Welcome to Gaia! ::

Awww! <3

VL, you just made my day. Don't forget yourself, too! :3

I'd just like to add to it that despite this neverending, thankless task that has been put before us, we all manage to find the devotion and energy to keep truckin', for the sake of our animalian friends. That's something we all can be proud of. ^^

Hey, thanks. We do what we can! Ignorance is an epidemic out there.

Thanks everyone for educating. My threads never really made it well.... Guinea pig one was made in a rush to give a little education because I though there was a need for it. The dog training one well.... to be honest I don't think dog training is interesting to many people lol

But I've seen some great threads, that have really helped drown out the stupid 3nodding

Thanks! It is definitely a hard task. I'm constantly at it in both rl and most everywhere. Battling with my dad is a constant challange... >.< as well as a lot of others. >.< I recently gave my grandfather advice on the best kind of food and litter to use for his cat, hopefully he'll use it. He was genuinely interested in what I had told him, so he likely will. biggrin

Thanks... Especially as stubborn as he is... He gives Boots something off his plate every night just about because Boots hops up on the bench and stares at him. Thank goodness he's listening to me with my wishes on the care of Bandit and Charcoal, and isn't giving them any human food or any more treats than I have allowed (which is 4 per day, and he gets those during our dinner, and that's only because I didn't feel like fighting him with that issue... I'd rather Bandit not be begging at the dinner table, as I can't stand having the dogs staring at me while I'm trying to eat... It's bad enough that I have him trying to guilt me back into allowing him to give Bandit human food on a regular basis by telling me how bad he feels about giving Bandit a pat on the head when he gives Country and Jonny some. I refuse to give in, and basically tell him to either deal with it or don't give Country and Jonny treats when Bandit is around.) My dad thinks that the only way to spoil your animals and show them that you love them is through giving them lots of treats and human food, even though I'm trying to tell him that the proper way to spoil them and show them how much you love them is by giving them real attention. Boots is only interested in my dad when he wants food or treats. Boots goes to me when he wants attention, you'd think he'd figure that out... He also doesn't like that Country and Jonny are on a feeding schedule, when he knows that we can't have 2 dogs free feeding and one on a feeding schedule. It won't work. He seems to believe that the dogs will starve if they are on a feeding schedule and don't have food available to them 24/7... He thinks that all my research is merely "conventional advice." He also seems to think that any dog that happens to be at a healthy weight are too skinny... I will get irritated if he tries to convince me that Bandit is way too skinny once he gets down to his ideal weight, as he thinks 60 is a good weight for him. I had told him how heavy Bandit was, and he said "isn't that normal?" I said no, he should be around 40-45 pounds. He also said that Bandit gaining 5 pounds in 1 month was "bullshit" just before I managed to convince him to cooperate with the way I wish Bandit to be cared for (even though I had proof of it on Wii Fit). After another month went by after that comment, I had weighed him again, and he had gained yet another near 5 pounds. gonk I put my foot down and told him that just as he does not appreciate being told how to take care of his animals, I do not appreciate being told how to take care of my animals, and told him that Bandit is overweight, and is going on a diet. He is not EVER going to return to his old diet when he gets to his ideal weight. My dad agreed thankfully. His weight is slowly going down now instead of up, and has been ever since I put him on the diet, though I haven't weighed him in a while... ^^' I'll try to remember to weigh him later today and let you know how his weight loss is going. I can tell he's loosing weight still, as he is starting to look a little better, though still overweight.

I hope my grandfather listens too. His vet told him that his cat is overweight. He hasn't really changed his cat's feeding amount last I knew. He said he wasn't filling the bowl as much, but is still making sure it is never empty (this was a while ago, dunno if he has changed this detail or not)... I'm giving him advice on how to best care for his cat and hopefully it's getting through. He knows how much time and energy I spend doing research on proper care of animals. It sounds like he's going to get his cat off of clay litter. Hopefully he'll at minimum add water to his cat's food. I suggested switching his cat to canned food and putting him on a feeding schedule. I hope he listens. biggrin

Yep. They do sound almost the same, except that my dad denies that our dogs are overweight...

Back when they were being free fed, Bandit would bat at the bowls, often for attention, and my dad would translate that as he's hungry. He would force me to fill the bowls even if I knew Bandit was doing that because he wanted attention. Then Bandit would scarf the food down from ALL three bowls like he was starving to death... He would only bat at the food bowls when dad was home too. The first couple times mom and I tried to get the dogs on a feeding schedule, he decided to blame behaviors that Bandit had ALWAYS had, such as going through trash and stealing human food behind our backs, on the feeding schedule, claiming that because they don't have food available to them 24/7, they're always hungry, and as a result, doing those things. He also blamed Bandit's food aggression on the feeding schedule, even though he had the food aggression ever since we had gotten Jonny, and it got better on the feeding schedule. Dad assumes that if the animals are staring at you when you have food, they're hungry. He assumes that if one of the cats meow, they're hungry, but won't try to insist they get fed unless it's close to their feeding time, then he'll try to insist they get fed early... A few days ago, Jonny sniffed his bowl right after he finished eating before I picked it up, and dad asked "Is he still hungry?" I told him "No. He usually does that after he finishes to make sure he didn't leave anything," considering he's almost blind (he was born with cataracts, and they are almost fully developed in one eye and getting far in the other) and can't see if he got it all or not, so he'll sniff to make sure he did and walk off once he's sure he did.