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Remember, the best strategy is to interest real experts! From the FAQ: Ask real, expert questions. We want you to capture the moment that plumbers feel when they look at PlumberOverflow and say, "Whoa! That's my kinda site!" On a site about plumbing, there are 200 easy plumbing questions, and they've all been asked 100 times on other sites. Don't suggest questions like "How do I unclog a drain." Instead ask, "If you run 2.5 GPM through 50 feet of 1/2" galv pipe, how many psi will be lost to friction loss?" Remember, the pro sites WILL attract the enthusiasts, but not the other way around! – forefinger Jul 7 '10 at 16:10

Simple litmus test: would a room full of vets be intrigued enough to answer the question? – Mame Jul 7 '10 at 17:08

I can't speak for everyone, but I would much rather see this proposal grow slowly, with high-quality questions and knowledgeable followers/committers, than see this get off the ground quickly by turning into a Yahoo Answers clone having a bunch of super-generic questions answered by people relating their personal experiences with the one cat they've ever owned. The problem with most "pet" sites is that they're full of totally unverified and often conflicting information and advice; let's try to avoid that fate by choosing good questions. – Aaronaught Oct 28 '10 at 18:28

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44 Example Questions (3 closed)

active oldest votes

up vote 12 down vote

added by Mame Jul 7 '10 at 16:51

	good question. my dog actually just had kennel cough last month. – dotjoe Sep 5 '10 at 17:54
	good question... if you want to know the real answer PLEASE wait until your dog isn't hacking up stuff anymore and even then make sure they don't share water/food with other dogs until they are done with their antibiotics. – BitOff Oct 9 '10 at 22:28

up vote 11 down vote

added by Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 13:40

	I'm reposting this one from the "Pets" proposal as it's specific to health. This is one of those questions for which there is tons of misinformation both on and off the internet, and I would love to see something like this answered properly by people who actually know what they're talking about. – Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 13:42
	This is the kind of question I want - in theory there is a clear-cut answer, and some veterinary research has probably been done on it. Two suggestions: (1) evidence -> scientific evidence (not really necessary for a real question, but since this question is meant to define the scope of the site, more explicit is better) (2) [cats/dogs] -> cats and dogs (the bracket convention is very silly, in my opinion) – forefinger Jul 7 '10 at 15:47
	@forefinger: Good call on the definition of evidence - I added the scientific qualifier, since anecdotes are a dime a dozen. I'm not sure if I should change `[cats/dogs]` to `cats and dogs` because I'm not quite sure if the answer/evidence would be the same for both. – Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 16:26
	"cats and/or dogs"? I'm not sure that it matters at all, I'm just getting sick of bracket overuse. This is not a bad use of brackets, though. – forefinger Jul 7 '10 at 16:39

up vote 11 down vote

added by nohat Jul 8 '10 at 19:11

up vote 10 down vote

added by Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 13:47

For those wondering if this question actually has a legitimate answer, it does. I wouldn't be able to answer it myself in elaborate detail, but as a quick example, a highly-repetitive diet can lead to addictions and allergies, whereas sudden changes in a diet can lead to rejections and aversions. I could probably fill a whole tag with diet-related questions, but I picked the one I thought could be answered most succinctly and objectively. – Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 17:10

up vote 10 down vote

added by Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 13:49

I couldn't think of a good objective question for professional trainers, but this is it! – forefinger Jul 7 '10 at 15:48

up vote 10 down vote

added by Keplerf1 Jul 26 '10 at 21:47

+1 I like it because it would give good answer on link between leash tension and aggression. – dotjoe Sep 5 '10 at 18:02

up vote 8 down vote

added by Mame Jul 7 '10 at 17:23

For cats, the answer is: Meat! – Aaronaught Jul 7 '10 at 17:29

Is this question ON or OFF topic? I think it is a good borderline example. On the one hand, the answer for cats is obvious: meat. But if a person says "I insist, tell me how to feed a cat a non-meat diet." I would want to close that as offensive animal abuse. So I voted this off-topic on the assumption that it handles the case where a poster insists that they want to feed a cat a vegan diet. I don't want a stackexchange that would support that. – Heath Hunnicutt Jul 15 '10 at 3:31

@Heath: Generally, people that try to feed their cats vegan diets do so on shaky moral grounds. I don't like it either, but if a cat can survive on kibble made from ground-up corn and by-products, it can survive on mineralized vegetable-based products. It's not a good diet, but neither is a low-carb diet for humans. It's a valid question (not a great question), and I would probably leave a similar answer - that cats are obligate carnivores and vegan diets are an exceptionally poor choice for their health. I would want curious owners to search for that question and see that answer. – Aaronaught Jul 15 '10 at 13:53

In any event, there's certainly no problem with asking the question for a dog. A naïve cat owner (of which there are many!) might not realize that there's anything wrong with this. We shouldn't strike down questions simply because they indicate ignorance - that's why they asked the question! :) – Aaronaught Jul 15 '10 at 13:56

Even though you posed the question, I am not going along with your suggestion that it could be on topic. As you can read from my already-written words, I agree with you mostly -- getting the information that vegan is harmful is a good thing. But we disagree where a person would insist on doing this and want to do it with least harm. There is no way, and I don't buy your comparison to kibble. We vote here because it's a democracy. – Heath Hunnicutt Jul 15 '10 at 14:09

show 1 more comment

up vote 8 down vote

added by forefinger Jul 7 '10 at 17:43

	h/t to Aaronaught – forefinger Jul 7 '10 at 17:43
	My cocker spaniel had seizures. The medicine (primidone I think) would make him lethargic. Our vet suggested adding potassium, so we would feed our dog 1/2 a banana every day. This helped reduce the quantity and severity of his seizures. – Alison S Oct 26 '10 at 17:27

up vote 7 down vote

added by forefinger Jul 6 '10 at 21:56

up vote 6 down vote

added by dotjoe Sep 5 '10 at 18:00

up vote 6 down vote

added by bemace Oct 10 '10 at 4:48

up vote 3 down vote

added by Aaronaught Aug 29 '10 at 17:28

up vote 2 down vote

added by rlb.usa Jul 9 '10 at 14:23

up vote 2 down vote

added by BitOff Oct 9 '10 at 20:39

up vote 2 down vote

added by badp Oct 14 '10 at 9:46

up vote 2 down vote

added by StrawMan Feb 9 '11 at 0:01

up vote 2 down vote

added by Simon Sheehan Sep 20 '11 at 23:05

up vote 1 down vote

added by forefinger Jul 6 '10 at 22:25

up vote 1 down vote

added by BitOff Oct 9 '10 at 20:41

up vote 1 down vote

added by BitOff Oct 9 '10 at 20:44

up vote 1 down vote

added by bemace Oct 10 '10 at 4:58

up vote 1 down vote

added by nute Jun 21 '11 at 10:00

up vote 1 down vote

added by Cass Aug 22 '11 at 19:57

Most of the sample questions we have so far seem to be about cats, dogs, or others pets - a site name like "animal health and behavior" is going to lead to questions about non-pet animals, though. I'm not clear on what's allowed here. – Cass Aug 22 '11 at 20:01