A few folks have lost their pets over the past few weeks here. It pains me to hear about the losses because I know how important our pets are to us. Lets all praise our 4-legged friends here again by using this thread. Those that have pets know how important they are to our lives......



Both my Cocker Spaniels are very important to me and are a big part of our family here. We include them in everything!! But NOTHING gets them more excited than being in the Firebird for a ride around the neighborhood! They go CRAZY!

Our pets love to ride also. It's their favorite activity next to chasing squirrels and birds.

Jim, they look pretty darn comfortable!

We had a little HALF get together a few weeks ago, this is my friend Paul's Dobie........Nash, yep, you read it right, Nash....and he loves Shiner Bock

These are the Fielder crew. Sophie & Peaches. Sophie the black one on the left will be three in April. A friend of the wife brought in a dog that had been abandon and a week later they had six puppies. Sophie is one of those puppies. Being an only child, we had been thinking of getting her a playmate. We hadn't really made the decision, but a couple of months ago, some creep left a mother and 4 puppies at the lawn and garden center where the wife works and Peaches was one of those puppies. She is close to 17 weeks old and Spring Loaded to say the least. We went forever without a dog and wonder now how we ever got along.
Now I may be the bad dad, but I haven't got to the point of comfort of taking them in the 'bird, but they do get to ride in old GrandPa, the '66 GP.
http://i.turboimagehost.com/p/215557/IMG_0361.JPG.html
Sorry you got to click on that, and by the way they aren't really that big. Sophie is a 21 pounder. Peaches tips the scale at 13 lb. but the verdict is still out on what she's going to do.
One last thing, If you aren't aware of it you can go to
www.theanimalrescuesite.com and click on the box to get support from the sponsors to feed shelter animals. This also links you to other "save a" sites and in a matter of two minutes or less you can help hunger, literacy, child health, rain forrest and even breast cancer. Please consider getting on and saving the spot. I hit them every day.

Good look'n dogs.
Where's the cats?
No self respecting Pontiac owner would be without one.
Remember the old 60's commercials?

Hey 68blackbird, i hope you drank your half 1st.

OK, here's the cat for the thread. After 6 bock and a Barfight...

Well, we had a cat. It looked very much like the cat above just before the big black lab we had got her. Rest in peace Sassy.

HERE IS ATTILLA THE HUN

We have the best of both worlds. We have three granddogs that we get to see, enjoy, sometimes dog-sit and play with without the troubles of ownership. My daughter and son both have beagles plus one also has a lab-mix.

Here are our two pups.
Tahoe 160lb Newfoundland
Abbey 5 month old English Mastiff
Abbey is a rescue that we just got about a month ago.

Actually we have an 17 year old manx...can hardly jump up on the couch...kids are [waiting] for it to pass on so they can get a dog. I figure a new puppy would finish it off and h$ll, the cat is far older than the kids, so she gets the benefit of the doubt.

Our cat "Crunchy" is always on the prowl for birds. I've been trying to figure out what his screen name is here on FGF, but he caught me looking over his shoulder.



He's a confident middle aged gent, fiesty, smart and lived on his own in the wild for years before he adopted us two years ago. Someone dumped him off here in the country and he was bright enough to survive.




He's a male cat, because he hogs the TV remote. In this photo he has swithed off Oprah and switched over to HorsepowerTV. Yes, he controls the household and TV more than I do.



He's great to have around too. Whenever my wife gets annoying, I put this guy in her arms and I get peace and quiet for hours as while he purrs contently.

DOGS RULE!!!

Cats,,,, well they are nice toys for dogs

We would like to share 3 of our pets with everyone in FGF.

Our first pet is Maggie Mae, our Blue and Gold Macaw. She is 11 years old. She is still a baby. Maggie has a fair amount words in her vocablulary. Her favorite is "ow, ow, ow." And why is that? When she was a baby she would pinch Robert on the shoulder while he was carrying her and he would go "Ow!" Maggie would reply, "heh, heh, heh." Another one of our favorite characteristics that Maggie has, is that she loves Rock and Roll.


Sorry about the Up Wings



Here is our 2nd picture. This is Toonie, our Pit Bull and Boston Terrier Mix. We adopted Toonie when she was about 6 months old. She is now 6 years old. The adoption center rescued her from the pound just in the knick of time from being put down. She is a very lovable and loyal family member. Unfortunately her riding days in the Firebird are over. While talking to somebody outside the car, Toonie decided to chew up the driver's seat. Be noted that this was our fault, as we left her unattended in the car with Trouble (who by the way tore the package tray out of the back window a few months earlier while we were driving. We couldn't get stopped in time as we were in heavy traffic and we were unable to stop her before the damage was done). Her days of riding in the Firebird are over as well.




Our 3rd picture, and take this name seriously, is of Trouble, our English Setter. Trouble is 6 and 1/2 years old. She has her hunter instincts but we found out that she is as fast as a cat. She can catch a mouse when the mouse is on the run. She waits, she stalks, and she pounces!!! just like a cat. You would have had to see it to believe it.

Great pics and stories! Keep 'em coming. If not, I'll post pics of my three pirahnas (Moe, Curly and Larry).

Terry, that CAT of yours is eating better than you are!! Ah, life in southern FLORIDA!!

yeah,he is spoiled rotten.i have had him since he was 3 weeks old.somebody dumped him on the street.

Terry, we all know what a wonderful person you are. Now we have your "soft side" story to add to the mystery.

That is indeed a happy cat my friend!

Best friend for 13 years



New best friend (3 years)

Nash , this may look "familiar", got a few shots last ite of our "Little John"

Bjorn, your dog looks about as tough as mine.

I'm beginning to see a trend here my friends!

The vast majority of us FGFers seem to NOT have the Killer type, crazy wacko dogs. We tend to have more traditional canine with alot of love and respect involved.

I think that says a great deal about us First Generation Firebird owners.

You mean ,wer`e mean enough ourselves, no need for a killer dog....LOL

Terry, looks like your cat was sniffing that metal bright! Stoner!

Bjorn, I'm sure there are plenty of FGFers with the killer breed out there. But it seems the folks that respond to this thread are more conservative in taste and truly love their pets.

Even Terry's killer mongo CAT is well loved and obviously taken care of.

Besides my Chicken that goes everywhere with me. We took this picture of Sophia at Turkey day. Everyone dressed up. All Sophia had were Hawaiian clothes.

Please excuse the pornographic nature of this pic, what can I say, he is a happy dog, named, are you ready.....Shiner Bark...BTW, I love cats.....thay taste like chicken



Kel

Kel,

Your pooch seems to resemble many of us with regards to joy and happiness.....er... and thus the pic is hereby accepted by the FGF Pet Lovers Society.

In the future however, a simple set of USA Speedos would be prefered for these types of wet-doggy photos.

I guess I'm bumping a pretty old thread about our FGF pets. Recently pet foods were adulterated by adding Melamine, a powder substrate used in manufacturing plastic items, counter tops and sometimes used as a fertilizer because of it's nitrogen content. This news hit the media for a day or two and then it got quite. Pet food manufactures buy advertising, so it's not surprising that media has stopped covering the story. The problem is much greater than the toxic peanut butter of last year. It brings into question the safety of all of our food stuffs.

The FDA reports, even a month later, report that 16 animals died from this contamination. Other sources, such as petconnection.com place the figures at welll over 4000 and rising.

Original reports blamed an 800 ton shipment of wheat gluten powder from China. Weeks later, rice powder and other protein powders are all implicated and in question.

Melamine contains nitrogen in a ring molecule. Protein for wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate, corn gluten etc is assayed for protein value by measuring the nitrogen count. This Melamine content is thought to have been "kicked up" in protein assay by adding Melamine by suppliers of the product in China. Protein powders derive their economic value by how much protein it assays at per unit volume.

The trouble is that melmaine and it's bacterial degradation products cause crystals to form in the kidney and ultimately accute kidney failure and death.

Menu Food had notice of dying and dead pets three weeks before they started their recall. Their recall only started after Iams for whom they manufactured products insisted. Menu Foods had numerous complaints about pet deaths, but instead of acting with recall, they started animal testing. Most of the test animals died.

Many more of our precious pets died in the interested in preserving corporate profits at great financial and personal loss to pet owners. Meanwhile, Mark Weins of Menu Foods sold half of his shares three weeks before the start of the recall, in what Mr Wiens calls an "unfortunate coincidence".

Folks, our FDA, CDC, and Homeland security have lost their way. Over 800 metric tons of Melamine laced wheat gluten was imported by Chem Nutra from China into this country, labeled as human food grade. Not a scrap, not a single sample was checked for toxins as it entered our ports.

Some of this toxic food was fed to hogs as "salvage". Three thousand hogs have been removed from market and paid/purchased by the FDA. So clearly, this toxin has entered the human food supply.

Reports are this toxin began with a shippment late November, 2006. I belive it started earlier. Our cat Crunchy, became ill in late August when a friend gave us food their cat's wouldn't eat. Their cat's won't eat much, so we gave it to our 16 pound buddy. Soon Crunchy was ill and rescued at great cost with IV fluids. His mental state, energy, activity, interest in toys vanished following this episode. He declined the next six months to become very lethargic and depressed.

I want to urge folks who have family pets to be aware of the current danger in our pet food and human food supply. The symptoms in pets are excessive drinking, excessive urinating, vomiting and ultimately death. Look into what products are recalled. Look at ingredients and know that many protein powders are suspect and more products are added to the recall list every day.

When Vikkie remarked a while back about contaminated peanut butter , I went and checked the dates on ours. Sure enough, we had one of the recalled batch. We had not eaten much of it because it had a bad taste. I had heard of the recall but not paid much attention because that is stuff that happens to someone else. When Vikkie wrote of repeated food poisoning from this stuff, I went looking.

I don't know if folks understand this, but some folks died from the spinach contamination last year. These incidents seem to get forgotten very quickly.

For Menu foods to continue manufacturing, distributing and selling toxic foods weeks after consumers reported deaths changes this from a matter of accidental food contamination into 4000 plus instances of animal cruelty. I have complained to my State's Attorney demanding prosecution of those at Menu Foods who had the authority and responsibility to act weeks sooner with a recall. This conduct, animal cruelty, is a felony in Maryland and most other states. It's no different that someone setting a dish of antifreeze out in my yard.

Senator Durbin is heading the congressional investigation. I hope folks will contact him and their own senators to demand action. Agricultural trade with China is extensive and expanding, while nothing imported is checked for safety.

I contacted Senator Mikulski (D) Maryland. Over a week later, I received an email reply that was copied and pasted concerning diabetes research. Thought that is an interest I have, perhaps on file at her office, it is not remotely related to my inquiry. Bascially, I received the "roach letter" even though I had not inquired about roaches.

Sorry for rambling and thanks for reading. I get this way when I'm pissed.

I did see something on CNN about the Congressional investigations. But the war on terrorism takes front page so the story got as little time as possible. I'm POed to. To think I potentially could have been killing my pets is too much.

Here is my dog Monty - Sunrise - Red Bank NJ


Couple of Sheepdogs - Roxy & Monty

The think that irks me, is this is akin to terrorism. We don't know why the food was poisoned and it came into our country through our port. Obviously none of the 800 tons was inspected. The added powder is visible in the product. It was "human grade" food stuffs. Tampering of food imports was one of the suspected terrorist threats. Now it's a reality and the problem badly bungled.

My oldest dog got sicker and sicker. He would either not eat the food or throw it up. Last Thanksgiving Day, after we returned home from visiting relatives, he was nearly comotose. Since it was late and a Holiday we didn't call the vet. I hand fed him some tuna out of a can and he perked up. Since then, I have been cooking him chicken and ground beef. He's doing great now. I had no idea what the problem was until this story hit the news. Luckily, our other dog has a weight problem so we buy special food for her at the vet to keep her weight down.

Campbell(springer) and Hudson(weimaraner)

Manitou

not trying to be an alarmist here ,(I know the sory , checked our pet foods with others in the office) , but I missed this part
if thisas for "human food" grade ,what says it wasn`t "poisoned" for us, by terrorists?

just a thought...better check our foods....off my alarmist apple crate now...

and knowing what the word Manitou means, I guess you are REALLY attached to/love that dog!

You're really lucky, because this toxic stuff damages the kidneys, which don't heal to well. It makes crystals made of melmaine and cyanuric acid that tear the kidneys up and cause scaring. You caught this just in time.

We have been trying to figure out why our cat has deteriorated rapidly, starting late last August. The recall only reports stuff from November, but I have my doubts. When this was finally mentioned on the media, we tried to feed him just about anything else, mostly meats. He would eat some tuna but not much else. He had gotten hooked on the carbohydrate rich pet food so he went on a hunger strike. The trouble is he didn't even protest, which he always did when his bowl wasn't full. He had gotten to where he didn't much care. Finally, he turned his nose on any food we offered and he went hunting.

He's pretty good at catching mice since he's a stray and he went back on the prowl. He's perked up quite a bit in the last two weeks. He's finally grooming himself again. He was getting all matted. The vet tested him for cat AIDS and feline lukemia, he looked so poorly. We feel very lucky he's bouncing back. We found an organic food that's not supposed to have any of these protein powders in it.

He turns 15 next week. We are lucky he is alive but he's not the same. He's wasting a little and lost coordination. We skipped our southern vacation this winter all due to this. Can't take a sick dog on vacation or leave him behind. I think the food had a problem earlier than they reported because we bought his food in October at the latest. I would say that his symptoms were just 'old age' but as soon as we quit giving him the food he got somewhat better.

Sorry to hear about anyone losing thier dog, I used to have a dog named Moonshine, she was a really pretty White German Shepard.
She passed away about 2 years ago, and I went out and got another White German Shepard soon after she passed, just cause I could not take not having a dog in my life.
I got Moonshine in a strange way, when a guy I knew went to jail, and left his dog tied up in the back yeard, most people were scared to get her, cause she was a big mean sounding shepard, but when my roommate and me took her in, she imediantly was bound to me forever, she went everywhere with me.
I really loved that dog! when she passed it sucked pretty bad.
Here are a couple pictures of her...





And my new puppy Luna! she actually has not road in the Firebird yet, but she will be soon.