What is going on with your pets?

My male cat has taken residence of laying across my chest with his head on my shoulder. As soon as I sit down he comes and lays there on my shoulder. So clingy....he also follows me around in the house where he used to just like to lay on a chair.

Originally posted by ns9504So, I'm wondering (in light of all the crazy news of 2011) what are your pets doing these days? And where are you located?

I live in NW Missouri,

Our pygmy goat nannies all kidded about 3 weeks earlier than expected all on Christmas Eve and early Christmas Morning and we lost one in delivery due to complications. Could have been off on conception dates I suppose as I am relatively new to pygmies but I think we got it right. The kids were all ok but seemed small – then again all 4 of them had triplets.

Then about 2 weeks ago our dogs attacked one of the goats for what seemed to be no reason. I had to put her down eventually but it appeared they just got her a couple of times on the ears not a lot of blood - she must have died from shock.

The animals on the farm have been acting strange at night lately as well, roosters crowing all night long, dogs barking etc. Yet every time I go out to check for coyotes, owls or whatever has them riled I can't find anything or even any signs. (Though I suppose coyote tracks would be hard to tell from dog tracks.)

I have gone out at around 0300 every the last couple weeks with the shotgun to see what was up with nothing to show for it. Set my coon traps and baited them - nothing caught.

The horses and cows haven't given to any wierd antics at this time and in the past few days the might time BS has quieted down.

I have a 2 yr old Basset Hound and a male cat 7 months. For the past 2 months the hound is wrapped around my feet - he use to lay in his favorite chair and even go upstairs to his kennel when he wanted to nap. The kitten was as kittens are until the past couple of months and he still has his kitten moments but is very clingy to me or wants to be near the dog. At the present the dog is wrapped around the bottom of my chair (have to be careful to not roll on his tail) and the cat is in my lap. I can't go to another room or upstairs that both don't follow.

Something is definitely going on, and as others here have
already stated, the animals are sensing something.

In our neighborhood, nearly all the dogs outside seem to be moving restlessly
during the daytime, something you don't normally see in the winter; they usually just
curl up in their doghouse, or near the porch or houses, etc. when it gets cold.

Yep, I've noticed some changes in my animals as well. My two cats who used to love to be outside all the time barely go out anymore, and my dog is suddenly acting very needy and strange. In fact, as I am typing this he is "talking" to me and won't stop...he used to do this only when he had to go out to use the bathroom, or if he really wanted attention. Now he's doing it numerous times a day. Food and water dish is full, and he doesn't want to go outside to use the bathroom. Also he seems to have taken up licking as a nervous habit. He never used to be afraid of loud noises, suddenly he is. Including heavy wind as another poster mentioned. Weird!

Our last cat, a black male, died last year from kidney failure (we had him put down in the end)
after a break we got a rehouse from the SPCA, took a while to settle in and is a bit of an indoors cat.
Just last week we thought she had been in a fight, had a clump of hair missing out of her behind the head between her shoulders, there was a scratch there too. Took her to the Vet and he gave her some anti-biotics and we brought her home. The hair fallout got bigger during this last week. Back to the vet.
They don't know what it is, could be an allergy to some food, but shes been eating the same thing since we got her 3 months ago.
On a strict diet now and back for a biopsy tommorrow.
Whats really weird is a friend of ours who lives 4km away and has 3 cats and a dog, one of her cats has exactly the same symtoms, and a different Vet, they don't know what it is either.

Its quite a big bare patch now, about 2"x3" and its all tore up from her scratching it.

As or being sensitive, she sleeps right through earthquakes, but gets a bit jittery when the winds up over 100kpmh, just like I do

Well, my pet Husky isn't acting any stranger than usual (she does speak to us quite a bit though). I have, however noticed something strange here in Grand Rapids, MI.

So by now, it's about 5-10 degrees here, cold and bitter with lots of snow. The birds have mostly flown south...
Well today I was walking across the bridge over the grand river and noticed a large group of mallard ducks hanging out in the icy cold river.

I'm under the impression mallard ducks migrate in the winter.
Why are they here right now?
"It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. For example, in North America it winters south to Mexico, but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May.[5]
wiki on ducks

Originally posted by muzzy
Just last week we thought she had been in a fight, had a clump of hair missing out of her behind the head between her shoulders, there was a scratch there too. Took her to the Vet and he gave her some anti-biotics and we brought her home. The hair fallout got bigger during this last week. Back to the vet.
They don't know what it is, could be an allergy to some food, but shes been eating the same thing since we got

This is exactly what has been going on with my cats. I thought the same thing about them being in a fight at first. Vet has no clue what it is, thinks it's allergies... I have added supplements and other things to no avail. The only thing that has worked so far is the Prednisone shot/pills which I don't want to keep giving them because long term it is unhealthy.

Originally posted by Golf66

The animals on the farm have been acting strange at night lately as well, roosters crowing all night long, dogs barking etc. Yet every time I go out to check for coyotes, owls or whatever has them riled I can't find anything or even any signs. (Though I suppose coyote tracks would be hard to tell from dog tracks.)

I have gone out at around 0300 every the last couple weeks with the shotgun to see what was up with nothing to show for it. Set my coon traps and baited them - nothing caught.

The horses and cows haven't given to any wierd antics at this time and in the past few days the might time BS has quieted down.

Yes, my roosters crow all night as well, but this started last summer. My geese have joined in recently and I too run out to see who's on the attack (thankfully nothing so far). My sheep are running around at all hours (I have bells on them) which may be very normal, but there does seem to be a fair amount of 3 am activity out there.

One of my cats, whose spot has always been at the foot of the bed, has taken to curling around my head at night. And the late night yeowling and pacing around the house would annoy me if it didn't make me just a tad nervous.

Oh, and my 99 cent 2 year old goldfish spends more time swimming upside down than right side up. This has also been going on since last summer, but it still weirds me out.

Originally posted by kismetphayze

Originally posted by muzzy
Just last week we thought she had been in a fight, had a clump of hair missing out of her behind the head between her shoulders, there was a scratch there too. Took her to the Vet and he gave her some anti-biotics and we brought her home. The hair fallout got bigger during this last week. Back to the vet.
They don't know what it is, could be an allergy to some food, but shes been eating the same thing since we got

This is exactly what has been going on with my cats. I thought the same thing about them being in a fight at first. Vet has no clue what it is, thinks it's allergies... I have added supplements and other things to no avail. The only thing that has worked so far is the Prednisone shot/pills which I don't want to keep giving them because long term it is unhealthy.

Really?

This is getting worrying.
I'll post what they find from the biopsy hwen we get the results in a few days, its cost us $591NZ in Vet bills already and none the wiser as to what is causing it.
She still isn't eating properly either.

follow up to post by muzzy

Well $800 later the biopsy test showed nothng
The Vet can only guess that it is an allergy of some kind, but doesn't know what. For the time beng she is on beef only.
The cat is a shadow of her former self, and she wasn't very actve to start with !.
Taken to sleeping in one of the bedroom wardrobes ( we couldn't find her for 8 hrs until we found her hiding in there.)
The hair is growng back on the patch on her shoulders, but you can tell she an't a happy feline, AT ALL.