The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE

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[HairOfTheDog]

You know me... I would have taken a lot of pictures ;~D

My old vet brought his golden with him in his truck... Could never let her out here because she and Gidget looked too growly at each other.

My dog vet was really funny, when I had my old labrador Logan in to look at some lumps that were growing... At sixteen, he had several lumps around his body... and some warts, and all seemed to be benign, but a few were getting big enough to be noticed. One was right in between his back toes and it was becoming painful walking and would bleed. We decided to take it out. So we're looking over the rest of his lumps, and I'm trying to figure out which were worth removing 'as long as he was gonna be under anesthesia anyway'. Heck... I don't know which are worth taking off and which are just vanity, so I ask him. "If he was your dog, which ones would you take off?" He said, "Well, if it was my dog, I'd take them all off, but then, it's sortof a hobby of mine isn't it?" HA! For some reason that just really cracked me up.

Incidently, he never did have the surgery... I made the appt for my following payday, but a few days before, his back gave out and we was paralyzed. Ended up putting him down, still with a bandage on his foot that was to hold him till the surgery.

[FrogInABlender]

I'm sorry to hear that about your dog. That's such a hard thing to have to do, but it's good for both of you that you didn't let it drag on. I was guilty of that with my cat. He got cancer behind his left eye and we tried everything to save him, even removing the eye and having chemo, but he was so pitiful after a week or so of chemo that I just couldn't do it to him anymore and had him put down. If I had known it was going to turn out that way, I would've never put him through all that. I don't know if it was the chemo or just a natural progression of the cancer, but he went blind in the eye he had left. He would just wander around the house, bumping into things and crying. The only time he was quite was when my husband held him. It was so sad, but it made having him put down an easier decision to make.

[tuffydoodle]

Hey Keith, check out post 967. Those doggies can't wait for that fresh and bloody taste treat. They don't even need those suckers fried up.

[tuffydoodle]

I love vets with a sense of humor. My vet was coming out one day and at that time, we lived near the airport. The vet was trying to time our appointment to coincide with a delivery he was picking up at the airport. He said, " I'll be there around 2:00, that's when I'm expecting my semen." That threw me off guard and I couldn't think of a reply so I said, "oh yeah, I'm expecting some semen later, too." He took it the wrong way...

[HairOfTheDog]

Logan was completely paralyzed. He apparently had a weakness in his back, due to old age, that only took a misstep to snap. It might have snapped because he was hopping on his bandage in the back, but it might have snapped anyway any time getting up on the couch. He wasn't in any pain at all after it happened and that was a blessing. He perfectly content, he just couldn't get up. The decision with him was actually very easy, there were no choices.

Zulu, my little dog, was harder. She was failing in her mind more than her body, or maybe it was both. She'd pace like she was lost and uncomfortable, and really became very confused and difficult. It was really frustrating, and painful when she didn't want to sit with me anymore and would just pace. It was hard to know exactly what day was the right day to take her in. She failed rapidly after Logan was gone, they were inseparable and he was the only thing she still seemed familiar with. When I picked a day finally, only a month after putting Logan down, putting her down did not go easily and her confusion ripped me up. I wish I could take that day back. It still haunts me. I don't like to think about it. She was my dog in college... and we were together nearly 17 years. I fight hard to remember her as a young dog so full of vigor, and smart as a whip.

I always thought she looked like a mountain goat in this picture.

Here they are together... two days before Logan's back went out, about a month before I had her put down.

[FrogInABlender]

I always thought she looked like a mountain goat in this picture...

She DOES look like a little mountain goat. Did you have the hair on her feet trimmed or were they just naturally that way?

The picture of her and Logan sure is sweet. You can tell they were "Bestest Buds". :o)

[HairOfTheDog]

I just wanted to share that many of us have a lot of doubts and regrets about what to do as our pets age and get sick, and only a few times where we regret nothing when we lose our old pets. I hope to take my experience forward in getting better and better at it... I don't want to be without pets, and they all die too soon. Bay will be the test of my life, unless he can go easily in the night.

I clipped her feet. She had Cocker-Spaniel pom-poms for feet and they had to be clipped or they were a mess.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL. Poor Bob, he's going to be afraid to go to sleep after this for a while:)

My vets dogs always hung around at such times for the same reason.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

"oh yeah, I'm expecting some semen later, too."

LOL!!!

Speaking of semen, (you started it!) When the vet does a castration, he always has to show me what he's removed, pointing out each part so that I know he's removed everything he's supposed to. Apparently you're supposed to get at least 3 inches of spermatic cord, so he was stretching it out from the testicle he'd just removed, saying "and here's the cord" and he accidentally squirted semen all over his assistant who was standing there holding the horse up. It was one of those moments when nobody says anything for a second or two then everybody busts out laughing. She handled it well though. She said, "Well, it's been one of those days, I get blood in my eye and semen on my arm, what's next?" We all got a good laugh out of it.

[FrogInABlender]

I clipped her feet...

I thought so. They look good that way. I think that's what contributes to the mountain goat look so much. They look like little hooves.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL...again:)

I have an interesting gelding story. The first time I saw a horse gelded was a pony of CS's.

The vet had the horse tranquilized and was already to start. He reached in his pail of intraments for a scapel I guess, but there wasn't one there. He kind of mumbled around, reached in his pocket and pull out his pocket knife. Swished it around in the bucket then took hold of the ponys bag, and just kind of swiped at it with his knife. I think is what happened is the knife was alot sharper then he thought it would be. Instead of just opening the bag, he cut it smooth off, the whole thing.

Of course CS and I did not know that was not the way it was done, and the vet never said anything. He just tossed it over into some grass, let the horse wake up and sent it home. It had a hole under there you could stick your fist in, but he healed up fine, I think if I remember correctly it did take awhile tho. It wasn't till the next time I saw one done I realized that that vet and made a big mistake. Never went to him again.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Yeah, If you're gonna have animals, except for maybe parrots, you're gonna have to deal with end of life issues. One of my favorite quotes was from a Robert A. Heinlein book titled "The Quotations of Lazarus Long" and it said...

"When the need arises---and it does---you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out---that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse."

And I took that to mean that you've got to be able to make that decision for them at the right time and be there with them until the end. We owe them that.

My next favorite was "Women and Cats will do as they please. Men and Dogs should just sit back and get used to it." ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

wooops!

OK - I have a funny castration story too.... painful as it was for Logan. I was showing him all during his prime, so I didn't neuter him till he was 8. I was told that there is a lot of benefit in neutering them by old age even if they've been intact, to reduce the risk of the old-age male cancers.

Well, I had him neutered and took him home... the next morning he was in quite a bit of pain. I rolled him over, and I swear THEY WERE BACK. There were his ~nuts~ full and firm as before! I yelled to my dad.... Dad! you better come take a look at this! They're back!

Well, the sacks that were left had filled with blood/puss/something, and it was really painful for the poor old guy. I was told later that he should have been put on antibiotics prior to and after the surgery, that the risk of infection is greater in older dogs.

[FrogInABlender]

...he cut it smooth off, the whole thing...

JIMMIN-E-CHRISTMAS!!!

I wouldn't go back to him EITHER!

[HairOfTheDog]

And I took that to mean that you've got to be able to make that decision for them at the right time and be there with them until the end. We owe them that.

I agree.

[FrogInABlender]

Poor ol' Guy!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

OOOOOO...that really makes it sound painful:( poor guy.

Becky

[tuffydoodle]

Would have been funnier if she had of gotten the semen in the eye. I can think of lots of interesting things I could say about that aim, guaranteed to make a vet blush.

[tuffydoodle]

"Well, I had him neutered and took him home... the next morning he was in quite a bit of pain. I rolled him over, and I swear THEY WERE BACK. There were his ~nuts~ full and firm as before! I yelled to my dad.... Dad! you better come take a look at this! They're back!"

I'm gonna have to redo my eyemakeup after reading that one.

[HairOfTheDog]

The vet was pretty sheepish when I brought him right back in... and antibiotics cleared it right up.