Dogs....

Martin Mayers

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Our Bordie Collie was scheduled to be put to sleep today.

She's been on a concoction of various drugs for two or three years now to control things like vestibular syndrome, bad limbs and the like.

She deteriorated three days back and spent 24 hours in the vet. Basically couldn't walk, eat and could hardly lift her head up to drink what we manhandled for her.

So, with vets advice in hand we brought her home yesterday so that we could spend a night at home and be euthenised here today in familiar surroundings.

Family members came round last night to say goodbye.

All very sad.

Got up on her feet this morning and walked as far and as upright as she has in months. Ate. Drunk. Went outside for ablutions. The weirdest thing we've ever seen happen bearing in mind she's been fully incontinent for six months now, something which we manage.

We're under no illusions that this is a bit of a last hurrah but today at least is a good day.
 

Tigernaut

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My sympathies are with you Martin. We lost one of our dogs the Saturday after Christmas, right out of the blue.

We had taken her in only a year before when Cancer took one of our dear friends and his wish was that we take care of Hannah. A Beagle-Basset cross with a super nature but boy, did she take up some room in the bed ! We took her into the local Vet hospital as she began vomiting and they were as perplexed but put her on high dosages of pain relief to ease the discomfort and tried to find the cause.

Turned out that she had a major kidney issue which had been longstanding, and then got pancearitis which the vet felt just pushed her over the edge. Two days in the Vets but we went in to see her twice daily and were with her when she received her final injection when it was clear we were fighting a losing battle. Did the same for our last dog, and like you agree that you should be with your dog at the end.

We like to think we gave her a great final year and the strange thing is, that our friend said we would only have to look after her for awhile as he was sure she would join him before too long. Enjoy your day with her and cherish those memories.

Lee
 

Martin Mayers

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My sympathies are with you Martin. We lost one of our dogs the Saturday after Christmas, right out of the blue.

We had taken her in only a year before when Cancer took one of our dear friends and his wish was that we take care of Hannah. A Beagle-Basset cross with a super nature but boy, did she take up some room in the bed ! We took her into the local Vet hospital as she began vomiting and they were as perplexed but put her on high dosages of pain relief to ease the discomfort and tried to find the cause.

Turned out that she had a major kidney issue which had been longstanding, and then got pancearitis which the vet felt just pushed her over the edge. Two days in the Vets but we went in to see her twice daily and were with her when she received her final injection when it was clear we were fighting a losing battle. Did the same for our last dog, and like you agree that you should be with your dog at the end.

We like to think we gave her a great final year and the strange thing is, that our friend said we would only have to look after her for awhile as he was sure she would join him before too long. Enjoy your day with her and cherish those memories.

Lee
That's a nice thing you did there.

My fiance is foster manager of a charity who rehome only older dogs. We generally have a dog on foster to go with our two oldies....15 and 16.

They bring such happiness and yet too frequently, especially given the dynamic of our situation, we have to say goodbye.

I don't think my heart will ever harden to our dogs passing on....I think sometimes that I'm getting more philosophical about them then one will pass on and I'll be a gibbering man-baby for a week :D

And we then say ''no more for a while''. Then an urgent case will come up. We'll 'foster' for a while, it gets its paws under the table, and before we know it we're 'failed fosterers' again !! Lol
 
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Khill

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hi Martin. so sorry for your loss. it is so hard to lose such a good friend and family member. our thoughts are with you through this difficult time. we lost our Berner in early january. it too was so sudden, we are still heart sick and reeling from the loss. the house is too quite and empty with out them. our only conciliation is knowing they had a good life with us

View attachment 44975
 
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dlazov

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Martian my condolences to you at least you know its coming and can deal with the grieving process now.

About four years ago we took in a mutt of a dog a little guy with a lion's heart, he had just turned 2 when he was struck by a car when he wandered off, the driver had the decency to take him to a vet but it was too late. My son (whom I have taken to ASLOK last year) was heart broken (he does not get emotional over 'humans' due to his aspergers) for several months and even I felt so horrid as I used to be so irritated when that little guy would alway snuggle up to my bare feet in the summer as I was trying to work on my computer, I so missed that little guy trying to warm my feet and keeping me company when no one else did.

Darn it Martin you made me all teary eyed.

Thoughts and prayers to you they are not man's best friend without a reason.
 

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I am very sorry to hear that Martin. My condolences to you and yours.

Rgds, Jack

Our Bordie Collie was scheduled to be put to sleep today.

She's been on a concoction of various drugs for two or three years now to control things like vestibular syndrome, bad limbs and the like.

She deteriorated three days back and spent 24 hours in the vet. Basically couldn't walk, eat and could hardly lift her head up to drink what we manhandled for her.

So, with vets advice in hand we brought her home yesterday so that we could spend a night at home and be euthenised here today in familiar surroundings.

Family members came round last night to say goodbye.

All very sad.

Got up on her feet this morning and walked as far and as upright as she has in months. Ate. Drunk. Went outside for ablutions. The weirdest thing we've ever seen happen bearing in mind she's been fully incontinent for six months now, something which we manage.

We're under no illusions that this is a bit of a last hurrah but today at least is a good day.
 

JRKrejsa

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We've got four of them. Three German Shepards, one Weirmeriner. All like 4 legged kids to go with our 3 two legged kids.

Our last dog, Iggy, died 4 years ago. There is not a week that goes by without us talking about him.
 

Kevin Kenneally

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I was told this story on Tuesday (March 18th) of this week:

A co-worker on Sunday was getting ready to go out to eat with her family. Well, they wanted to take a different vehicle to dinner and it was blocked by their SUV. So she hands the keys to the SUV to her 16 Yr Old Son (just got his learner's permit) and told him to pull the SUV forward a few feet. Well he places the vehicle in gear and then mistakenly floors the gas pedal and drives through the garage door. After stopping momentarily, the vehicle then runs through the back wall of the garage, throught the kitchen and out into the back yard.

Inside the kitchen was a very tall and skinny Great Dane (who weighed about 150lbs and that they had just got him from the shelter two weeks ago). The Great Dane was clipped by the SUV as it drove through the back wall of the garage and went running out the front of the house, trailing massive amounts of blood; running down the street and hiding on a neighbors porch. Once my co-worker made sure her son was ok, she had her youngest son chase the dog and see where it went.

They took the dog to the vet and the vet tried as best they could, but the dog died from her injuries sometime during the night. This is a very sad story, but also, the dog was featured in a Grocery Store commercial here in Texas (H.E.B.; Here Everything's Big). I saw that commercial six times while waiting in the Doctor's office during my wife's visit to the Doctor. The dog was "HUGE" compared to the other dogs in the commercial.

I told her about the commercials and she told me that H.E.B. gave her 200lbs of Dog food to help feed the dog; she donated the remaining Dog Food back to the Pet Shelter today.
 

Paul M. Weir

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Unfortunately that is part of the package that you sign up for when you take in a pet. You do not expect to bury your children but you do your pets. I have lost 11 over 30 years, 3 as roadkill, 2 to old age and the rest to various disease, many to virus induced cancers or kidney disease.

Though 6 cats is a bit over the top, numbers do tend to cushion the blow a little and remind you that life goes on and needs feeding, grooming, etc. My shadow is nearly 19 and is getting quite shaky, a month or two is all I expect, though they can surprise you. In 2001-2002 I lost 2 cats and replaced them. At that time the vets offered me a third (Mouse) and as Monkey was nearly 12, I accepted on the basis that she had only a year or two. She lived another 6 years! I do not intend to replace Shadow as his effective replacement (Clovis) is already here and as it is the younger ones might just survive me.

The only somewhat less negative aspect is that when cats or dogs go downhill is that they do quite quickly, what would take a human a year+ or months takes only days or a few weeks at most. Mourn the dead but look after the living is the only way to get by. Not much comfort, I am afraid.
 

horseshoe

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Always hard to lose a pet. We've lost 3 dogs and 3 cats over the years and each one hurts. Our newest is a little Yorkshire Terrier that has us wrapped around her little paws. She just turned 2 in February, so we're looking forward to the next few years of having her around.
 

witchbottles

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the 3 best comments on canine companions I've ever heard:

1. "We give them the time, love, and energy we can spare after each of our long days have already taken most of what we have to offer. They give us everything they have to give. The best deal man ever made."

2. "If they only would invent a dog that would live for 50 years, life would finally be perfect."

3. " At the right time, a puppy is a wonderful thing."

You and me both, Amen. I cannot count the friends and companions who have preceded me into the next life. You got to love 'em, for dogs and humans, its a mutually supportive symbiosis.

remember the good times.

KRL, jon H
 

Dr Zaius

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Their love is unconditional. Which is devastating.

We lost Tater the bulldog last year and I'm not over it yet.
 

Martin Mayers

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Their love is unconditional. Which is devastating.

We lost Tater the bulldog last year and I'm not over it yet.
We have pictures of ours over the house and have a special carving which we keep some of their ashes in. We spread the rest at the park where they played, went for walkies.

Still occasionally look at a picture on the wall and....well...."sigh"....you know.
 

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View attachment 45577

These my comrades, hanging just above me as I type. That at right the dog I had in middle school, high school and most of uni. "Parsha" a Springer Spaniel (rescue after elderly owner died). That at left, my next dog (some 15 years later-just due to life), who I had for 12.5 years and was a rocket scientist of a dog, got me through my divorce. ""Sooty" (who I got off a jobs-site rescue) an Australian Shepherd and Lab mix. I adopted "Pearl" (again rescue at age 8) and she, a Cathoula Lepoard Hound (google that I never knew either) is alive and well, but one day too will join her comraden, but she too will always be remembered through of life.
 

Paul M. Weir

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A cat

One of cats, Mouse died late on Saturday. It looks like she had a stroke or more likely a coronary. She was in her usual lively, good form a few hours earlier that evening. I had expected that Shadow, fairly shaky at almost 19 would be the first to go.

She was a tortoiseshell with blue and ginger+cream colouring, quite thin and very friendly, lively and noisy, a touch of Siamese about her. Like nearly all my cats she got on well with the others, except for the occasional spat with Comet. At 12 (64 in human terms), it was just a little unexpected, but still a reasonable life span.

Shadow, I suspect, will be the one to miss her the most as she spent quite a bit of time resting or sleeping with him which helped him in his old age (19 is 92 in human terms).
 

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Re: A cat

Paul, I am very sorry for your loss.

Rgds, Jack

One of cats, Mouse died late on Saturday. It looks like she had a stroke or more likely a coronary. She was in her usual lively, good form a few hours earlier that evening. I had expected that Shadow, fairly shaky at almost 19 would be the first to go.

She was a tortoiseshell with blue and ginger+cream colouring, quite thin and very friendly, lively and noisy, a touch of Siamese about her. Like nearly all my cats she got on well with the others, except for the occasional spat with Comet. At 12 (64 in human terms), it was just a little unexpected, but still a reasonable life span.

Shadow, I suspect, will be the one to miss her the most as she spent quite a bit of time resting or sleeping with him which helped him in his old age (19 is 92 in human terms).
 

Martin Mayers

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Re: A cat

One of cats, Mouse died late on Saturday. It looks like she had a stroke or more likely a coronary. She was in her usual lively, good form a few hours earlier that evening. I had expected that Shadow, fairly shaky at almost 19 would be the first to go.

She was a tortoiseshell with blue and ginger+cream colouring, quite thin and very friendly, lively and noisy, a touch of Siamese about her. Like nearly all my cats she got on well with the others, except for the occasional spat with Comet. At 12 (64 in human terms), it was just a little unexpected, but still a reasonable life span.

Shadow, I suspect, will be the one to miss her the most as she spent quite a bit of time resting or sleeping with him which helped him in his old age (19 is 92 in human terms).
Ach sorry to hear that mate.
Our two dogs are getting ever more frail and I fear it won't be long before we have to say goodbye.
Part of me wishes they would just pop off in their sleep (preferably in another 10 years +)
 
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