Dogs and other family pets


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After much suspicious sniffing and me hand feeding him a couple Kai has virtually cleared all the biscuits soaked in chicken gravy. I must admit they did smell atrocious, can still smell them but he seemed to enjoy them. Result. 
Now for a repeat performance tomorrow hopefully.

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When our pets needed to take tablets we used two spoons to crush them and sprinkle the powder on their food.  Surprisingly the cats never made a fuss but Jack (the Jack Russell) was suspicious and gav

Yes friends, our little Jack is now resting peacefully 4 foot beneath one of our flower beds.   I’ve just not felt like logging on here for a couple of days.  Yesterday morning the very diff

I have now had my new companion for 4 days, Ripley became Jj, got fed up of being asked why we had named him after the place called Ripley! He has settled in really well and up to now has: Pulled

Quite a few years ago I had a little black an white Cocker Spaniel called Samantha (Sam)  she was about 6 months old. I was taking her for a walk, and being a working Cocker Spaniel her nose down and into every bit of grass/soil/sticks she was working like a cocker doe's. About 5 minutes later she had disappeard , only to return eyes going all over and her legs would not walk in a straight line. Did not know what to do, a young boy came along and told me that she was seen eating magic mushrooms, i had heard about them but did not think that Sammie would decide to eat them. The young boy carried Sammie back to my house, I immediately phoned the vet as i did not know what else to do. Well the vet wanted to know how many mushrooms Sammie had eaten, sorry don't know i said. Vets advice watch her if she starts having fits bring her in straight away. This was the longest night of my life. As it happened she has lived to tell her tail and afterwards she had 4 pups,  So if you take your dog for a walk just keep an eye on what they eat or pick up.

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yes Mary we have loads of toadstools in the lawn and I'm terrified the dogs will eat them. I go out most days and pick them out to make sure they don't eat them.

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Our dog will eat almost anything!  
Last summer in Dorset he ate a rotten baby crab!   We thought we’d got it out of his mouth in time though.  A few hours later, during the night, he got rid from both ends.  Got a carpet shampooing man in next day but he wasn’t successful in getting rid of the stain.  We’ve got a rug over it til Jack goes to Jesus, then new carpet. 

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Had my usual early morning "walk" with the dogs. I say "walk" because Lily the bigger chihuahua has suddenly taken a dislike to walking She gets all in a tizzy with excitement when she sees her lead, then goes to hide. Lulu the smaller one is a little angel she's rearing to go. Get them outside and next doors dog starts to,bark ( an Alsatian) . I have managed to stop Lily barking after him so she trots off ignoring him. We get outside the gate , Lily stops , looks around and plonks her bottom down. I leave her a few seconds and then get her to move, only to go a few steps and the same thing happens.  Lulu in the meantime is trotting quite happily eager to see the fields, the cows etc.

Its a mystery with Lily, she's been doing it for quite a while so I can only think that something has frightened her. We live on a country road usually traffic free apart from tractors and the odd car. But early morning seems to be rush hour with the emphasis on rush. It seems everyone is late for work and they take this short cut down our road. We have lots of cats around so think that's who Lily is looking for or when someone is walking down the road behind her. I usually wait til they have passed and then she will start walking again only to stop again. One day a crow squawked out and flew away from the fields of corn and frightened me to,death never mind Lily. Other time s when the cars pass they don't slow down and come so close so that I have to keep both dogs on a short lead and jump onto the grass verge. Maybe she also remembers when I fell down and she ran away but this freezing happened before I fell so maybe that's just made this phobia deeper. She's getting very lazy and fat. I've had her on a diet for months but she hasn't lost any weight at all so she needs the exercise . I have to find a way to get her to move. Yesterday my husband came out with me with our other dog Misty. He walked her and I walked the other two. Lily walked all the way down the road without stopping:wacko: I couldn't believe it. I know this maybe the solution but it's not every morning my husband can come with me like this morning, he had to go to Turin at 7.15 and tomorrow he can't because he's got his pre recovery in the same place. I will try to take them out in the car and try walking in new places.

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Two months have passed since our little Jack was diagnosed as Diabetic.  Yesterday, for the fourth time, he spent the whole day in the Vets having his blood sugar levels monitored.  Each time he goes there the vet increases his insulin dose, which is twice a day ....... and I really don't like giving him the injection.  At present he's on 5 units twice a day, they started him off on 2 units and the dose has been increased on each 'hospitalisation'.  The vet told me yesterday that a general guide to the ideal dose is 1 unit per kg of weight, he weighs 9 kg so we have a way to go yet but they can't increase the amount each time by more than 20% as it would kill him.  Of course every visit is way over £100 a time and we gave up on the Pet Insurance several years ago.    Jack has a really good appetite and woofs his food down which is great.  However we still have the peeing in the middle of the night, before we go to bed we've had to put up barriers to stop him going onto carpeted areas, and the first job in the morning is mopping the tiled floor with Flash and large dash of disinfectant.  A common additional problem with diabetes in dogs is that they develop cataracts and sadly this has happened very quickly with Jack.  In the past few weeks we've noticed that he's started bumping into things and even if I offer him a little piece of cheese he struggles to see it right in front of his mouth! When I take him a walk I have to really concentrate and pull him away if he looks as if he's heading straight into a wall, lamp-post or other objects.  

Basically our little lad is now very needy, when I move from room to room he follows me and flops down at my feet, I daren't go upstairs because I don't want him to topple when he follows me. 

Got to take him next Thursday for another day in the vets, this time I will need to get a urine sample ..... again!   

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Oh Lizzie, what a difficult time for you and Jack... I’m so sorry it has come to this.   His quality of life is certainly less than it was last time I saw him.   Have you and your other half had the discussion yet about when it’s time.....?

With our last dog ( he was a teenager by then) we decided that when he could no longer climb upstairs to follow us to bed, that was the time.  That evening came a few weeks later, ( he really tried to climb up but just couldn’t) so I slept downstairs with him on his last night.  It’s so hard, isn’t it, when we have to really examine our motives for prolonging a pet’s life.... 

I love your little Jack - give him a pat from me xx

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A difficult time and difficult decisions. I've been here many times with the cats. Cats, dogs, people... when is the right time? Earlier this year, my dear friend at cat rescue lay terminally ill with cancer. So many times she said to me that people should be permitted to choose euthanasia as she would never have forced her beloved cats to suffer as she was suffering. Her career as a nurse had also convinced her that euthanasia for humans should be made available.

 

I can see her argument. I can also see how it would be abused by the unscrupulous. Where animals and pets are concerned, I wouldn't hesitate. If you love them, you let them go when their physical existence has become too painful. The decision should be based on their needs, not human reluctance to free them.

 

Why is it different for people, I wonder? She and I often discussed this moral and ethical dilemma. If it were me, would my views be different?  I suspect they might!

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Thanks for the sentiments Margie, I'll tell him you love him!  

We do realise that we will probably have to make a decision some time soon but at the moment he's eating, drinking and wandering around and doesn't appear to have any pain.  He and I walked to the pub last night which was nice for both of us.   None of our previous 3 dogs have ever been permitted upstairs but this little fella has ruled us from the day he came into our home as he'd picked up bad habits before we got him.   He's always slept in his little bed next to our bed but in recent months has decided to sleep on the landing.  He has 3 beds dotted around the house!   Vets of course want your money and they're quite happy to keep having him in for the day to check his 'diabetic curve' ........ something that I couldn't contemplate doing.    Strangely enough I came downstairs this morning and there was no puddle, such a relief!  

We'll see how he is when Roger gets home, I know they're missing each other.  Jack keeps going to the bottom stair and sniffing it and I think that's because Roger sits there to put his walking shoes on!!

Next Thursday morning will be a challenge, getting a pee sample to take with us.

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Hoping Jack's soon doing better.  He sounds like a fighter.  

I know all about vets.  Just got back from taking Jake for Rabies and Parvo shots, routine checkup, parasite test etc.  250 bucks.  Ouch!  but they're worth it.

 

Wishing you success with the pee sample.  :)

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Sorry to hear about Jack Lizzie. Hope his next vets  visit goes well and that you're able to take a sample. 

With our 3 dogs plus Deborah's dog ( which sleeps at her house ) at night we put pee pee pads down. They sometimes don't use them but in case they are handy. Ours are all female but for the males put something on top that he can pee against. I bought some trays for ours when they were small and they came with a small stick of plastic that fit into the grids for male dogs.

Good luck with getting a sample

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  • 4 weeks later...

Not wishing to be morbid but I have got Canine Care Card for Kai. It means if anything happens to me (although I don’t plan on going anywhere) Dogs Trust will have him and he will either be rehomed or live out his life with them. 
I had to nominate a relative who will contact them, after asking their permission obviously. They were a bit put out, not at being asked, but said they would have him anyway but circumstances do change and I now know he would be looked after either way. 
On a happier note he has bounced back after his dental work. He has worked out how to eat his lamb spaghetti, although a pigs ear took a little longer. But then he still has 36 teeth left so he isn’t exactly toothless but he has a lopsided grin as he lost one of his canines. I think it gives him character!
He had lost some weight as he wasn’t eating properly, he must have been in pain although there wasn’t any outward sign of it, makes me feel guilty that I didn’t pick up on it before. Hopefully he will now regain what he lost, I will be going to the vets to weigh him next week, if they let me in just to do that, with mask to check how he is doing. 

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Yes friends, our little Jack is now resting peacefully 4 foot beneath one of our flower beds.

 

I’ve just not felt like logging on here for a couple of days.  Yesterday morning the very difficult decision was made to let him go.  He’d not been interested in food (for only a couple of days though) but he was looking so sad and sorry for himself. This, together with the blindness, was terrible to witness, stumbling up and down steps and bumping into things.  He’s continued to sleep in our bedroom or on the landing but In the early hours of yesterday morning he’d got downstairs and gave a little bark, a call for help it seemed.  Roger came downstairs and discovered a big puddle and whilst mopping that up Jack did a poo, even though the door into the garden was open.   He hadn’t eaten his meal from the night before and wasn’t interested in food.  The decision was made, we rang the vet and a few hours later Roger drove him to the vet who put him to sleep in the back of the car. He remained there, wrapped in his own special red towel, until this morning when our gardener arrived to dig the hole.   The three of us had a small whisky before the hole was filled in, this was before I’d even had any breakfast!  
Jack has been a great little dog and we’ve loved him for nearly 14 years.  He’s wrecked the house, digging up carpets when he hasn’t wanted to be left home alone. He’s escaped from a dog-sitter in Broxtowe but amazingly found his way home to Mapperley Park,  crossing major roads but sustaining a dislocated hip which couldn’t be fixed so he had major surgery, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy, at great expense to the management.  A few months later he was tearing around the garden, chasing cats, like nothing had ever been wrong.  
That little dog has walked with us hundreds and hundreds of miles, including the whole length of Hadrian’s Wall.  He’s been with us on trips throughout the UK, down to the French Riviera and the Italian Tyrol, always just happy to be with us.  He needed us, he felt safe.  ........ and we cherished him.  
We’re devastated to lose him but it was the kindest thing we could do.  47-E3-A02-F-C80-B-4-BAE-AD33-0249-D855-E

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So sorry to read about Jack it is so sad i would give you a like but it is so upsetting at least you know he is safe, a few years we lost our cat to similar circumstances he could not control bodily functions the last few days i would carry him around the garden where he would run and play as a kitten.Our sympathy to everyone Ian and Jill.

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