The Pet Thread

[leggo PE]

Damn, @thejulie_PE, those eyes! He'd put Tyra to shame.

 

[tj_PE]

Damn, @thejulie_PE, those eyes! He'd put Tyra to shame.

yeah, and he knows how to use them to convince you that he needs cold faucet water instead of water from his fountain. rude. 

 

[NJmike PE]

so, I'm pretty bummed out. my dog of 13 years is not doing well at all. he is approx 15 y.o. and we've had him as long as we've been married. he's very lethargic and slow, won't eat, walks around seeming lost and wont raise his head, always looking down. it really does suck watching this happen to them. this dog has been my buddy for many years. I hate this

 

[Supe]

Sorry to hear, NJ

 

[knight1fox3]

so, I'm pretty bummed out. my dog of 13 years is not doing well at all. he is approx 15 y.o. and we've had him as long as we've been married. he's very lethargic and slow, won't eat, walks around seeming lost and wont raise his head, always looking down. it really does suck watching this happen to them. this dog has been my buddy for many years. I hate this

Sorry to hear this. Having just recently been through something similar with our oldest cat, I can relate. Have you taken him to the vet yet to see what's up? Because I can say once we did that, and learned of the inevitable organ failure (hopefully this is not the case for your dog), we made the difficult decision to put the cat to rest. Knowing what we knew for our cat at the time, LadyFox made a good point that we were no longer waiting for her to get better, but actually waiting for her to get worse. And while it was such a difficult decision to make regardless, I take some comfort in the fact that kitty was put to rest with some level of dignity left.

 

[NJmike PE]

Sorry to hear this. Having just recently been through something similar with our oldest cat, I can relate. Have you taken him to the vet yet to see what's up? Because I can say once we did that, and learned of the inevitable organ failure (hopefully this is not the case for your dog), we made the difficult decision to put the cat to rest. Knowing what we knew for our cat at the time, LadyFox made a good point that we were no longer waiting for her to get better, but actually waiting for her to get worse. And while it was such a difficult decision to make regardless, I take some comfort in the fact that kitty was put to rest with some level of dignity left.

we have discussed it. we went through a similar turn of events about 4 yrs ago with our last dog. turned out he had a mass in his abdomin. I keep hoping that I wake  up one morning and to find that he past through the night in his sleep, but as the days go on, I feel less and less confident in that happening.

 

[leggo PE]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, NJ Mike. That sounds awful. I hope you, your family, and your pup all get to a better place (wherever that is) soon.

 

[engineergurl]

As someone who did not make the decision but our pet died naturally at home a few weeks back, there was guilt and doubt associated with what else could have been done, just something you may want to consider.  It sucks big time either way. 

 

[MA_PE]

It absolutely sux and sorry to hear about it NJ.  My brother and SIL just out their 14 yo samoyed down.  The dog was a mess.  At the end the dog couldn't even stand up on her own.  They did that dog no favors by letting her go that long.  Personally, I think it was pretty selfish of my SIL and my niece who held out on putting her down so long.

 

[jeb6294]

Get a Great Dane they said.  It'll be fun they said.

That's one of those tall pub height tables he's resting his chin on.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Now that we're moving out of the city and will be having much more land, the wife is really pushing for a dog.  I'm thinking of a labrador retriever.  Looking for a well-behaved, relatively low maintenance dog since it'll be the first in several years.

 

[Supe]

My boss has a beautiful furball of a retreiver after going 0-2 on Pyrenees (both had aggressive behaviors, the second one so much so that the breeder took her back and put her down.)  Such an awesome, mild mannered dog.  Great with and very protective of the kids, and just a 24/7 smile/tail wagger.  They sent her off for obedience training for a couple of weeks, and she learned quite a few tricks.  Very intelligent dog, and a great choice for sure.

 

[Road Guy]

labs are usually pretty tough during the puppy years, our neighbors back home had one and it chewed through the bannisters on their steps, chewed the ends of rocking chairs, etc...

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

That was my concern RG.  Labs are usually known for having a lot of energy during the puppy years but we will have lots of land for running, ball throwing.  I imagine it will be a bit of effort on my end to attend obedience classes etc. but that's ok.  Alternately, I don't want to have a brand new house and then have my steps chewed through...

 

[Road Guy]

there are probably few dogs that are not a PIA as a puppy (our border collie as a pup chewed the sheetrock off one of our walls)

when ours was a pup and had a ton of energy I just bought one of those tennis ball throwing stick "things" and would wear her out with that before and after I went to work, it was a major PIA, but it helped keep her from escaping and tearing shit up. But after around a year she pretty much trained herself, they are crazy smart.

 

[leggo PE]

The new kitty has come home and is settling in well! He's a cutie. The only annoying thing (besides general kitten antics, which I can't blame him for) is that he seems to have chosen our big potted plant as his litter box over his actual litter box. Granted, that's not the worst place he could be going. But, it shall not be a lasting habit!

 

[matt267 PE]

The new kitty has come home and is settling in well! He's a cutie. The only annoying thing (besides general kitten antics, which I can't blame him for) is that he seems to have chosen our big potted plant as his litter box over his actual litter box. Granted, that's not the worst place he could be going. But, it shall not be a lasting habit!

Maybe try an electric training pad set to high?

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

We had to have our kitty of 15+ years put down last fall.  It was sad but she is not suffering anymore.  We have been pet free for the last year, and have recently decided to become kitten fosters for one of our local shelters.  It is going to be hard to give up those adorable balls of fur, but hopefully the reward of helping the kitties to be socialized so they find good homes is worth it.

 

[Dleg]

Other people's pets:  I went to dinner at a friend's house the other night. Unfortunately they forgot to tell me not to park my car in their driveway.  When I got there, their German shepard/terrier mix comes running out to my car, on a super long tether, and jumps on on my passenger door and proceeds to scratch the shit out of my paint. I opened the door as fast as I  could so she could just put her muddy paws all over me, instead, but the damage was done. 

 

[leggo PE]

@vhab49, good on ya for becoming a kitten foster family! There are so, so many kittens out there right now.

@Dleg, damn, that sucks! That would never occur to me as something that might happen were I not told in advance. Has their dog done that to other people's cars too?