Pets?

[expendable]

I just put my black lab of just under 11 years down this morning. She died of breast cancer that had spread into the rest of her body. Yesterday she went in for removal of a tumor in her shoulder, and it was too large to operate on. Last night and into the morning she took a turn for the worst, and we had to make a decision that, whith the right drugs, a week ago we thought might be four to six months off.

I also have a sheltie that was adopted from a sheltie rescue mission. He's neurotic as the day is long. After four years of being a toad (think A Christmas Story) it's going to be sad to watch him adjust to being the only dog.

Sad. sad day in the Expendable household. This board is helping get my mind off things a little though.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

My sympathies, Expendable. We went through that two years ago -- thought we'd have up to a year, but the chemo didn't work and he was gone too soon. That was really, really hard.

 

[sportschick]

I'm sorry for your loss, expendable.

And because it's what I do when this happens.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

You can find that poem, which I love, and other suggestions for dealing with the death of a pet at www.petloss.com.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Here's the current collection in the PCLoadLetter household...

Zoey, a 2 1/2 year old Border Collie mix. There mat be some shepherd in there, too. We're not sure. She's remarkably sweet although borderline nuts. Only dog I've seen that sleeps on her back. We adopted her through a Border Collie rescue group and we now volunteer with them. That led us to...

Petey, a 3 year old Border Collie. We adopted him almost a year ago. Wonderful dog. Typical Border Collie - knows what you're going to do before you do it.

And Lemieux, our 17 year old cat. He had diabetes but got over it. He now has failing kidneys, has lost a ton of weight and his breath smells like the dumpster behind a fish market. Hasn't lost his attitude, though. He'll still walk into our room at 3am every day and meow as loudly as possible until one of us acknowledges him. He spends most of the day alternating between sleeping on his bed on my desk, sleeping on the cable box, which is nice and warm, or sleeping in my lap. I assume he's not going to be around much longer but he's had a hell of a run.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

That's a beautiful cat.

I find that very very old cats talk loudly. My mother's does this (that cat's 18). I don't think it's out of pain. They want to announce their presence with a little more amplification.

 

[sportschick]

Failing kidneys is what got my 21-year-old a few years back. He had kidney failure for at least 3 years and had to eat really expensive (and really high calorie) prescription cat food.

He was a Siamese (loud from the get-go) and slept under the covers with me, much to the chragrin of a string of boyfriends who had no hope of lasting as long as Kris did.

I had a terribly hard time when I had to have put to sleep. I'd inherited him when my grandpa died, and Kris was the last living bit of Grandpa.

 

[HC]

I would love to have a pet but my life style is not conducive - out of town gigs, tours, etc. I had a friends dog for 9 months and loved her to pieces. When she went back home it left a hole in my life. :'(

So I got JR. He's housebroken. :-\

 

[forever_town]

Sorry to hear about your loss expendable.

 

[expendable]

I'm sorry for your loss, expendable.

And because it's what I do when this happens.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

You can find that poem, which I love, and other suggestions for dealing with the death of a pet at www.petloss.com.

Thank you SC and all. I went for a walk with my six-year-old. She seems to be taking it well, but I figure she'll have problems around bed time tonight. It's comforting to know that Expendabledog is no longer in the pain she had this time yesterday.

 

[Rosie]

Kids actually handle this much better than we adults.

When our dog died, the kids said their goodbyes (she died at home), then my daughter asked, "So! When we getting a new dog?"

I didn't know whether to smack her or hug her. :)

 

[imjustagirl2]

I would post pics of my kitties, but the pics are at home on a disc.

My parents have been taking care of them for about two years, but someday when I again live someplace where I can have cats, I will take them back. They keep threatening to not let me have them...but I will!

Morris is a beautiful orange tabby, about five years old. His hair at his lower belly is longer, and when he jogs (he doesn't run) it waggles back and forth. Amuses me to no end.

Layla is about three, and she's a brown tabby with a hint of orange in her. She's the sweetest cat ever, and completely devoted to my father. Poor cat. :D


Growing up, I got a dog named Barkley (golden retriever/german shepherd mix) for my third birthday. He made it almost 13 years. We also had Kit-Kat (gray and white cat) and Cody (all black cat). After they were each put down, my parents got Lexie (calico) and Sir (I call him Monkey; he's a Maine Coon).

 

[Rosie]

You know what's so cool about my dog?

She hasn't left my side all day. I know she knows I'm not feeling well (otherwise I wouldn't be camping on the couch today.)

 

[PaperDoll]

I've never had a full-time pet. I volunteered at an animal shelter for a couple of years, and was persuaded to take home a litter of kittens and a couple of other cats at various times.

I had the best foster cat ever, Ladybug, a diluted tortie, about 13 years old when she and many many housemates wound up at the shelter. (I forget the circumstances, but I suspect her senior citizen had died.) One of the shelter staffers nicknamed her "Lord Mayor," because she always had to check everything out. She was declared perfect for me, because she also liked to sit in one place for long periods of time.

Turns out, Ladybug was incredibly needy and had to sit <i>wherever I was</i> for long periods of time. I probably should've gotten used to it. But instead, I decided I was too selfish to share my studio apartment with another living thing. I brought Ladybug back to the shelter and got her adopted out to a lesbian couple who had relocated from Texas.

Ladybug almost came back to me when the couple broke up and the half that was moving back to Texas didn't want to take her along. Last I'd heard, the shelter manager had convinced her to make Ladybug (probably 15 or so years old at that point) a southerner. If there's a different ending to that story, I don't ever want to know.

I miss my shelter kitties... I need to get over all the human drama and start volunteering at the animal shelter again!

 

[Hustle]

We have two cats, Grace and Hank. The only recent pic I had of Grace is one I used for my wine blog - I just take pics of wine bottles around the house. Kitties get included.

Grace is 6 and has mellowed out dramatically. She used to be rather antisocial towards 98 percent of visitors; she's since gotten a lot better. She is the unquestioned Alpha Cat of the household.

And Hank:

This pic was taken on the same day a new chair arrived in the house. It took Hank all of 10 minutes before he jumped on it and started polluting it with his ever-shedding white hair.

Hank's a real sweetheart, but he's not very bright and he's quirky. He hasn't figured out that if you scrape your paw on the floor or the wall or the top of the litter box, no cat litter is actually moved. He has a big food dish, but insists on scooping the food out with his paw and eating from the floor. And he is scared as hell at the most innocuous things - it was a blast seeing him stare out the window at the falling leaves as he was on high alert. Apparently the leaves were daggers that could kill him at any moment.

If he could, Hank would have a full-time lap person to give him love (the opposite of Grace, who wants a certain amount of love and then you, sir, can go **** yourself). He has now taken to leaning on my computer chair and reaching up to tap me on the shoulder because he wants attention.

The two of them scrap constantly. Hank is sneaky; he will wait until Grace walks by and smack her on the ass. But sometimes Grace comes after him and he immediately falls flat on his back, showing belly and surrendering. For this, we've come to give him the nickname of Hanque (pronounced hank-WAH) in honor of our French friends.

Hank's other nicknames: Holstein, Pudgy, Waddle-Waddle-Waddle, Pork Chop, Porky, Hanktastic and Sir ****-A-Lot (since he, uh, relieves himself outside the litter box).

But we love the hell out of both of them.

 

[KG]

This is Travis, my boy I've had for about five years now.

This is Motley. I just got him this week. I'm not sure what he is, but I'm thinking maybe Anatolian Shepherd. All I know is he can jump all the baby gates in my house, yet he is still teething.

They were buddies from the first day.

 

[shockey]

one of the greatest threads ever. wish i wasn't so lame and could post pics. damn!

mrs. shockey and i and the three shockey boys have a lassaopsa (spelling?) named shockey, of course, and a black cat named kobe.

they have both taught the boys so much about responsibility and unconditional love. i'm a dog person; mrs. shockey the cat lover.

it's all good.

we acquired shockey from a rescuer in february 2003, after jeremy's rookie season. i told him that training camp the boys had named our new dog for him. he immediately asked what kind of dog.

i told him that was good news and bad news. bad news: he was a very small dog. good news: he has a very deep, intimidating bark.

"cool," jeremy said.

delivery or workers come to the house and hear shockey barking up a storm. he sounds terrifying. then we open the door.

and they laugh. shockey tries to lick 'em to death.

a real killer.

 

[EStreetJoe]

My 10-year-old cat Wonder (long story for another time on the name) is part-Siamese, part-domestic long hair and has the cutest baby-blue eyes you've ever seen. He thinks he's a human as he'll let you cradle him like a baby or a dog as he'll come running to the door to greet you if he even hears you outside the door.
But here he is:

 

[shotglass]

Wonder looks a lot like my Balinese, Hobbes. :)

 

[Moderator1]

Sorry about your dog Expendable. My two labs at home - 11 and 8 - have tumors that we need to get removed. Scares the **** out of me.
Hang in, brother.

 

[expendable]

Sorry about your dog Expendable. My two labs at home - 11 and 8 - have tumors that we need to get removed. Scares the **** out of me.
Hang in, brother.

Thanks. Mine had fatty tumors for years, but they're basically harmless. My mistake was that I didn't get my dog spaid, and she developed breast cancer. It spread and the rest is history. When I get around to getting my next lab, I'm going to go ahead and get her fixed. However, for those who are considering breeding, they say if you get it done prior to the dog aging past five, the risk of breast cancer goes down drastically.