• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

When One Pet Kills Another - How to Cope?

AGoodwin

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I don't know what to do right now. I love my dog more than almost anything but I am having a real rough time right now. I can't even look at her. I had my husband bring her to my mother's house for the time being. Here is what happened.

I have wanted a bird for a long while. I finally decided to act on it a few months ago when there was a Craigslist ad for free handfed cockatiel babies. I began making toys and getting supplies. I took a ferret cage I had previously used for rats and set it up. It is 2x2x4. I figured it would be great for a bird cage. Well, things fell through with the guy from CL, and I never got my baby.

On Sunday, I went to a bird expo and came home with a baby cockatiel. A beautiful pied who I named Sunny. He was great. From day one he wouldn't hesitate to climb onto my hand and let me take him out. I work from home and set his cage right beside me. I talked to him all day. I made him a cozy little nest in basket filled with fake feathers that he slept in. We were really starting to build a bond.

Last night my husband and I went upstairs to feed the reptiles. We were upstairs for only a minute when my husband heard something and ran downstairs. I could hear him screaming at our dog and I started to panic and ran down. When I got to the living room my husband was holding sunny and told me something was wrong. Zoe had pushed the side of the cage in on the bottom and got him. My husband found him on the floor a few feet away.

There wasn't any blood but he wasn't right. I thought he was just in shock. The closest exotics vet that I trust is 2 hours away, so I didn't know what to do. I looked him over but again couldn't see any damage, so I figured he was just really scared, so I put him in his nest and turned off the lights and left him alone. We put the dog outside and went back upstairs to finish taking care of the reptiles. About half an hour later we came back down and I checked on him. He was gone.

He must have passed only a few minutes after we left him because he was already stiff. I held him and cried and told him I was sorry. He was just a baby. He was just sleeping and Zoe killed him. I was supposed to protect him and keep him safe and I failed.

So, my question is, how do I deal with this? Is there anyone else here who has had one pet kill another? How can I face Zoe now? How do I get over what she did? I still love her but right now I can't even look at her. She has never tried to hurt any living thing before, except bugs that is. I mean, maybe she wasn't even trying to hurt the bird. Maybe she was just trying to play, but either way, she killed him and I don't know how to deal with that.
 
Amanda, I am so sorry this happened. I know you loved your bird and I know you love your dog as well.
Is is not unusual for some dogs to hunt down small animals they see as prey. It does not mean they are evil, it is just the way they are. Some dogs chase cats and squirrels and birds. Some don't.

If you decide to get another bird in the future, realize that you may just have to keep the bird safe, Maybe a locking cage, in a room where the dog is not allowed. Don't beat yourself up for this time, you had no idea that your dog would do this. But now you do, and the next bird will have to have extra security.

Again, I am so sorry. But you dog loves you and you love her, and this is not a reason to hate her.
 
Who told the dog the rules?

You cope by learning to make better decisions. Of course the dog isn't to blame and knowing that is how you bring her back to her home ASAP.

Nothing unnatural about what happened. You need to know your animals. I have a couple of dogs and many many other animals. My lab hangs out with the goats, chickens, ducks, geese, etc,etc... Heck, even interacts well with rabbits and doesn't see them as food. I have a GSD that would slaughter them all if I wasn't present so she is never left in the position to do so. She is well trained not to do so in my presence but she would certainly eat every one of them in my absence.

The bird was new to the dog's home. There should have been zero expectations that the dog would know the rules.
 
I have to agree with Lucille and Dennis on this one, you can't blame the dog, period. I actually had the same thing happen with my ferret and a bird I had adopted. I thought I had done everything right, bought a good locking bird cage, kept them in separate rooms, etc. But one day while the ferret was out having his free time the bird some how managed to finally break the lock on one of his doors and slip out, the second he hit the floor the ferret's instincts kicked in and he snatched him faster than lightning. There was nothing to be done, the bird did what was natural trying to get out and enjoy freedom and the ferret did what was natural in hunting down it's natural prey.

Yes I felt bad, yes I was angry for a moment that it had happened, but I couldn't blame either one of them. The only thing that could have been done differently was flat out make that entire room entirely inaccessible to the ferret, which I did not do. So maybe, if you do decide to get another bird you are going to have to do the same. Get a proper bird cage for one, one that can't be just pushed open by a dog, and for two, separate the bird in it's own room where the dog has absolutely zero access.
 
I know I can't blame Zoe, and I don't. But it still hurts and I need a day or two. Its not like she feels like she is being punished. She loves my mother and vice versa. My mother begs to babysit her, lol. Right now it just hurts. I wasn't cautious enough and an innocent baby payed the price.
 
Sorry to hear about the baby, but I learned very early on that animals will be animals. From the really shocking (to me back then, at least) cannibalistic hamsters I had when I was in elementary school, to the newborn kittens eaten by my snake when he got loose while I was at work, to a Bassett mix I adopted who then proceeded to eat a few colony rats and gnaw on a few others while I was at work, to Sundance my cat who apparently nabbed a bird that came down the chimney while I was shopping and thoroughly plucked nearly every feather off that bird. I've never seen so many feathers strewn around 3 rooms in my life and the bird basically intact, but did not live past a couple days.

None of the animals were to blame; I was (well, except for the hamsters, I was only a kid and my parents bought those things as cute, fuzzy babies - then they turned into blood-thirsty males!).

Zoe just did not know any better. You live, you learn ... and don't beat yourself up.
 
Outstanding responses,all containing the truth of the matter
Big Mean Ole World out here,take what you can use from folks and move on to better things.
 
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