Bolledeig
Senior Cook
Thanks! I'm very happy with it.
Ok, I had to take a picture of the floor we got.
One room upstairs is done with new moldings and all. I think the dark chocolate colored floor goes really well with the white contrasts.
Matte laminate.
My husband did it. His first time doing anything with a house. But I think he did great!
I'm sure mine looked better when it was new. But, it was the crappy parquetry that the city was pushing in the '70s. I'm thinking I want to sand and stain the floors. I don't usually like stain, but it would make it more uniform.
But, it's still much better than the baby poop coloured carpet I tore out.
I hate laminate--why? The sound of the dog toenails on it and also, when dogs get old and have issues getting up, laminate doesn't give them the grip that hardwood does. Friends put high-end laminiate in their new house--ripped it out three years later and put hardwood down for exactly that reason. Love the floors, Andy.We put in hardwood on the main floor for the living room and dining area. We like it so much better. Upstairs, the bedrooms and hallway are wall to wall.
My neighbor chose to do laminate, didn't like it and replaced it with different laminate then moved away.
I have had many senior dogs. I bought those rubber tiles (red-blue-yellow-green) at Home Depot and "carpeted" the house with those so the old dogs could get up. I hated having to take them (the mats) up and clean...sand would get between the puzzle pieces, but the dogs were able to get up. You're lucky to be in a climate where you could take them outside and hose/pressure wash them. I had to do them in the bathtub during the winter months. But those puzzle pieces work well--I should know, I have about $500 worth. I am using them for the chickens now. And donated a bunch to a wildlife sanctuary. And I still have a bunch!Thanks, CWS! I'll look into it!
Gorgeous floors! And I think I'm already jealous of your closet (without seeing the whole thing). Looks glamorous!
I actually have an older dog (13), and he does not like laminate. But he doesn't like getting up on hard wood either. Mostly because he convinces himself it's super slippery, not because he has a hard time getting up.
That's why I got the matte/textured laminate. Hopefully it's a little better for dogs than the smooth one.
BTW, incontinence is not a result of being spayed. I know that is a common myth, but my friend who is a vet and I had a discussion about this. Anatomically, not possible. There are medications (inexpensive) that can help with this. There used to be an OTC that also worked, but I am not sure if it is still on the market. Bolledeig, chat with your vet about this--but getting the carpet ripped out was still worth it!
I'm aggravated because I can't seem to find the original of this particular part of this line. The time I had a dog who became incontinent (she was old and had been fixed for years), she had kidney disease. My vet recommended a kidney disease dog food, and gave her a few months to live. The diet solved the problem and she lived 18 more happy, pain-free months (and no incontinance problems once on the diet). It was a Science Diet food (k/d) and it allowed us over a year of the pleasure of her company.
And, yes, if you have pets, especially geriatric ones, floor is much better than carpet. Oh, heck, it's easier to clean up after humans as well.
Hmmm...may still have a low-grade infection...or, e-coli (not the food kind, but the kind that sits in the kidney-urinary tract). Dogs often get that....chat with the vet.I don't know why I concluded the incontinence with spaying. Must have been too naive while googling.
My leak dog is only 2,5 years old, and it started some time after spaying. No wait! It started when she got a spinal cord infection. Maybe those are related..
Weather/temperature seems to be irrelevant.
bakechef said:Went to dinner with friends. One of the friends lives here and her husband in Ohio (separated for her job). We went to a small Italian place, the service was slow but we were having a great time talking so no big deal. The owner comes out to ask how things were, and he (the guy from Ohio) starts a rant about how bad the service was. This guy has zero social skills. He was looking for a reason to not tip, and get his meal comped. The owner apologized and offered the whole table free dessert, and this guy dismisses him, how rude!
We let him and his wife leave and then went back in to tell the owner and the waitress how much we enjoyed the meal. It really was quite good and the wait times were not that long.
During dinner the topic of ancestry came up because some of us have very distinct ethnic last names. He, very loudly pipes up and says "if you were born in America, then you are American, period!". So I ask him, "so those who celebrate their heritage are somehow less patriotic?", "isn't that what America is all about?". He refused to answer.
I feel bad for his wife, she is very sweet, no wonder she enjoys living in a different state!
One of my male Saints had renal insufficiency. We fed him a diet that was "designed." for a lack of a better word, by a canine nutritionist.For the first year, we would have blood work done every 3 months to make sure his levels were okay, after that, every 6 months. He lived to be 12 and a bit--which is GREAT for a Giant, but for a Giant with renal insufficiency, amazing. We also used the eye drops (when he was 11-12) that are used for diabetes insipidus for his "leaking." He didn't leak once we got the diet worked out until he was about 11. The drops worked--but they were expensive, but then, so was his diet (he loved, loved, loved kale--he'd eat that out of the box when I brought kale home--and beets, he loved beets). He died of hemangiosarcoma--not kidney disease. He was a retired lawn ornament. When he arrived (this was the first Saint I rescued), he had heartworm and a severe kidney infection. He had been tied outside for three years. He was the sweetest boy...and made me laugh every day--he was such a clown. I miss him still.
The simple answer for night-time "leaking" is usually a relaxed bladder and not kidney issues. If the dog is having incontinence at other times, than other things need to be investigated, but start with the simple first, and then move up from there is always my approach.