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Loving my Oldies

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Everything posted by Loving my Oldies

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. Sounds like a very good and understanding vet: treating the pet and the owner
  7. LOL, my thoughts exactly. Look forward to following the journey, @Stephen_Bundaberg.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. Have you tried those sprays which are so nasty they stop them biting?
  12. OMG!! Another memory from when I was actually offered similar to pawternity benfits from a long time ago - 2003 I think. I was in charge of organising and running the company’s annual conference which ran over several days with many activities so I was on the go from early in the morning until late at night. I made a joke to my boss about boarding the dogs with their groomer in her house so I would not have to worry about how they were. He agreed that that was a good idea and he was happy to pay for it. The thing is, try as I might, I simply can’t remember if I took up the offer. I am pretty sure I did, because I remember being collected by a driver very early on some mornings.
  13. LOL. When I first brought two little 8/9 weeks old puppies home in September 1993, I took two weeks holidays. When I went back to work, I had the local dog walker come in and spend time with them in the middle of the day. She would bring her lunch and play with them in the back yard. She use to leave little notes as to what they did . The first time I had to go to a function straight from work which meant getting home late, I was a nervous wreck. I wonder if I can claim retrospective benefits?
  14. I am so sorry to read the update, @Tara and Sam. No advice, there are others here who are a thousand times more qualified than I am. Hopefully time will give some answers but I do agree with Tassie that a vet consult would be advisable.
  15. I am not sure why, I must have “liked” at some stage, but vegan recipes from BOSH keep popping up on my FB page. Yesterday they had an incredible one for avocado brownies. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=bosh vegan
  16. I see you have started to follow . I can't recall the name of the guy who makes the garments, but if you ask on the FB page, they will get back to you very quickly.
  17. @westiemum to Sarah. Jeune has had a couple of those episodes too with me standing on the deck with
  18. @Little Gifts do you follow Chihuahua Rescue on FB, because they are always showing pix of the dogs and snuffle mats? The only thing that worries me about them as they are made from those black mats that you buy in places like Bunnings. The smell of them is terrible and I can only think of the toxins that must be in them. If someone could allay my fears about that I would really like it. I don’t have any need for them now, but seriously thought of getting one for Orla as she spent most of her waking day “snuffling” around looking for food. Something I have also been thinking about in relation to you and Tempeh, if you do following CRQ they have someone who makes a garment similar to thunder shirts for anxious dogs and these seem to work a treat as well. Gone a bit OT, @animallover99 , but the CRQ is worth looking at in any case LOL.
  19. He is a little dog, not some malevolent creature plotting and planning ways in which to make you unhappy. Time to stop googling and time to start training with a live person. Good luck.
  20. Our thoughts are with you and with Rosie. Such a sad sad time. Rosie sounds wonderful and, yes, they can be so stoic as to make us second guess what we know is the right decision for them.
  21. This is a very generalised and overstatement, I feel RP, and not the sort of advice I like to see given to a prospective dog owner. “Rarely safe with unknown dogs” is completely out of my experience, admittedly many years ago, of walking pound dogs and, more recently, of having rescued and fostered them.
  22. My Finnish Spitz cross, Danny, died last year at the age of 17 and a half. In his youth, he would have been ideal for you . I have also rescued, fostered and rehomed a couple of German Sptiz and another Spitz cross who always made me think that somewhere in his heritage was Shiba Inu. The latter and one of the German Spitz were two of the nicest dogs I have ever known: happy, lively, good natured, shared the house with several other dogs, loved their walks, etc etc. A family across the road from me has a Malamute cross who must be one of the most laid back easy going dogs ever. Mind you, she has had a terrific life with them, always out and about, or just strolling around the neighbourhood as the little boy was being walked. If the Spitz breed appeals, don’t limit yourself to one country. Good luck.
  23. I agree. As for the “nature/nurture” debate, both are considerations, both will be in evidence at various times, probably neither will be predominant, what you will most likely get is a beautiful dog whom you love and who will love you in return. What more could you or the dog want
  24. Talk to your daughter, tell her your dog really need to see the vet, promise her no decisions about his care will be made without her input and go to the vet with her. Good luck. To me 12 doesn’t seem old, but of course it is. I seem to have forgotten that my first two dogs died young (heart disease with one and cancer with the other) but since them I’ve had several dogs who’ve lived until well into extreme old age. My thoughts are with you all.
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