Loving my Oldies

Oh, so good to see.

@ish I have been going to the same vet practice for over 10 years. Two of the vets are excellent, the others are very very good, except for one to whom I wouldn’t take a pet rock. It is a total mystery to me (and others I’ve spoken to over the years) how she continues to be employed there.

Zac sounds like a very unhappy dog, and I am not surprised. If "he can be quite the piece of hard work sometimes,” I am not surprised. He sounds like a dog who is not understood, whose basic needs are not being met, one who is not being given any sort of life expect one of criticism and lack of understanding and lack of love. I have four dogs and at times have had up to 8. My garden is admired by all who visit me. I won’t say any more except include the link below, because I can’t see through my tears for Zac. https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/07/20/environmental-enrichment-dogs.aspx

You have my sympathies. I’m a bit in the same boat. I know it is the middle of winter, but if you get any sun in your yard could you take a chair out and sit in the sun with her ....... taking some nice smelly treats with you so licking your fingers will bring her close to you.

Doors open so she can choose. Encourage her inside with treats. Spend time sitting on the floor with her just doing nothing, stroking her ears, talking softly, talk to her while you go about your usual business. Make sure your house and fences are secure and then check again. Try not to have too many visitors or people coming and going; don’t overload her with experiences. Don’t let people who might visit play with her or be loud or make quick moves around her. Slowly and softly. Good luck.

You have to follow all avenues. A couple of years ago, one of my dogs and I were treated dreadfully by SASH here in Sydney. I carefully prepared a written paper set out by numbere and chronology and made an appointment with the vet in question. I also sent a letter and the paper to the Administration Manager of the Hospital. I waited and waited for a response from the A/Manager and it wasn’t until a few weeks later, I received a call from him. He had been on holidays and in that time, none of his mail had been handled. I think that indicated very poor and lacking procedures. Of course, I have had good experiences with SASH and many people will sit them on the right hand of god, but sadly there are good and bad in any organisation and a some people who deal with very serious and life or death issues become arrogant and hardened and some never develop any skills at all. They need to be pulled up from time to time and made to realise the grief that their actions or lack thereof cause.

Oscar looks very regal in that photograph: loved and loving. Such a loss when they leave us. Oscar.

I appreciate all you say @The Spotted Devil, but sadly we have also to appreciate that most people know zilch and don’t understand that they should know more for the sake of the health and happiness of their dogs. Despite having a brother as a vet who had his own veterinary hospital when I first became a dog owner, I have to count myself in the category of knowing very little. I did read up a lot on the breed I was going to get, but I look back in horror at my ignorance. I guess the difference with me is that I knew I was ignorant and did my best to address that. It also helped (from the point of view of my education and recognition of how easily things can go wrong) that my first dogs drew the short straws when it came to health issues . And it also helped with my education that I became a volunteer walker at a pound and then involved in rescue. But, yes, we have to help educate whenever and wherever we see the need.

Sincere and deep condolences, Malamum. Farewell, Kira: totally loved and loving.

I think most organisation are biased in favour of their members. We think we can go to them for assistance, but mostly they are just a stonewaller.

I feel sick reading this. Have experienced young and inexperienced vets on occasions and despair. Luckily there were other vets in the practices for me to see and diagnosed problems in no time.

Mike Baird must be feeling pretty angry today. As should everyone. Disgusting industry.

From some of the stories I’ve seen on DOL, the vet registration board is very “protective” of its members, deserved or not. I agree that refusing to give you an itemised account sounds more than dodgy. All the accounts I’ve has from vets give minutely itemised accounts. If you can afford, at least speak to a lawyer.

I don’t have any absolute knowledge of how records can or should be released but my immediate thoughts are that you have paid for these procedures and as such you “own” them. When you change doctors/dentists/physios/other you are entitled to have your records passed on to the next practitioner. Your grief and devastation are immense and you and your little dog deserved so much more. My deepest sympathies to you and your family. Definitely contact the Aust Veterinary Assoc (if that is the correct name). This needs to be investigated.

I can understand how people could feel as you do, Jed, but there are many rescue groups who would walk over hot coals to do the right and ethical thing by any dog who comes into their care. And sadly, from the things I've read over the years, I have to accept that there are many who don’t give a rat’s arse and just want to be seen as “you are an angel”. We don’t see much on DOL any more as FB and websites have taken over. I have been the patsy on quite a few occasions over the years because I didn’t know that there was the other side of rescue. The latest was a few months ago when a fairly well known, but small, organisation was doing a fund raising for a foster dog’s surgery. I donated because I saw that another person I knew had donated a sizeable sum. When I next saw that person, I mentioned this to them and it turned out that her donation was actually money she owed them and they asked her to put it towards their fund raising for the dog’s treatment. I mentioned that I was also on the verge of offering to take on this little dog but decided against it as I am not physically or financially able to take on any more dogs. My acquaintance laughed and said that the dog wasn’t going anywhere because XYZ adored him and he was not going to be adopted. I consider this unethical as the dog is now, to all intents and purposes, owned by that person. Of course anyone can set up a funding site for anything providing they are upfront that you are helping out an owner and not a rescue group. They have in the past few weeks put up another “please donate” message still calling the dog a foster. Not good.

Facinating, Griz . What is the relationship between Enzi and Zombie? Your stories about them and their backgrounds make them so much more than interesting photos. Have you read Brazzaville Beach?

So intelligent.

That is so distressing. I agree with Persephone ..... another opinion. And yes, vets love it when you can bring in videos to show behaviour that is not always in evidence in the consulting room. I hope you find some answers and something to help Luci. It IS very distressing when we can’t help our loved ones.

From a couple of nights ago --- I was getting ready for bed, had taken off the quilt, put the dogs’ covers on and went off to do something else. Came back to this scene. Unfortunately, I had only my iPad so the quality is pretty grainy. I hope it gives you as big a laugh as it gave me. IMG_0503 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr

“Like” isn’t enough for these posts. We need “trembling heart” emoticon.

Mezza took me to task the other day for not giving his fans any updates. My Four continue to be Fab and here are a couple of photos of took of Mezza to show you all the regrowth. He now has a Pom tail instead of a rat’s tail. Love them all to bits. Tamar is looking resplendent in her purple coat. IMG_0823 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr IMG_0822 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr

They all look to be living wonderfully engaged lives. They don’t seem to have much hair, though??

That couch looks soooooooooooo much better adorned with a BARBIE DOLL.

Stunners. Looks as though Corgi could be in their DNA .... or maybe the other way around LOL LOL.

I got the “all men” part, but just trying to think outside the box and put forward ideas. It is a long time ago now, but I noticed when I was volunteer walker at a pound that a lot of dogs were anything from ambivalent to downright scared of men. As I figured that all of these dogs could not have been mistreated by men, I started to think that maybe there were other things, such as a male smell, a male attitude, whatever ....... I don’t know. We all know that something that might scare the daylights out of one person, doesn’t mean anything to another. Ditto for dogs. And I totally agree with your last sentence. Having other dogs around who are happy to get love and cuddles is immeasurable. What !!! She lived her life in a kennel? Utter bastards. That photo of her and Zelda takes on an even greater delight.