(no subject)
Oolong (our lizard of Perpetual Medical Need) died yesterday.
He hadn't been doing well, lately. He had another full-on anesthetized abscess-draining surgery a little over a month ago, during which the vet discovered that most of the "abscesses" were now scar/connective tissue that couldn't be safely removed. For awhile, Oolong & I worked out a way to shove food into his mouth in a way that he didn't find too terribly invasive, but over the last few weeks, what food I could get into his mouth was mostly smushed up & spit out again. The surgically-opened abscesses under his jaws never completely healed, so every day I was squishing out icky "lizard butter" & slathering him w/ Zymox ointment.
Basically, it's felt as though I were torturing the poor little guy on pretty close to a daily basis, with no end in sight.
Watching Animal Planet, I learned a good rule of thumb when it comes to deciding when to have a pet euthanized: think of 3 things the critter really enjoys doing (going for walks, playing w/ catnip mice, killing squirrels... whatever), & when they can no longer do those 3 things, it's probably time to Let Them Go. Well, how do you determine the quality of life for any lizard, much less one with special needs? I mean, at his peak, he pretty much just sat on his log. These last few months, he mostly just sat on his log.
It really came down to the food. He used to love stalking superworms... then he couldn't see well enough to do that. For a very long time, he could still eat pellets (though we had to find ways to feed them to him Just So). The last couple of weeks? Not so much.
As Squeezums said earlier tonight: an animal who won't eat is an animal who doesn't want to live. :(
Oolong has an appointment to see the vet on Wednesday. I warned Squeezums last night that I was mostly intending to ask the vet's opinion as to whether or not we could do anything to make Oolong more comfortable, or if was perhaps time to put him down.
Ms. Deth visited last week, & I talked to her for a bit about my thoughts on Meester Leezahrd. She mused that perhaps he would just crawl up on his beloved log & die peacefully, so that we wouldn't have to make any difficult decisions.
Well, that's exactly what he did.
I have to remember to call the vet tomorrow. Squeezums thinks the vet might cry. I wouldn't be surprised. Oolong's vet is a great lover of reptiles, & was quite fond of Oolong.
So, yeah. Oolong found us in April of 2004, when he was probably a little less than a year old. If he were your average beardie, he should have lived to be 10-ish, but I think half that is a very respectable age in this case. At the very least he died peacefully as master of his own domain, not mangled by a cat in the Great Unknown that is the outside world.
Oolong will be remembered fondly by all who knew him, in "person" and online. He was as affectionate as a reptile can be, was never stressed by strange situations (he was the most well-traveled of any of our pets, bosting 2 trips to Dragon*Con as well as a jaunt up to Gainesville & St. Augustine). He bore his medical trials & tribulations with the utmost fortitude, giving the impression that he was aware that we were trying to help him (which, of course, one knows is logically impossible, given the limitations of the reptile brain... still, that's the impression that he conveyed).
He had such lovely colours, especially when he was content. Every once in awhile, it crossed my mind to wonder if he'd be a "happy" colour when he finally died, or some variation of the dark, muddy brown he wore when he was cold or sulky. I take a bit of comfort in the fact that his earthly remains were, in fact, a "happy" colour.
Goodnight, sweet Leezahrd. And flights of buglies sing thee to thy rest.
He hadn't been doing well, lately. He had another full-on anesthetized abscess-draining surgery a little over a month ago, during which the vet discovered that most of the "abscesses" were now scar/connective tissue that couldn't be safely removed. For awhile, Oolong & I worked out a way to shove food into his mouth in a way that he didn't find too terribly invasive, but over the last few weeks, what food I could get into his mouth was mostly smushed up & spit out again. The surgically-opened abscesses under his jaws never completely healed, so every day I was squishing out icky "lizard butter" & slathering him w/ Zymox ointment.
Basically, it's felt as though I were torturing the poor little guy on pretty close to a daily basis, with no end in sight.
Watching Animal Planet, I learned a good rule of thumb when it comes to deciding when to have a pet euthanized: think of 3 things the critter really enjoys doing (going for walks, playing w/ catnip mice, killing squirrels... whatever), & when they can no longer do those 3 things, it's probably time to Let Them Go. Well, how do you determine the quality of life for any lizard, much less one with special needs? I mean, at his peak, he pretty much just sat on his log. These last few months, he mostly just sat on his log.
It really came down to the food. He used to love stalking superworms... then he couldn't see well enough to do that. For a very long time, he could still eat pellets (though we had to find ways to feed them to him Just So). The last couple of weeks? Not so much.
As Squeezums said earlier tonight: an animal who won't eat is an animal who doesn't want to live. :(
Oolong has an appointment to see the vet on Wednesday. I warned Squeezums last night that I was mostly intending to ask the vet's opinion as to whether or not we could do anything to make Oolong more comfortable, or if was perhaps time to put him down.
Ms. Deth visited last week, & I talked to her for a bit about my thoughts on Meester Leezahrd. She mused that perhaps he would just crawl up on his beloved log & die peacefully, so that we wouldn't have to make any difficult decisions.
Well, that's exactly what he did.
I have to remember to call the vet tomorrow. Squeezums thinks the vet might cry. I wouldn't be surprised. Oolong's vet is a great lover of reptiles, & was quite fond of Oolong.
So, yeah. Oolong found us in April of 2004, when he was probably a little less than a year old. If he were your average beardie, he should have lived to be 10-ish, but I think half that is a very respectable age in this case. At the very least he died peacefully as master of his own domain, not mangled by a cat in the Great Unknown that is the outside world.
Oolong will be remembered fondly by all who knew him, in "person" and online. He was as affectionate as a reptile can be, was never stressed by strange situations (he was the most well-traveled of any of our pets, bosting 2 trips to Dragon*Con as well as a jaunt up to Gainesville & St. Augustine). He bore his medical trials & tribulations with the utmost fortitude, giving the impression that he was aware that we were trying to help him (which, of course, one knows is logically impossible, given the limitations of the reptile brain... still, that's the impression that he conveyed).
He had such lovely colours, especially when he was content. Every once in awhile, it crossed my mind to wonder if he'd be a "happy" colour when he finally died, or some variation of the dark, muddy brown he wore when he was cold or sulky. I take a bit of comfort in the fact that his earthly remains were, in fact, a "happy" colour.
Goodnight, sweet Leezahrd. And flights of buglies sing thee to thy rest.