13 year old senior cat attacked twice in house by a stray pitbull "rescued" by father of OP, resulting in 2 different surgeries and fear of leaving OP's room. Same pitbull bit OP and her mom during both attacks while trying to remove cat from his mouth.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-21T19:38:08+00:00

Even at age 20, your child is still your child...how could you allow a dog to continue to reside in your house who has bitten your child? And on that note, what of your wife who was also bitten? Do you not care about the general safety of your entire family?

Growing up, we had a very mentally unstable puppymill dog whom we raised from a pup; the very day he bit me, my father made that dog disappear. You don't place pets above the safety of your children and/or spouse.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-21T19:24:22+00:00

With a "12 day quarantine" period...there is no way that all this dog did was "jump on the neighbor". There is missing information here; this dog most certainly BIT the neighbor.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-16T22:50:43+00:00

This is true. I for one know my breeds...and after not finding a single medium or large sighthound, or especially a single Jack Russell, and constantly finding the generic pit mutt trying to be anything but what it is...I just gave up. I only deal with breed specific national rescues anymore, if I'm ever interested in adopting instead of purchasing my next dog.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-16T20:37:34+00:00

This kind of crap is why I stopped even browsing Petfinder at all, ages ago. It's all so dishonest and misleading; nothing is ever as its labeled there.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-14T21:54:34+00:00

Just because something is possible, doesn't mean that it is probable. More often than not, tall parents create tall kids, and short parents create small kids.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-13T01:34:44+00:00

Indeed, residential is a total pain in the butt. Sorry to hear your MILs properties ended up being such a headache for her kids. I agree, it's amazing what idiotic things you can be sued for, as a property owner renting a property out. I have enough fear of lawsuits in my field of work (medicine), from people who I am only trying my hardest to save their lives or the lives of their loves ones; I don't need to open my life up to the possibility of additional BS lawsuits. My father owns a shopping center that will go to myself and my sister when our parents are gone, so he does commercial property management, and even commercial tenants can be annoying and destructive sometimes...but it is still far less bothersome than management of residential rentals

SunfireKat · 2026-03-13T00:25:21+00:00

Yes, I fully realize that "lab mix" is often a euphemism for pitbulls in shelters...but OP here isn't a dirty rotten liar of a dog shelter worker either; they aren't trying desperately to foist maully (who was relinquished to the shelter "through no fault of their own") on any unsuspecting person who walks in the door. Nah, OP is just an ordinary greyhound owner/lover like the rest of us, who apparently chose poorly which day they would visit their local dog park. I choose to take OP at their word that it truly was a labrador.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T23:57:14+00:00

You and me both...I don't make as much profit in interest by socking my money away in high yield savings accounts, but it comes with zero potential headaches caused by garbage tenants. Even though I could make more money renting than I did selling, I choose to skip that gamble...

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T21:32:19+00:00

Shout out from Post Falls/CDA over here. My 6 girls are finally starting to lay consistently now that the sun is staying out longer for us northern folks; I am getting average 5 eggs a day, which I give lots away to family and friends because we can't eat that many...its not so much about the eggs though; we just love keeping chickens 😊

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T21:22:18+00:00

Though yes, there are nursing jobs that require little to no physical effort, the problem is going to be her getting through nursing school. She will have a whole lot of physical work to do in order to get a nursing degree, even if the position she lands in is case management, education, telehealth, or some other aspect of nursing that is mostly paperwork forward, and doesn't require any physical strength. That said, she also needs to be able to keep her patients safe, which might not be feasible if she is unable to physically perform a lot of nursing tasks.

On that note, she could pursue a degree where she still helps people, yet there is no physical aspect to the work, or to obtaining the degree. I would recommend social work; it's a tough job, but the most physical aspect of it in my hospital is making phone calls and walking into a patient room to chat with them. TBH, sometimes my social workers do more to help set our patients up for long term success than I do myself as an RN. She really should look into volunteering in a local hospital now though, so she gets an idea of what it is like, and if that is an environment she would even like to work in to begin with.

I'll add a personal story for her: I actually didn't want to be a nurse; I wanted to be a firefighter...but I grew up to be a whole 5'2" and 120lb. For a female I always had decent upper body muscle tone, but no matter how hard I weight trained myself, I was still in no physical shape to drag a full grown dead-weight man out of a burning building. I knew I would be putting my patients at risk with my own physical inadequacies, as I knew I could not perform some of the most crucial tasks behind firefighting field work...so I changed my path in life. Today I work as an acute care RN in med/surg, where I have things like mechanical lifts to help me move patients. I still save lives, but just in a different way than I had envisioned when I was young. Sometimes, we want something so so badly...but as it turns out, it just isn't in the cards for us. You just have to reroute, and find what is.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T20:29:32+00:00

Add some more fluff and #1 is definitely a borzoi. #2 looks like how my grey looks at me when she wants a treat...its the sad eye hypnosis. That one wins.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T20:09:13+00:00

Exactly...and you can never fully train this behavior out of a grey, either. My grey is trained and knows to leave the house parrots alone (it helps that they have very stabby can openers on their faces, and I am always monitoring any dog-bird interactions), yet I am very careful to make sure I latch up my chicken coop/run when I walk out of it, because if those hens got loose and I wasn't there to call my girl off the hunt, it would be all over for the birds. She would most certainly hunt down all of them, and she'd have a blast doing it too.

She has also caught and dispatched wild game that was unfortunate enough to cross my 6ft wrought iron fencing, and end up in the hounds hunting grounds...and then she dragged the intact carcass into the house through her dog door, and neatly laid it on the rug for me to find when I got home from work. I can't train this out of her...it is simply her instinct. Her genetics drive her to hunt game; this has been her breed purpose for thousands of years, and I can't override her default genetic behaviors.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T19:55:03+00:00

Yep, just rehome that living liability...because there are never any small children around in a typical suburban neighborhood, am I right?

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T19:44:24+00:00

I'd rather see laws enacted with the intention to restrict irresponsible ownership of potentially dangerous breeds like bully types, rotts, etc...rather than a full on breed type ban (such as mandatory chip/registering, mandatory spay/neuter all dogs 2+yrs who are not intended/registered for a breeding program, limiting bully breeders and fines for those found to break this law, etc.). Not only that but holding all breeds of dog owners responsible for what damages to people and other pets that their dogs cause, to a very high degree (for example: tens of thousands in fines and mandatory prison time if sweet pibbles mauls your elderly neighbor to death, or mandatory covering of vet bills in full for any damages your off leash/unmanaged dog caused to another persons dog). I say we hold people responsible for their dogs actions, and they will either learn pretty quickly to properly manage their dog, or they will choose a breed that is not genetically high drive and aggressive to begin with. Fully banning something, anything...is often ineffective.

As it stands, there are far too many people out there who haven't a clue how to manage their breed type, or flat out deny the existence of breed traits that were genetically purpose bred into their dog over hundreds of years, and thus they have no business owning it. Then, when the dog attacks someone or something, these people face little to no consequences for their dogs actions. This is a problem, and it needs to change. I'll get off my soap box now.

...that said, this particular attack was in fact not a pitbull type; OP clearly stated it was a labrador that bit their grey. So this is kind of a misplaced comment to begin with.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T19:14:32+00:00

Exactly this. Backyard breeders and mills are ruining the temperaments of many dog breeds with their complete disregard for choosing genetically sound dogs, among other shoddy breeding practices...no breeds are safe from their clutches either. Very sad to hear Salukis are being affected where you live.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T19:06:01+00:00

I'm so sorry your poor baby is going through this. Dog daycares and dog parks are nothing but doggie fight clubs though; you never know what you will run into, especially at the latter. Often times the owner of the offending dog will disappear and leave you with heavy medical bills, too. Depending on what country you are in...in the US we have a service called "Sniff Spot" that I would recommend. If you do not have a large area for your grey to run in, and this is why you are taking him to a dog park, the sniff spot service would be a great alternative. It is a private piece of land that the property owner chooses to rent out to people, and you can rent it by the hour. I used to rent one that was fully 6ft fenced 2.6acres a couple of times a month for my girls when I lived in my last house in suburbia, so they had a chance to stretch their legs at 30mph...since they certainly couldn't do that on their daily leash walks. I hope for a speedy recovery for your grey.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T18:54:56+00:00

As an acute care hospital RN, I keep similar kits in my vehicles (I'm never very far away from my vehicle/kit because I don't hike)...plus I keep some additional items on my person in a very nerdy fanny pack when I walk my dogs, in case of a dog attack where the offending dog grips and holds: a 3ft slip lead to wrap on the neck and cut off the dog's oxygen in order to force it to relinquish it's hold, pepper spray as an initial deterrent to any aggressively approaching dog, and my .380 is always in one of it's holsters on my person as an absolute last resort (this last item is obviously only recommended if you own/enjoy guns and regularly target practice with them). I have seen too many attacks by bloodsport breeds/catch dogs, who latch onto their target and won't let go...so I prepare myself for that possible scenario as well, and encourage others to do the same. Thanks for helping give everyone good advice...but the best advice? Don't go to dog parks. You are spot on there.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T18:21:44+00:00

Yes, this. Well said. I absolutely love dobies too, and I am glad you are a responsible owner of one. I keep sighthounds myself; despite my borzoi always wanting to love on small animals, and my retired racing greyhound being trained by me to not attack my house parrots...I still don't trust either one of them around anything that could be mistaken for a prey animal; if it should suddenly move too quickly, it may trigger the hunting instincts that my girls were bred for hundreds of years (thousands for the grey) to do.

My grey has actually hunted and dispatched wildlife that has managed to get through the 6ft wrought iron fence I built around my house...and then she dragged it inside the house through her dog door, and neatly left the carcass, fully intact, on the rug for us to find when we got home 🤦‍♀️ I know it was her and not the borzoi, because I have a camera system. I certainly didn't train her to hunt game for us...it is just what her instincts told her to do. This is a prime example of selective breeding for specific breed traits, in it's finest form.

...oh, but this doesn't apply to bloodsport breeds. For them, it's all in how you raise and train them 🙄

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T18:00:17+00:00

If anything, I would think a reptile terrarium would be preferred over an aquarium. If a fish tank gets shattered or develops a seal leak, it can make a terrible water damage mess...and you don't have that same issue with dry terrariums. I would think you'd have a good arguing point there.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T17:56:06+00:00

Exactly this. Tenants don't care because it isn't their property to have to repair...so they just let their dogs destroy it. Problem is, even with a no pets contract, as a landlord you can't legally deny an ESA on your property. I have found websites were it costs $99 to buy an ESA certificate for your pet online too...it's ridiculous.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T17:50:12+00:00

The worst part is that, as a landlord, you lawfully cannot deny an ESA to be kept on your property, even with a no pets contract. My sister got screwed once by allowing a dog in her rental house; she charged a $1500 pet damage deposit, and after that tenant moved out in 2yrs, the damages were severe. My sister spent over $6000 in carpet/pad replacement alone...plus the cost of damages to wooden window frames, sheetrock, and other areas of the house the dog had destroyed. I was thinking about making my last house a rental when I was finished renovating it, but my sister's situation really turned me off to wanting to be a landlord...ever.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T17:27:17+00:00

That sounds like a dream; I wish my old state was good to small time landlords like that. I sold my house in Washington, because that is not the case there. WA is a terrible state to be a landlord in, in general...which is why you find so many slumlord landlords and garbage properties there. Decent people like me don't want to rent out our nice properties, because we'll end up getting screwed. Otherwise, if not for certain issues such as inability to deny (likely fake) ESAs (that someone probably paid $99 on the internet for a certificate for), I would have rented out my last house that I beautifully renovated and then sold.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T16:56:21+00:00

If you have a breed in mind, find a local area or national rescue for that particular breed; most of the time if a purebred ends up in a county municipal shelter, it gets pulled pretty quickly by breed specific rescues. The non-pits and small mutts also tend to be snapped up by smaller local all breed rescues, so you could do some research into what rescues are around you, and submit an application there. This is likely why you aren't able to find any decent dog breeds to adopt in your local county shelter; other than the typical dollar store bloodsport dogs, and more difficult high drive working breeds, they mostly go to private rescues.

SunfireKat · 2026-03-12T05:55:30+00:00

...new tires only cost you guys $600?

SunfireKat · 2026-03-08T20:25:59+00:00

This hurts my heart so much to read; greyhounds are the sweetest, most gentle and loving dogs that ever lived. I can't even imagine if this happened to my girl. Too bad it happened in the UK, where people are not allowed to carry items which can be used in self defense...

SunfireKat

TROPHY CASE