The Pet Thread

[DaveM]

Most people have pets and for some these pets become part of the family so I thought having a thread that we could tell others about our pets and just general nice animal stories might be enjoyed by all.

So pleas feel free to get into it in this thread as we all enjoy hearing about our furry friends.

 

[DoorPosition]

I noticed this thread has been attempted in here before but they never last more than a page or two. I'll definitely pitch in. I've become a big animal softy in my older years.

Our crew:

"Owen." I named him after the funny looking Australian submachinegun. This is 90 day's worth of growth. 1st day we got him vs last weekend at obedience school. He’s basically the class clown.

Athena… "Theenie." Showed up on our back step last NYE in a lashing rainstorm and adopted us. I didn't name her, Mrs did. If I had it would've been "Tommy" or "Piggie" or something like that.

 

[Rocky]

I'm a pet lover but have none of my own at present, so I enjoy my daughter's one year-old who was raised from a pup.

 

[solomon]

Our trusty friend is 15½. You count the half years when your expected breed-longevity is 12.

My young-adult son is seriously ill. So, not only has Twinkle been there throughout most of his childhood, she now provides vital comfort, friendship and activity.

She's deaf, although can still do a three-mile walk. Anyway, being deaf, she doesn't hear me coming downstairs in the morning. I get a knot in my stomach, and watch her stomach for breathing movement.

I'm dreading her demise.

A pre-Christmas walk, 20 December 2022

... and back home later same day

 

[DoorPosition]

Aside from several brief years of satisfaction and joy(several years if you’re fortunate), in the end pets guarantee you one thing… a broken heart.

 

[Rocky]

Wonderful companion
So sorry to hear about your son.

 

[DoorPosition]

We lost an old boy on the day before XMas eve 4 years ago and it was probably the most traumatic event I’ve ever gone through. 16 or 17 yr old ginger Tabby. We’d adopted him later in life when his owner reached out to whoever could take him in so he could deal with a raging substance abuse problem. The Mrs was new to America and she’d given up her 2 cats back home to come over so I figured it was meant to be. For all intents and purposes it was our first pet.

I came down stairs that morning to get ready for the day and he was lying in his customary curled up position on his little bed in the front window. Gave him a little belly scratch to wake him for his mid-morning snack and went to start the coffee. He got up to stretch then collapsed and went into the throes of agony. I was looking right at him as it happened. Took about an hour to get him to the vet, get imagery and spiked/prepped for potential surgery, and he died. He was in my arms almost the entire time. They got pain meds into his IV so at least he was calmed down a bit. Evidently he had lesions in his heart and he kicked a blood clot causing a lower body stroke of sorts.

I bitched out for the next 3 days and hid in the study with the blinds drawn under a quilt. Needless to say that Xmas sucked. We’d bought all his little snacky gifts and toys and they were hanging in a stocking(I know… g@y, but the Mrs insists). I drifted in and out of cognizance for an additional week. I’m not even exaggerating when I say it was easily one of the worse things I’ve ever been through, if not the worst… and I saw a guy blown in half once. To this day I view the event as God’s vengeful wrath.

On a positive note- The Mrs’ 2 cats back home, although recently passed lived long healthy lives. One of her good friends took them in. And the dude who gave up his ginger boy to deal with addiction did so successfully. He’s crushing it somewhere in the Austin area now.

 

[solomon]

This is Peter...

I expect there's a lot of rabbits out there with that name. Bit like lots of humans are called John.

One day, a friend visited. She brought her lurcher. Peter was in the front garden. He was grabbed and given a thorough shaking.

I nursed him, feeding him special stuff, for about three days. Perhaps it was the shock. What might not have been a devastating death was, probably because I nursed him those three days. I think I cried. Actually, I'm sure I did.

 

[Greyfell]

These are my two. The smaller one was the runt of her litter, and she's nearly 14 years old. She sat on my feet and looked up at me while her breeder and I were talking, basically picking me out. At the time, she was too young for a 2000 mile drive, so she was shipped to me a few months later. She's called a "blue", as in blued steel. The big one, the silver, is 3 months away from 13 years old. I adopted him from Poodle Rescue because he outlived his previous owner, an oncologist. I've slowly discovered he was trained to hand-signals.

 

[Qship]

This is Dusty, our Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreiver. We had him for 12 years. Smart boy. Almost lost him to cancer once, but they removed his thyroid. Bought us a bit more than a year more with him. We lost him last year when he had a stroke. Died in my Wife's arms. Broke her heart. He was HER dog. I was just the feeder.

 

[solomon]

get into it in this thread as we all enjoy hearing about our furry friends

My Dwarf Rainbow Fish are put out. At the risk of someone throwing a woke remark, they would like a little less furrism please.


View: https://youtu.be/tFhUEueo3Fs


They recognise me. When I approach, they come swimming up, animated. If a stranger looks in, they hide.

 

[DaveM]

I think it was around 9 month back when we noticed this cat in our garden and I then found it was sleeping on top of our water tank. It was the middle of winter so that was not a great thing to find out. After doing a bit of searching I found she belonged to a lady down the road from us. She got a dog after she had an intruder in her yard and the cat did not like this and just up and left home. She was very skittish and would run when she would see any of us. I eventually got to a point where she would allow me to pet her but not pick her up.

So it was off to the pet shop and we purchased a nice cat bed for her and put this on our covered deck that she took kindly to and would spend a lot of time in it. As I already had two grown indoor cats I could not bring her inside at that point. So I spend a couple of weeks getting them all used to each other smell by brushing them and then taking the fur and letting the other cats smell it. I would also pick her up so my two indoor cats could see this.

The two indoor cats are taken out for a walk each day so the one day I let them meet each other in the garden. My cats were ok with it but she was unsure and would hiss at them. So after doing this a few times and finding it got better each time I eventually moved her bed inside and would bring her in at night. I still had her closed in the one room with a window open so if she wanted she could still go outside. After a few weeks she was coming in and out as she wanted and all three cats were now accepting each other. Her bed has now moved to my computer room and the door is also left open at night.

So she is now free to come in and go out as she please but normally at around 21:00h she comes in for the night.

So this is Snowflake the newest member of our pet family.

 

[DoorPosition]

Thena's still all doped up after having her lady bits snipped yesterday. She's still awfully spry though, when she's awake. I figured she'd be totally out of it. It's only marginally effected her leaping and scaling abilities. We'll see what later on brings after the anethsesia cocktail's completely worn off. Ketamine is a Hell of a drug.

And Owen continues to claim my jacket liner as his own. He tugs it off the back of chairs so he can get it down and do snow angels on it. Probably because it smells like me. Dogs will do that if they like the way something smells… and dogs like musty smelling sh-t.



Think I'm just going to give it to him and get another.

 

[Greyfell]

These are my two.

I meant to add some info that adds background to "why poodles?" My mother liked animals, but she was allergic to most. Growing up, we went through a black lab, a collie (both of whom lived outside) and a Cocker Spaniel, but Mom still had bad reactions to them. Then she learned about poodles being hypo-allergenic (typically not causing allergic reactions), so we started on a whole series of Toy poodles, and raising several litters. Obviously, I learned to appreciate poodles during that time (I am not allergic to animals). It wasn't until my 30's I learned to appreciate the full-size (standard) poodles, when I encountered a rescued poodle belonging to the manager of a ladies boutique (in a up-scale) shopping center. The dog would quietly sit near the door of the shop and greet "patrons" entering the shop. I learned from the owner/shop manager the dog had been found wandering the streets of Sacramento, and, not finding the original owner, put up for adoption. When I moved from an apartment to my condo, I started adopting/rescuing toy poodles, and shifting over to standards over time. It's been a pleasant journey, overall.

 

[DoorPosition]

My God-Father, ex-PD Chief, who's the only real family I have aside from in-laws, swears by Standards. They're the only dogs he's ever owned. He always named them after a type or brand of spirits- Cognac, Liqueur, Stoli, etc. I remember every one he's had since I was a small child and they were always great animals- friendly, lively, well mannered. He lives on an old corral quarry that's a pond now and they could never stay out of it. As soon as you let them out they'd go tear-assing down the dock like rockets and launch off like 15-20 ft out into the water, then swim around until you jumped in and dragged them back to the shore.

I've been trying to talk him into getting another one, even to go the rescue route. He think's he's too old at his mid-70's. I disagree.

I'm going to keep working on it.

 

[Greyfell]

I've been trying to talk him into getting another one, even to go the rescue route. He think's he's too old at his mid-70's. I disagree.

I completely understand that he doesn't want to out-live his dogs, but that is never guaranteed, anyway. But, if he really loves the breed, that would give him reason enough, IMO, to regularly get out and remain active with the dogs. I'm 66 and I intend to keep at least one ( 2 are more fun) around for as long as I can. Just need to preplan what will be done with the dogs after you're gone.

 

[solomon]

I've been trying to talk him into getting another one, even to go the rescue route. He think's he's too old at his mid-70's. I disagree

Meet Snowy, Hoody and Wally.

They no longer pitter-patter this world; Rats have a short longevity.

 

[DoorPosition]

Not my pet, but an associate of mine just reached out to say his K9 at one point "Rocco" just past away at 15 years old. Several tours alongside handlers in Iraq and 'Stan then several years Stateside with a Sheriff DEPT.

I work quite a bit with K9 guys downrange and informally I learned much of their trade. They're an interesting bunch. They really stress handler nonattachment with the animals, and this is a reason they rotate them among handlers. You spend any extended time with a dog you're going to get attached and traumatic endings, a very real possibility, can cripple a handler psychologically. My buddy had Rocco for one pop overseas quite a few years ago and he still sounds pretty busted up. He's one hardcore dude too, and I don't use that word casually. Must've been a stellar dog.

That dog lived a more impressive life than most people get to.

 

[DaveM]

I cannot imagine how hard it is for anyone that looses any type of working dog as you must have a very tight bond with that animal.

 

[solomon]