Loving my Oldies

When I saw how much Tamar enjoyed having the foster boys around, I thought that I might look for a little boy to adopt. Not that I or my wallet needed anymore dogs LOL. This went by the way when Orla came to live with us and I honestly thought we’d have her for a few years. Sadly, that wasn’t to be and although I miss her every day (she has presence that girl - must be a poodle thing) I once again started to look for a boy for Tamar. Although Jeune is her security blanket and her soul mate, they never played. Tamar played only with boys. To cut a long story short, a little guy popped up on a facebook page and I went into action. Had a long conversation with the lady at the pound, gave her my name and number and then asked her name. Would you believe it was DOL’s very own Shmoo !!! She remembered me of course - she has actually been to my place a couple of times - and so today I trekked out to Campbelltown and picked up my little fellow. Oh gawd. Poor little fellow. Filthy with flea dirt, knots and clumps of hair everywhere, hair loss on his rear and back legs and severe dental disease. However, he is a bright as a button and, despite his very dull and dirty coat, he is gorgeous. I have started on cleaning him up, but there is only such much a little boy can take in one sitting. So here are the before photos of [little no name - waiting for the light bulb moment], a 15 years old Pomeranian who, when he is in the afters state, will be totally beautiful. Wish me luck with the tub session LOL IMG_0663 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr IMG_0658 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr IMG_0657 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr IMG_0644 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr IMG_0639 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr

I sent your response to my friend and she is still pursuing this and feels exactly as you do. She is having the same experience as many have shared on DOL ..... no responses from rescue groups to whom she is sending expressions of interest. She is well aware that rescuers are volunteers, but she isn’t getting responses from most of them.

Thanks for sharing your really sad experience, LG. Really makes me angry that some specialists are like that (for both humans and animals). You would be expecting to have a little longer with your girl . Vets are people after all and cover the wide range of characters, good and bad, but we do expect them to be ethical and tell us when there is nothing to do except keep them comfortable and pain free. Luckily my vets are what we would all like in a vet (except there is one woman in the hospital to whom I would not take a dead dog - she is truly horrible) and were totally in agreement that we should only do meds and nothing invasive or even intrusive testing. I think the position of the tumour would make intervention near impossible on even a young dog. I doubt whether five minutes go buy without my checking on her. She really took exception to my starting this thread by eating yet another huge dinner last night, and leapt and circled with delight when we went downstairs for the first time this morning. And did an encore performance when the leads came out.

AND ... send them a copy of the photo as well, saying you are putting your experience all over social media to try to stop someone else being dudded !!

Well, I will pass on your comments to a friend of mine in Melbourne who is looking to adopt a pair and she is looking at them.

Done

They are beautiful.

Okay, stop looking at them.

Oh thanks, TSD. I’ve only ever bought syringes for feeding from them, but will look more closely at their goodies.

Evidence shows that that continues to be the case. I’d like to someone kick, starve, tie up, the magistrates/judges who continue to let these creeps off and they race off down the stairs grinning like champions.

http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/?utm_source=vet-n-pet+DIRECT+Subscribers&utm_campaign=36e4232e16-one-day-free-shipping-jan18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c40ee0688e-36e4232e16-53043257&mc_cid=36e4232e16&mc_eid=9fa6f97928

I was going to mention this org as well because they pop up in my emails from time to time. They have free shipping at the moment. Dreadful response from your original supplier, @westiemum. Unfortunately seems the trend.

@westiemum This is the little couple. Quite a few medical issues, though. https://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/580373

Oh @westiemum, you are so so so so right about the photos. I was always a hopeless photographer and have so few decent ones of my first little darlings. Even with the iPhone I have to take heaps before getting a halfway decent one. Love Sarah’s plump little rear view. Is that your home with a lake in the foreground. Green with envy. There are two little Westies in a rescue group somewhere (I’ll see if I can find) looking for a home together, but knowing your westie instincts, I am sure you know of them.

Jeune was pretty upset we me last night telling people that she was fading away. She demanded I post this pic of her looking bright eyed and bushy tailed having eaten the biggest dinner she’d had for ages, and with ears at the ready to pick up any derogatory comments: IMG_0634 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr

I can assure you, persephone, that Jeune still has her dignity. No one tells Jeune what to do - LOL. Joking aside, she will have whatever she wants (if I can guess what she is telling me ) and whatever she needs. I’ve posted this before, but it still gives me a laugh and I am so happy I have this pic of Jeune. IMG_0312 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr

Thank you for your responses, support and experiences. Funnily enough, just before I checked this thread, I noticed that Jeune wasn’t on the bed on the floor and went looking for her thinking she might be sun baking. Looked in the other rooms and when I came back I saw she was on the lounge. So her several hours of rest after our little amble this morning obviously gave her the energy to jump up. . Yes, I think my darling is slowing down. She has been with me for 14 years (December 2003) and was listed by the pound as being 3 then. So she has been with me through a lot of changes, many dogs, fostered and adopted. Jeune’s cancer was found very early in the piece and it was a real fluke finding it. Because I don’t have them vaccinated anymore, I take them for annual total check ups and it was found then. As it has doubled in size since first found, I imagine its growth will continue to speed up, but hopefully held in some check by the Piroxicam. The med is in liquid form and chicken flavoured so as easy as anything to administer. While she is comfortable and not in pain, we will continue on this way with eagle eyes watching for anything that tells me otherwise.

About 18 months ago, the vet found a tumour at the base of Jeune’s spine, underneath the spine and “resting” on the colon. It was almost impossible to feel going up through her anal canal and it was only because Jeune was lightly sedated and relaxed that she could feel it. Fast forward to another check up a few weeks ago, the vet told me that the tumour had doubled in size, she had no difficulty feeling it, and consequently Jeune is now on daily Piroxicam which has been shown to slow down the growth of some tumours. Jeune is 17 so I will not be taking any invasive actions or even putting her through any tests other than the ones she has had to establish that this is a tumour. My job now is to make sure she is happy and as well as she possible can be forever long we may have together. Naturally, I am watching her like a hawk and giving her as many cuddles as she will tolerate. She has not shown any discomfort, she has an occasional throw up of bile as just about any dog I’ve ever had has done - and me too - and those episodes don’t seem to have increased. Sometimes our guts and tummies are not happy. She has always been a strange little dog: not playful, except for an occasional outbreak of levity evidenced by happy barking and racing around the yard; she is very contained and the most stubborn dog I’ve ever known. And any long time follower of this forum will know that she and Tamar have almost driven me insane with their approach to food. Ditto walking. Jeune has to walk on the far left of the pack, pulling to the end of the lead, if another dog gets in front of her she will not keep walking, she could spend 10 minutes just sniffing in one little patch - I kid you not. She will not be hurried and the strength of one little 6 kilo dog who puts the brakes on still amazes me. This morning when I put on their leads to go for our short and very slow amble around the block, I noticed that Jeune is very very slim about the hips. Her weight loss has been obvious over the past few weeks, but to see her so thin around the haunches gave me a fright. The walk was the same as ever: walking at a snail’s pace, sniffing, weeing, normal poo, but when we were close to home where Jeune likes to cross the road (pulling right out to the left, of course) I tried to hurry her a little bit to get out of the sun, on went the brakes and I had to practically drag her off the bitumen onto the grass. You can imagine how bad I felt when she started to throw up - just a bit of froth and bile, no food because she didn’t eat breakfast (normal). When we reached home, she actually just stopped inside the gate and, when she didn’t come upstairs, I went down and carried her up. After our walks she normally just wanders around the back yard for a little bit. She has always jumped onto the couch in the lounge room, but hasn’t done this for a couple of days just lies on the quilt with the other two. Ditto a little trampoline bed in the study which is so low she doesn’t need to jump, just step, but she still isn’t getting up onto it anymore. This probably indicates she is tired and feeling her age and perhaps the cancer is starting to take it toll. Considering its ubiquitousness, I am not familiar with cancer. One of my first dogs, Nammu a Maltese, had cancer, but from the time it was diagnosed until he passed away was only 6 weeks and he was still a young dog and that was January 2001. I haven’t even had a human someone close to me who has had cancer. A couple of inlaws have but because they weren’t in my life, I didn’t see the progression. No one in my immediate family has had cancer. It is impossible to miss in the media though and it seems that cancers can be very different with some people just fading away and others dying in horrific pain and everything in between. Obviously, I will be taking Jeune for another checkup within the next couple of days, because today has given me a fright and I am not sure what to expect or how quickly this may overtake Jeune. Nor sure if this will work, but here is a little video of Jeune showing her usual reaction to food. This went one for much longer than the video. https://flic.kr/p/EjEkjm

Carrying things a bit too far, I think @talking dog. You cannot argue with what is seen by thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. Anyone kicking a dog (unless trying to break up a fight because people are panicking and think that will stop it) IS an asshole.

Sounds like a very good and understanding vet: treating the pet and the owner

LOL, my thoughts exactly. Look forward to following the journey, @Stephen_Bundaberg.

This has been all over FB and I have not looked at the video - just can’t bear to see it. I just clicked on here to hopefully get an update and, thankfully, I have seen what I wanted to see: the dog has been taken away and the man will be charged. Let us hope that the magistrate who gets his case is an animal lover and gives this horrible creature the legal kicking HE deserves. I also hope some sort of help is given to the children. God knows what their experiences are. Leaping to conclusions, I know, but so much evidence to show the harm that is caused when children are exposed to violence - physical, verbal and emotional.

Hoping for the best, @DesertDobes. My only experience with mouth cancer is from many many years ago and with an already compromised and elderly tiny dog from a pound. He was with me for nearly a year and during that time had a happy and pain free life. Towards the end, the only changes I needed to make was to make his food sloppy. Only at the very end was he in any discomfort or pain.

Is she on Prednisolone? I had this experience with Bunter a couple of weeks ago!!! Luckily it was first thing in the morning and he had not moved around the house. I spoke to the vet and he said it was most like to be the Pred and to give it to him first thing in the morning. Luckily it was only that once. Hopefully you can get to the bottom of what cause it with your girl. Most likely the meds. Gosh they keep us on our toes.

Have you tried those sprays which are so nasty they stop them biting?