Ok, now this is just getting annoying. I have all my animals on a feeding schedule. The cats have their dry food in an auto feeder and get wet food a few times a week. The dog gets kibble during the day and wet food at night. The bird gets fed once a day a pellet food with some seeds. The rats get mazuri lab block, a little dog kibble, and fresh food (a few times a week).

Now, a few nights ago, I had been working an evening shift and when I got home, my dog was walking around with a really bloated stomach. We are talking this dog looked like he was going to blow. He wasn't interested in his food at all when I went to feed him and when I went upstairs, I found a bowl of kibble in our bedroom that had been "moistened" with water. For some strange reason my mother in law feels its necessary to feed the dog kibble with water in it "because dogs like it wet like that. He'll eat it more." It was soggy and really nasty when I found it. *bangs head on wall* So then this morning, I walk in to feed my bird and rats. Inside one rat's cage I found a stale biscuit (the kind from KFC) and I also found a piece of stale biscuit in my bird's food dish! I am livid. Why does she take it upon herself to feed my animals food that I have time and time again told her not to feed to them. I've actually told her to just not feed them at all. The other night, she was eating some kind of meat that had a bone in it. Of course, my dog, being the untrained thing he is, was sitting by her feet, begging for the bone. Now, I have a strict rule about no cooked bones. Raw ones are fine because they don't splinter, but cooked ones are an absolute no. As she was pulling the meat off the bone, I said "Do not give that to him. Its cooked." She looked down at Bailey, my dachshund and said to him "Your mommy said no. She says its bad for you. I'm sorry Bailey." but she said it in a way that made me want to scream.

We are hopefully moving in February. We were going to be moving this month, but the people living in the house we are going to rent needed an extra few months to get into another place. I can't wait till we have our own space and I don't have to worry about my animals getting food they are not supposed to have. There are reasons I don't like to give my dog table scraps. There are reasons I don't feed bread or biscuits to my bird and rats.

I put a sign on the Animal Room door (we keep the snakes, bird, rats, and ferrets in one room. When we move, the ferrets will get their own room) that says not to feed any of the animals in that room. I hope she sees it and respects it. I don't even want her setting foot inside that door. We pay rent to her so she needs to respect our stuff and our animals. One day I'd gone into the animal room and she had sprayed "air freshener" (that nasty floral chemical smelling stuff that I swear is going to give me cancer) in the Animal room and my first thought was the health of my animals. They don't need to be breathing that stuff.

Ugh. I just don't know what to do with her. We can't move until February. I understand that maybe she just likes to care for others and maybe wants to "spoil" her grandbabies but I have rules and they need to be respected. I don't feed her animals unless asked to do so, and she should do the same for me.

Sorry, I just needed to rant somewhere and maybe get some advice.