What we do for our pets...How far will you go?

[Ozarkgal]

I often think about how far one will go to cater to their animals special needs. For me, I will do whatever it takes to insure the health and well-being of the Gangsta's. I have spent astronomical amounts of money on these guys to keep the wheel under them, which I include all that has gone before them as well. To date, 5 past and 3 present.

My most serious special needs dog was Sassy, a runt mini schnauzer that had a huge will to live. She made it through distemper, even though she was vaccinated, which left her nearly blind, bladder stones, squamous cell cancer, for which 1/3 of her tongue was removed. This was not a fun recovery and the vet gave her six months to live. She made it 5 more years during which time she developed diabetes, and it's complications, such as kidney failure and heart murmur and complete blindness. Through all of this the little girl never lost her love of life, was the alpha female boss and was a trooper up until the end.

Knock on wood, currently all are healthy, after a serious bout of urinary crystals and pancreatitis last year for Ohno, which broke my budget.

Ohno is my special needs guy right now. Instrumental in his development of bladder stones is the fact that the goof ball won't drink water...his motto is "No water will touch my lips." So I have to boil boneless, skinless chicken breast and process it into a paste. Then it is mixed in two gallons of water, which lasts about a week. A bowl of it is given to him with each meal, which he happily laps it up like chicken soup, the silly rounder. He is also on a special vet recommended diet that breaks the dog food budget every month. He will be on this for life because of his touchy digestive system and prevention of further urinary crystals.

Rooney, the main guy dog is on phenobarbital for a mild seizuring disorder. He does well on a low dosage,and the medication is not too expensive.

I won't discuss horses, which are now a thing of the past for me, or I would be writing until the forum ran out of space or and working to pay for them until hell froze over. Horses are born with a death wish and they live until they die trying to fulfill it.

Anyone else want to share their experiences with special needs pets?

 

[Jillaroo]

My daughter had a gorgeous Great Dane who was such a delightful dog, she was a gentle giant, she became ill and vets discovered she had too many white cells in her blood, it wasn't Leukemia my daughter and her fiance spent over $20,000 trying to save her she was on so many tablets which made her ravenous , i looked after them for 2 weeks while they had a well earned holiday and i became very close to her, when they came back they remarked on how well she looked her coat was glossy again and she had perked up a lot, but sadly she died a week later. R.I.P Skoot
She was famous too as when they lived on the side of a mountain in Mt Kembla she woke them barking at midnight when they went outside they could hear a roaring sound up behind the house, it was a landslide so they took off down the mountain through all the bush until they reached the road and called for help,next morning i was sitting watching the Sunrise show and all of a sudden my daughter was on TV it scared hell out of me, but everyone was talking about Skoot how she saved the day, luckily it didn't reach the house but they couldn't go back for 2 weeks which was hard as they both worked and needed clothes etc

 

[SifuPhil]

I give you both kudos for your diligence and love. I'm not sure I would be willing or able to go to such lengths for a pet.

What concerns me is the fairly recent trend of people referring to their pets as some sort of furry human. To me that crosses the line of clear thinking. I know it's meant as a cutesy-wutesy way of interacting with them, but between dressing them up like little people, buying them overpriced "habitats" and houses, expensive beds, gourmet foods ... it's just a little too much for me.

I've loved my pets and done my best to make their lives comfortable, but I've always recognized that they are, in reality, just wild animals that have temporarily learned to tolerate us humans. Although they can show human traits at times they are still just animals. I love them, enjoy them and respect them, but I never mistake them for a person.

Annnnnd ... let the flaming begin. :cower:

 

[SeaBreeze]

The last dog I lost a couple of years back, was my St. Schnauzer girl, she had Idiopathic Epilepsy, Hip Dysplasia, hearing and digestive issues, etc. We ended up saying good bye to her when she was not even 8 years old, she was the sweetest thing and we still all miss her, including my dog Hans. She's the one on the left in the chair pictures.

She was very heavily medicated, and had severe grand mal seizures, sometimes in clusters, several a day. She was on phenobarbitol, potassium bromide, rimydal, rectal valium, etc. We changed our household routine around to make things good for her when she started with the seizures at the age of 5. She slept between our pillows despite her size, that way we could monitor her for nightly seizures and have the towels ready, and go through the practiced drill to keep her safe and not so scared.

Anyhoo, her mental and physical health declined, and at the end she couldn't stand anymore and was in pain regardless of all the pain meds we were giving her. We knew it was the kindest thing to let her go.

I had an Alaskan Malamute when I was first married, and he had two bad back knees. We had both of them operated on when he was a puppy, and he was never 100%, always had pain, etc. He lived for quite awhile, and ended up dying from a heart attack. I'll do a lot to make my pets comfortable if they have health problems. One thing I won't do is put them through chemo, etc. for cancer, I lost two dogs over the years to cancer. I lost my sister at 42 to cancer, and other family members, and right now I'm in the mindset that I wouldn't want the chemo/radiation treatments for myself either.

I'm not a fanatic about my pets, but I'll fight for them just as I would a child. I did start referring to them as my furkids some years ago, heard Dr. Laura use that expression on the radio, and it just clicked with me...especially since I have no kids. I don't like dressing up pets either, mine had one FidoFleece coat for winter snowy weather, and it was rarely used.

One of our horse people here should start a horse group on the forum, it could be all things horses past and present. I've never had a horse, but I would visit the group (if allowed) to see pictures and hear about those magnificent animals. :love_heart:

 

[That Guy]

I love animals and adore my pets but it only goes so far . . .

 

[Ozarkgal]

TWH: Compared to you, I got lucky with the horses. Aside from a founder on all fours on one from which he recovered and continued on to be a hunter, trail horse for many years after, losing one from colic , and a knee surgery and long rehab on my first Arab, there were only the usual horse bumps in the road from their stupid antics. Quite a bit of horse related money was spent patching myself up from my own daredevil antics!

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I spent a lot of money on one of my Siamese cats years ago when I was poor and single, for a serious urinary tract infection.The day I brought him home from the vet, he wanted outside and I never saw him again...that's gratitude, and my last emotional attachment to a cat!

Phil: No flaming here either. Some people are just more emotionally attached to their animals than others, in escalating degrees for whatever reasons.

Jillaroo..That was money well spent on Scoots, rather before or after the incident. Saving an owner's life would have no monetary limit for me!

SeaBreeze: I understand what you're saying about changing your whole routine for a sick animal. As with Sassy, we didn't really realize how much her medical conditions had taken over our lives. After she was gone, it took a while to realize we didn't have to do things on a schedule revolving around her. Kind of a lost feeling. Thanks for the horse group suggestion..wonder if anyone else would be interested?
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While medically, I will try to do everything I can to save the Gangstas within reason, and as long as the quality of life is there, I will not do heroics with a poor prognosis. I am beyond that point with my retirement income, and in any event, have never believed in putting an animal through additional stress before the short term inevitable.

They do get a premium dog food at $55.00 for a 30 pound bag. Ohno, as mentioned gets a vet prescription diet and add ons. After much researching commercial dog food, much of it is what causes medical problems in dogs. I try to minimize that by researching the company and the food they are putting out before buying it. Short of cooking for them myself, which some people do, they get the best food I can buy.

I do not have the same emotional attachment to my five semi-feral cats. They are there to do a job. Their employment does not include medical insurance, they are minimum wage workers. They get a yearly rabies shot, fed once a day and get to eat all the vermin they can catch. Unlike the dogs or horses, I think this makes them more careful about what they do, as they don't seem to suffer from stupid death wish antics.layful: