The Daily Peeve / Rant

Speaking of Pets we had the weirdest thing happen in our household: our cat was sick for six months and spontaneously recovered.

it is the weirdest thing, I’m still shaking my head over it and discussing with DH.

The long and short of it is, he’s been sick for six months as evidenced by lethargy. The vet theorized he was having joint pain be ause the vet could see his muscles in back legs had deteriorated. We treated him once a month with a pain blocker. That did not seem to affect him and After three months of the inoculations I stopped it. His health did not change and he was still not moving around much. I know he was in pain because every once in a while, we would touch him and he would cry.

and then one day he just became more active. His activity level has ncreased since then. He’s now pretty much back to normal.

This is a 7 year old cat, not an old guy. During his six months of illness he was eating, drinking, using the litter box, and grooming himself. But he did not feel good, and that was obvious. I was starting to entertain the notion of next step being euthanasia, and one complicated factor is he absolutely hates going to the vet as evidenced by vomiting and pooping in his carrier every time we go there. It is a seven minute journey so it’s not like he has to travel long in the car.

and then I had the brilliant idea of having the mobile vet pay a visit to him and maybe starting up the pain inoculation again. And that was about the time that he came out of his funk and got back to normal.

I just wish they could talk and tell me what’s wrong with them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

As for the pain of losing them, .i can handle that. What I absolutely HATE is that period where you are trying to figure out if it is time to euthanize them or not. I now look at the eithanasia decision as a curve, and I ask the vet if our pet is in the decision curse if euthanasia is appropriate. I abailutely will not wait until the end of the curve, but I no linger mind doing it at rhe beginning of the curve.

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I know!! I told my daughter (this is the first dog she's lost) that this is absolutely the worst part. You see them and they are not themselves, and you know they are in pain and you need to make the hard decision, but it's excruciating being in that limbo phase. Once they are gone, you simply grieve and move on. Both dogs I lost I waited too long for their good--and we did the Hail Mary pass expensive surgery hoping for some medical miracle which of course never happened.

nswef, I agree that being a dog sitter for friend and family is the way to go.

The first tulips of the season had a small start in the yard today. The weather man has called our unseasonably mild weather, a "false spring" with more winter in the works, but it is a bit refreshing.

Nearly 60 today in the Chicago area. 20 degrees above normal.

There were daffodils in full bloom in St. Louis yesterday. Hope spring isn’t too early. Our
daffodil society show is April 5.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

I just wish they could talk and tell me what’s wrong with them.

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Check your app store. Meowtalk cat translator.

We had thought about installing it when my late bosses cat started seemingly feeling bad. The vet said we had caught her in the early stages of kidney failure, at 20+ years old. Put her down before she got in worse pain, but it still hurt. However had two animals that we didn't get to in time before they were in pain, my first dog (galbladder had ruptured and we didn't know it, during an epileptic seizure), and my last dog (either had a stroke and wondered off, or wondered off to have a stroke and the person that told me where he was, said he was howling in pain all night until he passed at an abandoned house in seven foot tall grass.

Although it is a MUCH different story, when a human asks you to do the same thing to them, DAMHIK.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

Check your app store. Meowtalk cat translator.

We had thought about installing it when my late bosses cat started seemingly feeling bad. The vet said we had caught her in the early stages of kidney failure, at 20+ years old. Put her down before she got in worse pain, but it still hurt. However had two animals that we didn't get to in time before they were in pain, my first dog (galbladder had ruptured and we didn't know it, during an epileptic seizure), and my last dog (either had a stroke and wondered off, or wondered off to have a stroke and the person that told me where he was, said he was howling in pain all night until he passed at an abandoned house in seven foot tall grass.

Although it is a MUCH different story, when a human asks you to do the same thing to them, DAMHIK.

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awwww, that’s too bad about your doggie. But it isnt too bad about the20 year old cat, that is a good age and kidney disease is very common as life ending illness for cats.

So... my DD and DSIL decided to have an in-home euthanasia for the pup tomorrow.... In-home meaning *our* home. I'm frankly touched that they wanted to send him off from here ("because he loved it up here and it's so peaceful") but DH and I are now at the center of this very emotional event. I'm not good at being emotional. However, whatever they want to do, DH and I want to support them. It is going to be a tough day. I'm getting up early tomorrow to get my work done so I can devote most of the day to just being there for them.

I'm so sorry about the dog--that's lovely that you can do that for them. A hard day.

Well wishes tomorrow catherine for this family event.