OFFICIAL SKOOLIE PET THREAD

[dirtygoat]

The youngest and Ted watching fireworks from the bed of one of my trucks...




He even knows that in Washington State, you take advantage of the sunshine whenever possible...




He's pouting cause everyone left and he had to stay home...




"I swear, it wasn't me... Really Dad..."




Our youngest boy nicknamed him, "Osama 'Ted' Laden"...

[bansil]

I swear it wasn't me.....same thing when we come home and Veronica is sitting with same face...we're like "shiat" what is wet! (She loves water and all of her "toys"end up soaking wet....you gotta love your children

[Diesel Dan]

Our little Kali:



Here she is hanging out in the top bunk of the bus. The bunk is in the "up" position, which is why the space is so small:



I have not yet traveled with a pet, but if I see Kali out in the yard when I'm hanging out in the bus I will sometimes grab her and bring her in to the bus, just to get her used to being in there. It might be fun to have her along on a trip, but I would worry about her getting out and taking off. Animals tend to lack that reasoning ability that might tell them, for instance, that if they go out at 10pm on a cold night and then show up at the door at 2am wanting to come back in, well... too bad, I'm a asleep and you are going to be freezing your little butt off for the next 5 or 6 hours. And then she'll do it again the next night, and the night after that, etc. etc. So by the same logic, if she ever got out during a trip, who knows how long we would have to wait around hoping she will return, and thus messing up our itinerary. I know dogs are usually a more intelligent about staying close to their people, but I'm curious how those of you who travel with cats handle the situation. I suppose trained "indoor" cats just naturally want to stay inside, so perhaps it's not so much of an issue. My cat normally comes and goes as she pleases at home, but our home doesn't move at this point.

[Accordion]

Dan, perhaps you should get a litter box before you become mobile. Your cat will most likely use it.

Also, I have seen people walk their cats. The cats had harnesses.

[Skunky Bus]

Hey, if you wondered where the "Skunky" in "Skunky Bus" came from (hint: not marijuana)...

As I was typing this, one of my gf's ferrets came up as if to say, "What about us?"


Skunks are illegal to own in Nebraska whether they were wild caught or farm/breeder raised. So we have to "settle" for weasels. We did shuttle a skunk in the Winnebago to the Skunk Haven shelter in Ohio. Sweet little soul. His owners had to give him up because they were moving to a place where they are illegal.

Incidentally, even the staunchest skunk advocates warn never to take one of the little stinkers from the wild to make a pet out of it. Rabies is just one thing that can go wrong. All wild animals are, well, wild, and good luck trying to find a vet for one.

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by Skunky Bus

Incidentally, even the staunchest skunk advocates warn never to take one of the little stinkers from the wild to make a pet out of it. Rabies is just one thing that can go wrong. All wild animals are, well, wild, and good luck trying to find a vet for one.

Oh God - do NOT follow that URL if you are eating lunch... Gag!

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Accordion

Dan, perhaps you should get a litter box before you become mobile. Your cat will most likely use it.

Also, I have seen people walk their cats. The cats had harnesses.

I put Little Fat Pita Cat in a harness when we first got her. Had to use a small dog harness because she slipped the cat harnesses too easily. Cats walk you not the other way around. Early mornings before others were up were when she wanted to go for a walk.

I also taught her to use the toilet. wasn't all that hard. I found a book "How to Toilet Train your Cat". There are many on the market. That is just the one I used. Down side is she wanted to "bury" the waste and scratched the plastic RV toilet seat up really bad.

I've heard some folks really like the self-cleaning litter boxes in RV's.

[Diesel Dan]

Training cats?! Is that sort of like herding cats? Seems almost like an oxymoron.

I'm not worried about the litter box issue. But for better or worse, I've never put collars on my cats. They are kind of like farm cats, just running wild, killing smaller critters, and coming in for the occasional bit of human contact (and food/water/safe place for a deep sleep). I'm pretty sure Kali would freak out if I tried putting a leash/harness on her. Perhaps it's never too late though... but it would certainly be more difficult now that she has known freedom for so long. My biggest concern is that if we were traveling and forgot to contain Kali before opening the door, she would bolt and we would never see her again. I do have impulsive little kids, who would almost certainly do that. The cat would have to be trained very well to never want to exit the bus.

Browncrown, if you are reading this, I'd be curious to know how you deal with your cats when traveling. Are they just indoor cats with no innate desire to go out?

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

Browncrown, if you are reading this, I'd be curious to know how you deal with your cats when traveling. Are they just indoor cats with no innate desire to go out?

DD,

TC, my black cat, always goes outside at home. He has been fixed, and he only has one eye, so I'm not sure if his vision problems keep him from leaving the yard or not, but he just stays in his backyard. When we are in the bus, he usually does not bolt for the door. He will go up to the open door and just stays inside. He has been traveling in the bus since he was a kitten, so maybe that has something to do with. He does get a little freaked out at first when the bus is fired up and we start to move. He will crawl under the couch, but after about 15 minutes or so, he's fine. He also grew up with my dogs, so having the dogs on board also helps to calm him down. I have a harness I put on him, but once we get to where we are going, he never goes outside. His favorite activity is getting on the back of the couch and watching the birds through the window The will fly close to the window and he will jump at the glass. He gets really excited when the window is down and he can hear the birds as well.

[syke]

Here are a few pictures of our two cats.

Sophie

Duchess

[gbstewart]

Here one of my dogs Mocha, shes shepherd/husky mix great dog, but shes not doing to well shes at the vets and its looking like she has cancer, we are waiting for the biopsy, all we can do right now is wait, saturday she comes home from the vet .
gbstewart

mocha last summer ahe loves the bus

[the_experience03]

Here is our boy Dirckx. We got him in July on the same day we closed on our house. He's a rescue from the local humane society and is approximately 1.5-2 years old. He looks like a purebred German Shorthair and has all the correct mannerisms, but he is only 40-45 lbs so he is like a 2/3 scale GSP which is perfect in our small house. I grew up with a German Wirehaired Pointer and my sister has had German Shorthairs for years so they hold a special place in my heart.

[sdwarf36]

This Reka-a 135 lb. Great Pyranees. This is HER bus. She spends most of the summer underneath for the shade (and to make sure it doesn't go anywhere without her.) Having a white dog is good incentive to make sure you dont have any oil leaks on the underside.
The window near her spot was turned over so she stick her nose out it.

[the_experience03]

All these great pets, past and present, absolutely melt my heart. If every person could be as good as the average pet I think most of the world's problems would cease to exist.

[91 Bus Guy]

We have two pets Buddy and Ginger. Buddy is a cross between a Chihuahua and a Beagle. At 14 Years old he still jumps for everything. Just gets excited about everything. Then there is Ginger, a Dachshund. Both are rescue dogs. Buddy was at the Humane Society and was scheduled for the next day. "No way," we said and he was home with us.


Then there is Ginger. Our Nephew couldn't have the dog any more,(living circumstances) so we stepped up and brought her home. She was 1.5 years old when we got her and now she is four Years old.


They have not been in the bus yet. Buddy remembers when the PO took him to the pound and cries every time we take him to the vet. We will have to break them in, so to speak, to get them used to ridding in the bus. Camping season is coming up and I know they would like the Desert or the Mountains. We have a large yard, for the city, but nothing like the great outdoors.

Keith

[lornaschinske]

This is a hard thread to read. Makes me really miss all my past furkids.

We have tent camped/RVed with both dogs & cats since I got my first furkid (AKC purebred American Eskimo Spitz... a rescue) from David as a wedding present in 1980. Based on that long experience, I would like to post a few things that other pet owners or those contemplating a pet may want to think about.

Please put collars/harnesses & your cellphone number &/or e-mail address on your pets. If they get out while you are traveling it can be very hard to locate them again. You can use a throwaway email address. I strongly suggest the e-mail as this will allow someone to contact you at no cost to them. You only need to check it if your pet goes missing and to dump the spam a couple times a year.

Place a notice in your door window... use your computer to make one or two. "Warning Pets on board. Do not open door. In case of emergency call -your cellphone number- or -2nd cellphone number-"

Micro chip your pets. The price of this is getting cheaper all the time.I think it is currently $15. Do this in addition to the collar & tags. Vets & Animal shelters have the scanners given to them so they have gotten into the habit of scanning for microchips.

Do NOT let your pets run loose (that includes cats). There are simply too many things that can go wrong and it's against the rules at most campgrounds (there are leash length limits too... please obey them and pick up after your pets). House pets tend to be at a disadvantage to feral animals. Also your pet tends to look like a snack to many wild animals. Coyotes are in pretty much every state now. They will kill any cat or small dog and they will do it in daylight and in full view of humans. A large owl as well as other winged predators are quite willing to take off your smaller pets. We had one that would sit on our front porch railing and have a staring contest with our cat. Our cat never wanted to go out if the owl was nearby. Our antique cat did wander around loose. She never went very far, just one or two sites over (one of the fulltime neighbours would feed her tuna fish and pet her, I think he missed his cat who had died). When the weather was nice I would leave the door to the pop-up standing open so the dog (on a long tie out) and the cat could go in/out as they liked. The cat & dog liked to lay under the pop-up to stay cool. A weekend kid tried to steal her claiming she was a stray (with a collar and tags on it). Only reason she did not succeed was because my kids saw her pick up the cat and take it into their camper. My kids banged (not knocked) and demanded the cat back. The mother started giving my kids flack about it and one of my kids simply walked in and took the cat. I had the irate mother visit me. Our cat! I had vet papers and photos in the vet folder to prove it. None of the cats in the campground were strays. They all belonged to the farm next door to the campground. Folks that lived there told me a few weeks later that they lost cats all the time to campers. But it evened out since they acquired both dogs & cats all the time from campers who abandoned them. I told all the fulltime neighbours with pets right then about the kid trying to steal the cat right out of our site. Lousy kid went cruising for another pet to steal! My kids stalked her all that weekend. After that, our cat stayed either inside or one of us was outside with her on weekends.

Keep rabies vaccines up to date and carry current vet records. Many public campgrounds will ask, some will want to see so keep the paperwork handy. Only COE in south Carolina had to see proof of rabies vaccine on pets. SC has a very bad rabies problem in their wild skunk population. I kept a cheap 2 pocket folder with the dog's paperwork on one side and the cat's paperwork on the other (the vet folder). I thinned out the old paperwork once a year and kept a fairly current photo printed out of each (full body shot and close up of face... sorta like a mug shot for id purposes). I met others who kept a few "Lost Pet" flyers with "fill in the blank" format so they could immediately put up a couple of flyers in what ever park they lost the pet in and use one to make colour copies at a nearby copy machine. I kept a 12 month history on both pets. Take this folder with you if you have to take a furkid to an out-of-town vet. They really appreciate it. Your vet should be quite willing to give you a copy of the paperwork they generate for your pets file. Just tell them your pet travels with you. Consider getting the Bordetella vaccine (Kennel cough) as many kennels will not take your pet without it. There is some concerns about this particular vaccine. So do some research and talk to your vet first. We always got it for ours since we had to board them a couple times on very short notice.

Sad to say, there are people out there, even in campgrounds, that will steal a dog or cat. Some steal a specific breed for resell, some steal to sell to labs, etc. Others will steal because it's "lost" or "a stray" or any other excuse they can come up with. I rather like the "I didn't take your pet, it climbed in our camper all by itself". Stopping overnight in a campground, for a few minutes in a parking lot or rest stop, even stopping to eat and walking your pet puts potential eyes on it that may decide they want your pet. Leash your pets, micro chip them, carry documentation of ownership (vet papers & photos) and when you leave them in your RV alone while you eat inside a restaurant LOCK YOUR DOORS AND SET AUDIBLE ALARMS ON THE DOORS/WINDOWS. You can get a cheap battery powered door/window alarm at DollarTree for $1 each. If your DollarTree doesn't carry them, you can order online and pick up in the store. If a child can get into your windows, then you need an alarm on it.

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

. . . Keep rabies vaccines up to date and carry current vet records. Many public campgrounds will ask, some will want to see so keep the paperwork handy. Only COE in south Carolina had to see proof of rabies vaccine on pets. SC has a very bad rabies problem in their wild skunk population.

It's best to carry ORIGINALS of the vaccination paperwork. Public campgrounds in NYS will not let your pets in without it. We have had no problems with our dog (RIP) with the proper paperwork, but photocopies are not accepted. Per a campground worker, years ago a camper had checked his dog in with a photocopy. It turned out, the dog bit another camper, the dog tested positive for rabies, and the photocopy was a forgery. Just sayin . . .

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

. . . Keep rabies vaccines up to date and carry current vet records. Many public campgrounds will ask, some will want to see so keep the paperwork handy...

Originally Posted by Redbear

It's best to carry ORIGINALS of the vaccination paperwork. Public campgrounds in NYS will not let your pets in without it. We have had no problems with our dog (RIP) with the proper paperwork, but photocopies are not accepted...

We never had a problem with the vets printing off an extra copy for travel records. For over 10 years our pets had regular vets in two states. If you regularly travel to a different state than your residence, then you also would be doing well to stay current with their vaccine requirements. As for the rabies vaccine, the vet our furkids went to in NC was the vet who did the cheap rabies clinics. We just got the vaccines (plus the other shots we normally had them get) from the NC vet and they charged us the clinic price. The key thing is ALWAYS carry paperwork and have your vets contact info as well. We only needed that info once and it wasn't an emergency. Our dog was on a long term prescription and the GA needed to talk to the NC vet about it.

[Accordion]

It was a freaky day yesterday. I thought that my dog Emma was going to die. She was shaking violently. She could not walk. She puked all over the place. I held her for four hours. Perhaps she had a seizure.

I am glad to report that she is back to normal. I may sound weak when I say that I shed many tears while asking her if she was going to leave me. I am still upset about what happened.

If anyone has had any dogs that have had seizures, please post about their experiences. Thanks.

[somewhereinusa]

We had a yellow Lab many years ago that had some pretty bad seizures. We were able to control it for a while. Unfortunately It seems
that to control it in a dog, because of their metabolism, it takes enough meds that would kill a human. I know this isn't what you want to hear,
but please, don't keep her alive just for you. If she can not lead a somewhat pain free, somewhat normal life you aren't doing either one of you
any good by prolonging the inevitable. There is also a pretty good chance that it may be a one time thing that will never happen again.