[blackasta]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

If the dog is open to friendly handling, then I suspect that the one-drop is a lot easier too. And maybe safer... no fingers in there with the teeth! Adding a by-the-way, my medically-unqualified opinion is that anybody who gets that close to street dogs should have pre-exposure rabies inoculation.

Most of the dogs I handle (while moonlighting as a free of cost dog carer in the locality - I am intentionally not even using the term paravet because I ain't one) allow access after an initial checking (that's after some sniffing to ensure that ya, this guy smells like us alright !). About 10-20% dogs who have been abused refuse to let anyone touch them, nets and lassos with a catcher team are the only options for them.

For those who allow access, I normally give them pills by squeezing their mouth open (there's a point in the muzzle of the dog where there's no teeth, and a pincer grip from top using the thumb and middle finger of my left hand opens up their mouth.), and placing the pill(s) in their throat. Then shut the mouth close and rub the throat to induce a swallowing action. For tricky fellows, usually the pill inside a raw chicken liver or raw chicken head does the trick.

Injections would require someone to distract the dog - the subcutaneous ones don't really matter too much to the dogs, but there are some intramuscular ones which are quite painful.

I have been bit quite a few times (all confirmed later to be non rabid dogs), but as precautionary measures had to take a full 5 shot course twice (bitten by dogs with unknown vaccination history), latest being in Jan 2020. The doc says this should cover me for atleast 3 years (for non rabid dog bites), post which I should go for a pre-prophylaxis 3 shot course. Confirmed rabid bites would require immediate immunoglobulin treatment & full 5 shot course - no doctor is ready to take risk with rabies.

Originally Posted by hserus

Bravecto doesn't need fingers in the dog's mouth to give it the pill. They're clever enough to have made it out of liver, so that most dogs will eat it up and look around for a second pill.

There are other medicines like that too, including a few antibiotics which are palatabs (palatable tablets). But some street dogs are wicked(!) enough to understand the difference between liver and liver flavored tabs. For them you have to use your hands.

[deerhunter]

Originally Posted by AnandB

I know, i know that's why 'coronavirus' is wrong to use in current pandemic as it is just their family name (surname) with covid19 the first name

SARS-CoV-2 is the first name. Covid-19 is the name of the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.

[ast.ggn]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

It depends on the cat(s).

Yes. Out of 4 cats I have now, 3 eat small quantities even if food is left throughout the day. On the other hand, 4th finishes his meal and then tries to eat from other's portion.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by blackasta

One or two spots, where the skull ends, and midway down the neck. A dog cannot lick itself there.

Thanks a lot. Nitrile gloves are very comfortable. I just removed the ticks as much as I could, gave them a medicated bath & allowed them to dry completely.

After dinner applied for both the dogs (2 spots). 2 days since the application of spot on & I could see the infestation has come down 99%. Hopefully it stays tick free for a minimum of 30 days before which it's advised not to reapply (stays active 30 to 90 days)

Just in case of any reappearance, I plan to apply RIDD (2ml/liter)

[pyrodrive]

Well, in a group photo, there is always that one who pose different.
number 3 and 5 (from head end) are not her's. They are from a different mother, but my lovely girl still nurses them like her own.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Well, in a group photo, there is always that one who pose different.
number 3 and 5 (from head end) are not her's. They are from a different mother, but my lovely girl still nurses them like her own.

Bengal cats. Lovely.

[ninjatalli]

Folks,
A bit of an advice solicited from those who have been feeding stray cats.

We moved in to our current home ~2 months ago and discovered a ~2 month old weak kitten outside the apartment complex. Started feeding it food and it got better; and then we realized the whole litter of 5 kittens was living next door; in an empty marriage hall. One became five, and the feeding continued.

It's been ~2 months now; the kittens are much able and grown decently. But what I notice is that they are now dependent on us for food; the meowing that they do when I'm late for feeding them is very similar to what my home cats previously used to do.

How to ween them off my feeding cycles and make them somewhat self-sufficient? I don't mind feeding them, but there's no guarantee I'll be able to do it diligently once lockdown is done and work@office starts.

Anyone been through this route?

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Well, in a group photo, there is always that one who pose different.
number 3 and 5 (from head end) are not her's. They are from a different mother, but my lovely girl still nurses them like her own.

They are gorgeous!

[Prowler]

Botched Rescue Operation

3 days ago, a baby crow - Raven fell down from the tree in my backyard. After much discussion of how to save this bird from the marauding cats, it was decided that I rescue this baby Raven and feed him.
Promptly some rice was whipped up in a mixie and I snatched up the crow and fed him - briefly.
Immediately the mama crow and Papa crow swept down and braced themselves for an aerial attack.Papa crow decided to give me a demo. It adopted the same World War II Japanese Zero fighters swooping maneuvers over me. Encouraged by the success of the Kamikaze maneuvers, the mama crow also flew over my head in a threatening way. My companion German Shepherd thought that suicidal attacks against me was a serious malicious deed and it needs to be punished. It joined in the fracas.
I managed to perch the baby crow on a tree branch and pulled in the GSD. The crows wanted to show another sinister demo to frighten me. They landed on a tree branch and angrily yanked a leaf with their beaks and tossed in my direction - indicating that I will suffer the same fate.
I called for a temporary truce and retreated inside.
Next day almost the same drama was reenacted. We had to make threatening noise to counter act the low flying crows. The baby crow still has not reached the stage where he can fly on its own.
Third day, the baby crow got used to my presence. But the parent crows are still adamant and show me aerial shows designed to scare me or possibly evict us from that neighborhood.

Moral of the story: Lockdown is getting bad effects on humans as well as on crows.

[aghate]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Botched Rescue Operation

Third day, the baby crow got used to my presence. But the parent crows are still adamant and show me aerial shows designed to scare me or possibly evict us from that neighborhood.

I would suggest that you be careful when you venture out and ensure that the parent crows are not around. Do not attack them, just be defensive which I am sure is what you have followed so far based on your description. Crows can get very aggressive and usually only bother you if they think of you as a threat. Once they realize you are not doing them any harm they will calm down, may take a few days.

I learnt this as I was stupid enough as a teenager to deliberately frighten them on their return journey everyday. I used to study on our apartment terrace for my Class 10 exam preparations and for some reason I thought it would be fun to scare them in their flight path which as you can guess was above the terrace. The third day they did exactly what is happening to you, only in my case I did this prank knowingly. Not one or two but about a dozen plus would swoop down in a batch of 2-3. I realized my mistake and would just sit on the terrace with a thick club beside myself and they wouldn't bother. The moment I threw the club a bit further than where I was they would begin to swoop. Continued this for 4-5 days, once they realized I was not bothering them they stopped.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Anyone been through this route?



They are gorgeous!

I am feeding a few around my apartment.

You have to wean them off slowly.

1. If feeding many times a day, bring it down to once a day

2. Next start reducing the quantities of the one meal a day

3. I am sure you have a fixed time for the above meal. Now start changing the time every day. Sometimes noon, early morning, nightfall, dusk.

4. Now change over to every other day.

Do the above over a course of two months or so. Once they reach adolescence they will be okay.

This should be good enough to break their habit of waiting for you and your habit of feeding them. Their mews will be intolerably excruciating to your pity nerve. You just have to steady yourself.

Nature will find a course for all of us.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

... ... ...It's been ~2 months now; the kittens are much able and grown decently. But what I notice is that they are now dependent on us for food; the meowing that they do when I'm late for feeding them is very similar to what my home cats previously used to do.

How to ween them off my feeding cycles and make them somewhat self-sufficient? I don't mind feeding them, but there's no guarantee I'll be able to do it diligently once lockdown is done and work@office starts.

I am sorry to have to tell you that you now have five cats. I don't know a way out of this. If not already, they will soon become emotionally connected/dependent on you as well as dependent for food, and they will have no hesitation in tugging at your heart strings if you do not feed them diligently!

In practical terms, I have been lucky with our last two maids, who both formed their own relationship with my cats, and were happy to feed them, even if we were away.

I strongly suggest that you get them all speyed/sterilised as soon as possible (I forget the minimum age) or you will very soon have not five, but twenty-five cats.

Originally Posted by Prowler

3 days ago, a baby crow - Raven fell down from the tree in my backyard. After much discussion of how to save this bird from the marauding cats, it was decided that I rescue this baby Raven and feed him.

I think you did a good job of getting that young crow back to a branch.

Crows are highly intelligent, but a bit dumb. They were not able to realise that you were trying to help. Their intelligence enables them to not only recognise individual humans, but, apparently, to communicate to each other about us.

We had a crow who took against me for a while (she blamed me for something the gardener had been doing). She would chase me down the road! I did not dare go out without a hat on! One day, I gave this bird a good talking to (yes, I'm a bit crazy): "We give you rice every day; I give you my chicken scraps; I won't allow my wife to cut your trees... and this is how you treat me? Enna, kaakaa?" Curiously, she left me alone for a couple of days. And then started chasing me again. Anyway it all blew over eventually.

Hmm... time to feed the crows.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Hmm... time to feed the crows.

Did you know, they are your ancestors from a time long gone?

The reason that crows are linked to Pitris (spirits of departed ancestors) is described in this excerpt from the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana. Once there was a Maheshwara Yagna (Shiva ritual) being conducted by Samvartta, brother of Brihaspati, on behalf of a king named Marutha. Since Brihaspati is the guru of the gods, the gods were in attendance. But then the demon Ravana showed up, wanting to challenge Marutha in his quest to conquer the three worlds. Ravana had famously received a boon from Brahma that made him invincible against the gods, so the gods were terrified and hid from him by changing into various animals:

https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q...s-of-ancestors

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Botched Rescue Operation

...
Moral of the story: Lockdown is getting bad effects on humans as well as on crows.

Interesting - I have had two experiences of 'rescuing' crows; both times I have had peaceful co-existence for quite decent periods of time.

First experience: Back in 2012, I was cycling from Pune to Bombay on a Friday evening; I found this young crow lying on the side of the highway and a dog approaching it. Picked it up and put it on my shoulder and we 'rode along' till Mumbai for the next ~5 hours. He actually slept off part of the ride. The bird stayed at my place for another 2 days and then flew / hopped away.

Second experience: Less than a year ago, I was walking back home when I saw a crow lying half-paralyzed on the ground; next to a transformer. It was kinda obvious what had happened, so I picked him up brought him home. After a few hours, he started hopping around so I put him in the balcony. And less than an hour later, he flew away.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Do the above over a course of two months or so. Once they reach adolescence they will be okay.

This should be good enough to break their habit of waiting for you and your habit of feeding them. Their mews will be intolerably excruciating to your pity nerve. You just have to steady yourself.

Nature will find a course for all of us.

Thanks, but as you guys rightly guessed the truth, it's going to be us who will be at fault in this approach. Let me still give it a shot and see how successful I am over the next few weeks.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I am sorry to have to tell you that you now have five cats. I don't know a way out of this. If not already, they will soon become emotionally connected/dependent on you as well as dependent for food, and they will have no hesitation in tugging at your heart strings if you do not feed them diligently!

I know! :(

I strongly suggest that you get them all speyed/sterilised as soon as possible (I forget the minimum age) or you will very soon have not five, but twenty-five cats.

Yup, already have located vets nearby. Waiting for them to get to a few more months before I do that.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by blackasta

I have been bit quite a few times (all confirmed later to be non rabid dogs), but as precautionary measures had to take a full 5 shot course twice (bitten by dogs with unknown vaccination history), latest being in Jan 2020. The doc says this should cover me for atleast 3 years (for non rabid dog bites), post which I should go for a pre-prophylaxis 3 shot course. Confirmed rabid bites would require immediate immunoglobulin treatment & full 5 shot course - no doctor is ready to take risk with rabies.

From what i have read, if you have taken a rabies vaccine atleast once in your lifetime then Immunoglobulin is not needed in case of a rabid bite.

Also, 1 shot every year as a booster is more than sufficient to keep you covered for unforeseen bites. This means,in case of a bite, you can wait for a few days to observe whether the animal is rabid or not before you decide if you want to start a post - prophylaxis. You have that luxury

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Also, 1 shot every year as a booster is more than sufficient to keep you covered for unforeseen bites. This means,in case of a bite, you can wait for a few days to observe whether the animal is rabid or not before you decide if you want to start a post - prophylaxis. You have that luxury

It is not a risk I'd take. Both times I have gone for rabies inoculation it has been because of a "friendly" bite from a known semi-wild cat. Five the first time, three the second time. Could be fairly confident that the only thing wrong with the cat was an inability to control his teeth but have zero-tolerance to rabies risk.

Someone will say, "Well, you shouldn't mix closely with animals then." Good point!