All our yesterdays...

[Buggyman]

We lost our Irish Wolfhound 18 months ago, he was 13 which is good for a dog that size. The norm is around 7 years. We decided to have a break and not replace him for a year. Not having a dog is strange, the house felt empty, no charging fur ball when we opened the door back from shopping. SWMBOWQ suggested a trip up to Reston where there is a retired Racing Greyhound rescue, there was also a nice place to eat in the village - I should have suspected a trap.

Needless to say we left with a 'new' dog. 6 years old, very successful racer and bone idle. She is currently in training for the Olympic sleeping team. Greyhounds don't need long walks, they really are couch potato's. Curiously our neighbour has a greyhound from the same place and our two dogs are cousins. They get on very well and we now have doggy sleep-overs or 2-dog days. Even better is no kennel bills when either of us goes on their holidays.

Funny how 'off topic' these threads go isn't it? That's dogs for you, they get their nose in everything..................


ATB


Allan

[Garry Russell]

I'm so sorry about this Dave

Just one more member here mate wanting to say we are here to help support you on this sad occasion.

I know how much you loved poppy and I can imagine how empty you feel.

You get so close to pets like Poppy who give you happyiness and support in a way no human can.

Feel no guilt, you did the right thing, the end was nigh and to let her suffer would not have done her any favours.

At least not seeing her in prolonged agony helps you to perhaps soon remember the happy times.

[Jon.M]

Sorry to hear about this Dave.

I'm sure you made the right decision given her age and the seriousness of her illness. I recently made the same decision for one of our cats who'd been with us for fourteen years. We still have one cat Lulu who celebrated her nineteenth birthday last week, so inevitably she won't be with us much longer.

Jon

[DaveB]

Thanks for all your stories and kind words. They're all very much appreciated

BTW Allan.. Poppy (and the other animals mentioned) have actually brought the thread back on topic. It's not often that happens here

I'm warming to having a rescue dog and have always had a lot of time for folk who take them on. My main worry is going to one of these centres and not being able to resist all those eye's saying 'take me, take me' Do they let people walk out with 20 dogs?? I'd be walking out without a wife mind you

BTWx2.. I was contacted last year (via ForcesReunited) by an old shipmate off HMS Blake. He sent me some shots of 'the gang' on our visit to Madeira. I may post them if you fancy a giggle

Jon.. 13years was long enough (though not long enough) for me if that makes sense. How the heck you're going to cope with saying goodbye to Lulu after more than 19years is.. well.. very difficult to imagine It was said earlier that you have to be prepared for an animals end when you get them and that is true. You have to hope that it will be later rather than sooner and accept that however long it takes, it will be painful. I was broken hearted when we lost Remy (our first Lab) though it was different for her. We knew from the age of 2 that she had hip dysplasia and for the following 8 3/4 years.. she cost us a fortune but you do what you can for them. I look back at poor Rem and she must have had a pretty sh1t life. Animals though are different to us (thank goodness) and they just get on with stuff. I was so sad to have to have her put to sleep at 10 3/4 but relieved that at last.. the pain she must have lived with most of her life was ended. It's a pity we don't have the same control over how we all end. My dad went in a horrible way and I'd have gladly spared him that had I been able.

ATB
Dave
ATB
Dave

[Tomliner]

I think that it speaks volumes that so many members here,on what is essentially a flight sim forum,are animal lovers and that they willingly and openly feel able to express their emotions.
The older ones among us will recall that at one time,for a man to show his emotions, wasn't 't quite the done thing.British stiff upper lip etc. EricT

[Airspeed]

DaveB,
What you say is so true, you know that the end will come, and as a responsible pet's companion, you know that painful decisions might be required.
Totally agree with Eric, too; I'm glad that we are in an environment where we can share our emotions. When we moved up country, I found that this was a caring town, and was able to expose the raw edges safely; for that, I am far more relaxed and communicative than I ever was at work in the suburbs.
We absolutely delight in our animals, too, such great medicine. 2 dogs, 3 cats, a pony, 4 guinea pigs and 22 chooks at present, and we love 'em all.
Our thoughts are with you Dave, you'll never forget Poppy, but we hope that the pain goes away soon.

[DaveB]

A very strange thing happened a while ago.

My Uncle Barry came around to see how I was doing about an hour ago. I'd been sitting in what had become my seat in the living room (after Poppy had taken my proper seat over not long after we moved up here!) and I'd put the laptop.. with her picture as the wallpaper.. on the settee next to me with the screen facing me. I put it there when my daughter started sending me txt msg's and it'd gone to sleep.
Knowing that Uncle Barry always sits in my (new) seat.. I sat in the old one (Poppies!) and we started talking. Uncle Barry said 'it's quiet here isn't it'. He loved Pop to bits and she loved him likewise.. not least of all because he always made a big fuss of her and brought her hock bones every now and again. Almost as soon as he mentioned her name, the laptop came back on.. the screen facing Uncle Barry showing the picture of Poppy. He was as taken aback as I was. I don't believe in many things and I'm sure this was pure coincidence, nothing else but it seemed very much like she'd popped back to say 'Hello' or 'Goodbye' Uncle Barry. The laptop certainly wasn't touched or moved in any way

Anyway.. I told him about the plan to move the 'Jacks'. Not sure what he thought but was ok that Auntie June had given it the all clear (she's his elder sister). I'm off out at work this afternoon. It's piddling down here and I'm taking our new driver out for instruction. If any of you see a Sainsbury's van in the Lichfield-Tamworth region with two people in this afternoon.. there's a very good chance it will be me I need to get out and have my thoughts focus on something outside my personal grief. I'd like to be able to focus them in the dry but the wet will have to do

Thank you all once more for your comments, stories and kind thoughts. I don't know what I'd do without you

ATB
Dave

[J0hn]

I do feel sorry for you making the decision about Poppy and having doubts about it.

When I called the vet that Sunday morning, I knew exactly what was best to do and he was quite shocked when I simply said "our dog's been in pain all night, please put her to sleep". Luckily, my wife is an ex-vet nurse and used to work with that vet, so once we were there he didn't hesitate. What bugged me for a long time afterwards was whether putting her on NSAIDs had been the right thing to do, and if it had anything to do with her death. She had been very ill a year previously, and I thought we were going to lose her then. She pulled through all on her own (no-one knew what was wrong with her) but her last year, she was a shadow of the happy, energetic dog she was before, and in that sense, we knew it was probably better for her to say goodbye. No-one wants to see their dog miserable, and in that last year of repeated heatwaves in the UK, she really suffered.

I was on NSAIDs for over 10 years and it really screwed up my internals, especially my stomach - and I always blamed myself for having pressed the vet to put her on them a few weeks before she died, even though I knew her stomach was a bit on the unstable side.

It's not just that - there are so many things that you find you're wondering about and whether it was the right thing. The only thing you need to be concerned about, though, is whether your dog had a good life. Let's face it, none of us are experts and we can't talk to our pets, so we have to guess what they need and what they are going through. Sometimes those decisions are incredibly difficult, and sometimes we get it wrong - but we always do what we think is right and best for them, so we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves if things don't turn out how we'd hoped - as long as they don't suffer for it.

My tuppence hal'penny.

[Jon.M]

Dave, I'll explain about why I believe you made the right decision for Poppy.

Last November Suzie lost a lot of weight and started urinating around the house so we took her to the vet who ran a series of tests X-ray, blood and urine analysis and ultrasound and concluded that she had renal failure and a heart murmur. As she was fourteen years old and had already lost a lot of weight I asked him for a prognosis as I thought she was very ill and felt it was useless to put her through a lot of unpleasant treatment just to prolong her suffering for a short time.
The vet avoided that by explaining the treatment program which did turn out to be unpleasant for both Susie and us, as well as being expensive. To cut a long story short after a brief improvement she got steadily worse until in January I took her to another vet recommended by a neighbour. The second vet confirmed that she was in end stage renal failure and would die within a couple of weeks and that the end would be distressing. He recommended putting her to sleep and I agreed with that. He did say that he could continue to treat her but that even then she wouldn't live long.

My conclusion is that vets vary. The first one may sincerely believe that everything should be done to keep an animal alive as long as possible. Many owners probably feel the same way. We would have preferred to have had a better explanation of the expected outcome of her condition and would probably have decided on euthanasia earlier. I do still get upset, as I was the one who took her to the vet and made the decision to put her to sleep, even if the vet did recommend it. But it was the right decision and I'm only sorry that I wasn't more insistent with the first vet two months earlier.



Susie (above) was very docile, clumsy and pretty stupid for a cat and, whilst Lulu (below) can be a right bitch if she doesn't get what she wants right now.





My wife has also said no more cats after Lulu to cut down on the cleaning and damage to the furniture. We'll see.

Jon

[DaveB]

Thanks Jon and JD too

Indeed. We have to trust in a vets judgement as we do a doctors even though at times, we're not 100% convinced that what we've been told is sound. This is more true of doctors IMO. I refuse to go to one as I always feel like I'm wasting their time! NEXT!!

I'm sure that vets will vary to the same degree though and I know that some are downright thieves. Cartraphen (I think that's how it's spelled) tablets from Remy's vet in Essex cost us £82 per hundred and she was on these all the time.. this beside the odd top-up every couple of months with injections. We accepted this. When we moved to Berkshire, we registered with a recommended vet there to continue her treatment and exactly the same tablets cost £40. I couldn't believe it. My coat pocket was full of receipts from the old vet and I said to the new one 'Are you sure about this' while showing them one of my old receipts. 'We couldn't possibly comment' she said The dirty, robbing b'stards!

It's coincidental (possibly fate) that Poppy was born the same week we had Remy put to sleep. A dear old lady customer at the pub (a member of the WI.. it was one of those places ) had got to love Remy and said she'd put feelers out to see if there were any Labrador pups available in the area and true to her word, she phoned a couple, maybe 3 weeks later to say she knew of a litter ready to go on the Ridgeway and gave us their number. We called the number and the pups weren't ready to go at all.. they were just 3 weeks old Still.. we asked the price and could we go and see them. I think there were 3 or 4 still available.. Poppy was one. We knew she was the 'one' immediately and there it was.. a done deal. We saw her again at 5 weeks old (she'd gone a bit darker) and picked her up at 8 weeks.. a bit darker still! Her colour (it transpires) is Fox Red and is the darkest end of the 'Yellow' Lab colour. We didn't know this at the time mind you. I was down at the bank in Goring.. Pop was tied to a drainpipe outside.. and a lady came in. 'Is that your Labrador'? Oh god.. what has she done now, I thought to myself. 'It's so unusual to see a Fox Red Labrador' she told me. I got back to the pub and Googled 'Fox Red' and yes.. the lady from Goring hadn't been on the sherry.. Pop was Fox Red!

Dear.. I'm babbling on.. sorry

ATB
Dave