SO lucky. It still turns my stomach. Her blood pressure went up in the vets office and she started bleeding a bit more heavily. All I could think was that she was going to stroke out from the stress before we got the transfusion in her.
It's interesting to see how she adapts. That she knows the house so well definitely helps. And she'll do things like lie in doorways or on your feet so she knows if you move. But she really takes a lot of cues from the other dog. Sadie will chase Breena's ball when it's thrown, so Breena knows to follow her when she's playing fetch. When Sadie starts barking, Breena knows something's up and pays more attention. People seem to think of how they would feel in that situation - what if they went blind. They'd focus on what they've lost and yeah, that would suck. But animals don't work that way, I don't think. It's not a loss so much as just how it is. No regret.
Your aunt analogy, yes, exactly. People who off their human family members for having a disability are psychopaths. But it's okay to kill a canine family member because your new apartment doesn't allow pets?
It absolutely kills me when I hear that a pet's been put down for convenience's sake. A year or so ago, Sadie had bladder stones. The vet was telling me how some owners opted to euthanize when they got the diagnosis. Because they didn't want to deal with the treatment. Yeah, okay, the 30 accidents a day were annoying and the surgery/meds/food weren't exactly free, but really?? How is death a better option for an otherwise healthy, happy member of your family? I just don't get it. Buy a pack of discount diapers, cut a tail hole, give the dog lots of water and some tylenol and see if the stone will pass on its own. At the very least. Or better yet, just don't get a pet if you're not prepared to take care of it.
Preaching to the choir, dear. Our last dog, Bonnie (female black lab) was diabetic & the vet we had at the time was useless, so she developed cataracts before we could pry insulin out of him.
She lost her sight 2 weeks before we moved to the coast. Bless her, she dealt with it really well. When we were getting moved out/in, she just lay in her basket, & one of us would scratch her ears while the moving guys picked her basket up & moved it across the room out of the way. She rather enjoyed the attention - they adored her!
Once we'd moved in (a bungalow, thank goodness) we used lamps instead of the overhead lights as the lower light allowed her to see shapes. In the daytime, she learned to freeze if we said 'stop!' before she walked into something, & we'd just nudge her around. She learned the layout very quickly!
She used to love being walked down to the beach. She'd happily sit for hours, staring at the sea & sniffing away at all the scents being blown towards her, & she had no problems navigating as she'd press herself up against her walker's leg for directions, & we'd put a hand on her collar to guide her down the slope to the beach.
Night was the most awkward time - the insulin left her incontinent, so we just bought a hoover-style carpet washer & put sheets down so we'd know where to wash.
After nearly 10 years of constant (if occasionally naughty) companionship & absolute devotion, what else could you do? If it hadn't been for her internal organs completely shutting down & leaving her in a lot of pain (she was 14 years old - the stress of major surgery by that point would have been just as likely to kill her as the problems they were trying to fix) we'd still have her. I still miss her :-(
It's interesting to see how she adapts. That she knows the house so well definitely helps. And she'll do things like lie in doorways or on your feet so she knows if you move. But she really takes a lot of cues from the other dog. Sadie will chase Breena's ball when it's thrown, so Breena knows to follow her when she's playing fetch. When Sadie starts barking, Breena knows something's up and pays more attention. People seem to think of how they would feel in that situation - what if they went blind. They'd focus on what they've lost and yeah, that would suck. But animals don't work that way, I don't think. It's not a loss so much as just how it is. No regret.
Your aunt analogy, yes, exactly. People who off their human family members for having a disability are psychopaths. But it's okay to kill a canine family member because your new apartment doesn't allow pets?
It absolutely kills me when I hear that a pet's been put down for convenience's sake. A year or so ago, Sadie had bladder stones. The vet was telling me how some owners opted to euthanize when they got the diagnosis. Because they didn't want to deal with the treatment. Yeah, okay, the 30 accidents a day were annoying and the surgery/meds/food weren't exactly free, but really?? How is death a better option for an otherwise healthy, happy member of your family? I just don't get it. Buy a pack of discount diapers, cut a tail hole, give the dog lots of water and some tylenol and see if the stone will pass on its own. At the very least. Or better yet, just don't get a pet if you're not prepared to take care of it.
aaaaannnnd /long-winded rant. :P
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Preaching to the choir, dear. Our last dog, Bonnie (female black lab) was diabetic & the vet we had at the time was useless, so she developed cataracts before we could pry insulin out of him.
She lost her sight 2 weeks before we moved to the coast. Bless her, she dealt with it really well. When we were getting moved out/in, she just lay in her basket, & one of us would scratch her ears while the moving guys picked her basket up & moved it across the room out of the way. She rather enjoyed the attention - they adored her!
Once we'd moved in (a bungalow, thank goodness) we used lamps instead of the overhead lights as the lower light allowed her to see shapes. In the daytime, she learned to freeze if we said 'stop!' before she walked into something, & we'd just nudge her around. She learned the layout very quickly!
She used to love being walked down to the beach. She'd happily sit for hours, staring at the sea & sniffing away at all the scents being blown towards her, & she had no problems navigating as she'd press herself up against her walker's leg for directions, & we'd put a hand on her collar to guide her down the slope to the beach.
Night was the most awkward time - the insulin left her incontinent, so we just bought a hoover-style carpet washer & put sheets down so we'd know where to wash.
After nearly 10 years of constant (if occasionally naughty) companionship & absolute devotion, what else could you do? If it hadn't been for her internal organs completely shutting down & leaving her in a lot of pain (she was 14 years old - the stress of major surgery by that point would have been just as likely to kill her as the problems they were trying to fix) we'd still have her. I still miss her :-(
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