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Like humans, cats can experience fatigue and clumsiness while taking diphenhydramine. This side-effect can be more noticeable if the cat has experienced a mild overdose, but it should pass within a few hours. In more severe overdose cases, the cat will experience seizures and difficulty breathing. Without treatment, severe overdoses can lead to coma and death, so it is critical that owners seek prompt treatment for the cat's condition. The ASPCA also gives real-time consultations for pet owners through the Animal Poison Control Center, which can be reached at (888) 426-4435. Immediate medical attention can stop an overdose from becoming lethal.

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Originally posted by New Yorker:
redunderthebed, they are both adorable!

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Originally posted by Mrs Shrew:
We have a not-so-furry baby addition to the family here at Chez Shrew.

His name is Spike and he is an albino African Pygmy Hedgehog. Hes utterly lovely and it is making me really happy to have a pet again

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I am green with envy. Hedgies are just the lovliest little dudes!

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Originally posted by comet:
spare prayers, please, for Duke - my gentle giant of a dog (Great Pyranees) whom I believe has sprained his ankle somehow. it's been very icy and he's a klutz at the best of times, so I suspect a fall or twist. He's obviously in a lot of pain, and since he already has a bad back leg (we adopted him after a bad injury took him permanently off protecting sheep) and now a pained front leg he's teetering more than usual. he's sitting here next to me and I just want to FIX IT and it's very hard to convince a 180 lb dog to rest and elevate his leg.

I hate to see him hurting!

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it's been almost a month. I took him to the vet last week, and she suspects a tumor. We have him on anti-inflamitories which is helping his pain (a LOT - I have to keep him from frolicking too much) but no sign of change in the softball sized thing on his ankle/wrist.

the x-rays and cytology that would be the next step is likely over $500, which I just don't have. and if it is a tumor, there's not much that can be done - dogs his size can't handle amputation.

it's looking bleak for my big guy.


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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions

"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin

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Originally posted by churchgeek:
I have a cat question.
Can a cat have lingering skin issues after having fleas?

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Originally posted by comet:
Duke update - we're back from the fancy vet hospital with mega drugs and a special diet. confirmed bone cancer, and the mass on his leg is the size of a small melon, I shit you not. his foot is also swollen to approximately 2x the size of the other foot. Vet says we have maybe a month. so we're spoiling him with fancy food and snacks and happy drugs and going to enjoy the little time we have left.

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I'm so sorry to hear this! Poor Duke.

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I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

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Originally posted by Smudgie:

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Originally posted by churchgeek:
I have a cat question.
Can a cat have lingering skin issues after having fleas?

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My cat (two cats ago) had eczema and a flea allergy, both of which combined caused those scabby patches which took a bit of hair off with them when they fell off... a bit reminiscent of chicken pox scabs if I remember rightly. I just had to avoid letting her get fleas and, if they got infected, take her to the vet for antibiotics. I don't think there was anything I could do about them, we just both had to live with it. Possibly worth checking with your vet, though.

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Thanks! She doesn't seem to be suffering from it much - not nearly as much as I do from the eczema I have thanks to that furry allergen who spends more time in my bed than I do! I was thinking today that maybe I should give her a good bath - not a water bath, but a good, thorough waterless foam bath, just to make sure her fur isn't harboring any irritants or allergens. I'll double check whether the foam I have is hypoallergenic, first. I wish there was some kind of lotion you could put on a cat's itchy dry skin. The lotions I use on myself don't help as much as I'd like them to, but they do help. (And patchouli oil, which I wear anyway for the scent, is good for eczema, at least in humans, but I wouldn't try putting it on my cat's itchy sores.) I'll bet it doesn't bother her as much as it bothers me to see her itch.

At first I thought the fleas didn't go away after one or even 2 treatments, but her fur's all grown back nicely and she's not chewing it off anymore. I hadn't been giving her flea prevention before because she stays in my apartment, and in 12 years she never had fleas. It seemed like an unnecessary expense. But now that she's been on insulin and is off it, I figure, well, I spent the money for the insulin, I can spend it for this.

I guess either her sitter brought fleas in or maybe fleas came in somehow. My apartment is hardwood floor, but there's a slight gap under the door, and the hallway has wool carpeting, and there are other cats in the building (at least one of which gets out of its apartment and wanders from time to time), and my cat is very obsessive. If any animal had been nosing around my door while I was gone, I'm sure Taffeta (my cat) kept her own nose glued to that gap under the door.

Who knows what our cats get up to when we're not home?

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I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

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Originally posted by churchgeek:
...Who knows what our cats get up to when we're not home?

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Originally posted by no prophet:
So sorry to hear of this. We lost out golden in the fall, so I'm kind of understanding the feelings. I still find myself calling the other dog his name,

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Originally posted by Twilight:
I came down here from TICTH to see what happened to Duke. Comet made me fall in love with him a few months ago with an hilarious description of the family carrying him up and down the steps while the expression on Duke's face said he thought it was the best fun ever.

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he really did enjoy that. I could swear he was laughing when I faceplanted in the snow. the boys certainly were!

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Originally posted by Twilight:
The first Great Pyrenees I ever saw was at an obedience trial. It was at the part where all the owners line up on one side of the gym and the dogs on the other while they "Stay" as long as possible. About two minutes in, while all the Dobies and Labs were still perfectly still, the Pyrenees started creeping slowly across the floor, evidently thinking that if he crouched low and was real quiet we wouldn't see his gargantuan self. The audience tried to remain quiet but we all ended up laughing till tears ran down our face.

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the very idea of a pyr at an "obedience trial" is hilarious to me. the best description I ever read is that when it comes to obedience, Great Pyranees are the perfect cat.

it's true. as a working dog, they are left alone with the sheep. So they make their own calls - they ARE the shepherd. So slavish obedience just doesn't fit into their minds.

When I'd call the boys in, Frodo (golden retriever/sled dog mix) would come running over happy as a clam. Duke would stop and look at me, as if to say, "yeah? whatcha got? treats? what's in it for me?"

for sled dogs (the majority of my experience) the human is the nominal alpha of the pack. for pyrs, the human is another member of the management team. an equal.

When I'd come home from work in the middle of the night, Duke used to push me to bed. he even stepped on my keyboard once and gave me a look - the look that says, "get the hell off the ship and go to bed, young lady!"

I think that's part of how they can get under your skin so much. they're more like a spouse than a kid.

Thanks for the description of the pyr at the show, Twilight, it really made me smile. Reminds me of Duke trying to slyly ooze onto the couch or bed with us RIGHT THERE, as if we wouldn't notice. my entire bed would dip under his weight, and he'd slowly creep up, "you don't see me!"

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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions

"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin