Loving my Oldies

Ooooh, excitement. Just had a message from rescuer that the babies all have their eyes open and are trying to push themselves up on back legs. I will be Megs and puppy sitting tomorrow so rescuer can attend a family concert. Can’t wait.

She certainly is pretty @persephone and very needy of her humans. She won’t stay with the pups unless someone is with her - she barks and cries and bashes on the door, poor darling I have been going over to the rescuer’s house to relieve her and spend time with Megs and the pups. We can only surmise what her life must have been like before, but she is crazy for people, so right from the start, we have had no difficulties in handling the puppies although she does do a thorough cleaning job after we have touched them

Babies are two weeks old tomorrow afternoon. Megs is being a bit of a flighty mother - she prefers human company. Puppies are doing well though. Three boys and one girl. The girl is the palest coated one second from left and she was first born. Biggest is first on the right. He was No 3 and has "Buddha’s Thumbprint" on his head

Such a lovely heartwarming photograph. How did the celebratory dinner go? I am sure you all have the best time I love that you have kept us up to date @Debbie Organ. Is there anything that you need? This “adventure” started 8 years ago and I am sure many of us are thrilled to know that John and Carrie are still with you and John looks really very well.

Oooohhhhh - noice.

Oh no . How gutting for you to have to deal with something seemingly quite intractable. I have never heard of pemphigus foliaceus so naturally googled it as I am sure you have too @Galileo. I found this encouraging - albeit it relates to humans: Can pemphigus Foliaceus be cured? Currently there is no cure for pemphigus foliaceus but it can be managed successfully. The aim of treatment is to put the disease into remission so that it has minimal impact on the person's quality of life. I would be chasing it up with your vet unless you have found satisfaction there. If you are not happy with your vet’s treatment/knowledge/support, perhaps consult a veterinary teaching university?? I agree with @Snookthat you might find more responses in the Health forum. Rainbow Bridge can be a bit confronting and upsetting. Good luck and do keep us informed.

Deepest sympathies. Always in our hearts.

So sad.

I'm asking purely out of curiosity... what does this mean?

There comes a time, when one is able to do these sorts of things without being overwhelmed by the loss.

@giraffez, My Danny died nearly five years ago and I purchased an urn from the link I posted here, very similar to Mezza’s. The ashes are as the day they arrived. Danny was approx 6kg so I took out the little plastic bag his ashes are in to give you some idea: Weight -- 246gm Width of baggy -- 9cm Length of baggy -- 15cm The urn is just under 15cm tall and 10-11cm at widest part.

Oh dear. Someone didn’t like the responses.

We will be watching

What a little beauty

My heart has just melted.

It sounds as though Keisha has a wonderful life with you, your family and friends. She isn’t a youngster anymore and would probably be happy just doing a few activities in your back yard. So much stress in her life before you - I wouldn’t put her through any more.

This, of course, but also @Rikis very lucky to know that if he did leave Mollie, she is very loved. I don’t have any advice, really. I just feel deeply for you in this dilemma.

LOL. Best solution.

Just supply your own. Give it to the vet to give to the company who provides the service and comes to the vet for collection. I never even asked when I realised there were people who made urns which were much nicer . Have you looked on Etsy? If there is only one company to chose and they insist you use their urns (I highly doubt they would take this stance) then take their urn and transfer the ashes to your own.

Makes me sick to think of those babies taken from their mother. All the publicity would make it very hard if not impossible for the pups to have a normal life.

@Teebs I said that about PetRest and Pets at Peace because (as @Powerlegsalso said) they are franchises and as everyone knows franchises can differ wildly in their provision of whatever the service is. I have had first hand experience. The range of cremation urns is very limited and, when you browse the internet and see some of the beautiful options available, you can see this. @giraffezI am so sorry you are feeling so stressed about trying to be organised. It is VERY hard to get your head around the fact that you have to make a decision to, in harsh words, end the life of a much loved and treasured being. I have done it 18 times (not 17 as I’d said above) and I still get the shakes, feel sick at having to do it, feel as through I am betraying the years of love given to me. Some of these times, have involved taking my dogs off life support after early morning dashes to the emergency vets, so there have been times when the decision has been made for me. When the time came for Tamar to be given her wings, one of the vet nurses took some photographs for me because my phone had run out of space. I have the most beautiful photographs of Tamar and she looks like a happy well very young dog. I have to remind myself that she was very sick, very old and with little quality of life. Basically, the steps are as follows: 1. Talk to your vet. 2. Find an urn or other that you want for your boy so you are prepared and are not limited to what the cremation company offers. 3. When you know the time is right, you ring your vet to either have the procedure at your home or the vet premises. Wherever you decide to have the procedure, you have as much time as you need to spend with your dog. 4. Your vet will arrange for the cremation company to collect your boy. 5. Your vet will advise when the ashes have been returned.

If I remember correctly, @westiemum did this. She organised the day so people who loved her dogs could visit, organised the vet and the time to spend with her dogs afterwards before the cremation company arrived. I’ve tagged her so hopefully she can come in here and give her thoughts.

These are the urns that Petrest used to supply before I found out about other urns available on line. The boxes are the scatter boxes which I chose because they were a bit different and I wasn’t given any other options than the urns I already had.