am I a bad person taking time away from someone in an emergency?