The Pets Thread

[Bisque]

Here's my hamster "Dave". He was a real trooper. Survived four years at Plymouth Uni, ate doner kebab, beat my housemate at a curry off by levelling some madras, escaped numerous times, wore fancy dress, went missing in my friends sofa for a week, survived being eaten by dogs/cats & our rat poison, ripped apart a mouse that slipped into his cage & hung out with my degus. Had massive balls.

[feral chile]

Awww!

Edited January 17, 2015 by feral chile

[The Nal]

Very proud day. Marvins first kill this morning!

Theres even a little hint of pride from the little psychopaths eyes.

Slightly evil watching him play with the dead mouse for a solid hour though.

Edited March 24, 2015 by The Nal

[ThomThomDrum]

Just noticed this bumped and so thought Id post..............

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my friend of 10 years. It broke my heart to do so.

He loved people and people loved him.

He will be missed

RIP Kaiser

[The Nal]

Sorry to hear that man

[ThomThomDrum]

Sorry to hear that man

Cheers dude. Its bloody tough. 10 years is a long time. A dog is more than a pet when you have him for a significant period of time. He was my little buddy. Twill be a while before we consider another I think. The little reminders about the house etc are the killer...........Gutted...........

[The Nal]

Cheers dude. Its bloody tough. 10 years is a long time. A dog is more than a pet when you have him for a significant period of time. He was my little buddy. Twill be a while before we consider another I think. The little reminders about the house etc are the killer...........Gutted...........

I hear ya pal. He looks like a lovely little hound. Those eyes!

Had 3 boxers die growing up. My old man was inconsolable after the 2nd died of cancer and swore he'd never get another but after 6 months the house was so empty! After the 3rd died we went out and got another one the next week.

They are family members. Remember him for the funny stories etc though. Its tough I know but the positives out weight the negatives by miles! Even as sad as you feel now.

[ThomThomDrum]

They are family members. Remember him for the funny stories etc though. Its tough I know but the positives out weight the negatives by miles! Even as sad as you feel now.

For sure.

Myself and the Mrs just sat, drank, and smoked last night chatting about him for donkeys............needless to say that time spent laughing, smiling and crying...........its amazing how they get under your skin.

I dread the going home from work today but, I think that will be a hard thing for a while. And doing the garden. Now that its spring we were due to spend a whole lot more time outside together...... At least I have 2 lil sprogs to keep me distracted...............

[greenfairy43]

Awww, that's sad.

I still miss Milo the cat I posted on here about at Christmas. Pets really do become one of the family & it's only normal to miss them madly when they're gone.

Kaiser looks like he was very cute.

[feral chile]

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your pet.

I still miss my beautiful cat, who we lost last November.

As others have said, they're family.

[ThomThomDrum]

Cheers for the kind words folks............ Much appreciated

[feral chile]

get your pet insured, folks.

our border collie just went into the garden, veered off suddenly after seeing (probably) a cat, and now needs a £4K op for a torn ligament.

[The Nal]

5 minutes ago, feral chile said:

get your pet insured, folks.

our border collie just went into the garden, veered off suddenly after seeing (probably) a cat, and now needs a £4K op for a torn ligament.

Christ. Ligament where? Are you insured?

Mate of mine brought his dog to the vet just because she wasn't herself, thought it may be cancer, did all the tests etc. 900 quid. Turns out she was fine. They don't have insurance. 

[feral chile]

Just now, The Nal said:

Christ. Ligament where? Are you insured?

Mate of mine brought his dog to the vet just because she wasn't herself, thought it may be cancer, did all the tests etc. 900 quid. Turns out she was fine. They don't have insurance. 

Not insured. kept dithering around when she was younger, now she's 9.

all she did was change direction suddenly while being let out in our garden. she's been limping for a week, already spent £70 on anti-inflammatories etc., second vet exam today and this is the diagnosis.

it doesn't help that she's a hyperactive border collie. 'Rest her, she's not to go up the stairs, go for walks etc.'.

short of locking her up somewhere, that's easier said than done, she's hurtling around and then her leg gives way

(it looks like a power slide)

[feral chile]

Yay!

Our vet has been negotiating with the surgeon and persuaded him to cut costs back as much as possible. So he's agreed to do a lateral suture plus xrays for £1400.

There are less risks of complications, the prognosis is almost as good as for the more modern ops, and we can always go ahead with another op if this should fail, as no bones are being cut etc.

Only problem, as this is the result of disease rather than injury, her other leg could possibly need a future op as well.

Get those pets insured, guys.

[Paul ™]

This is a story over the past 2 weeks now, about my cat Ollie aged 11 who I had to leave up in Scotland when I moved to Nottingham in October. I've not seen him since...

"25th March - Gillian found a large lump on Ollies throat on Tuesday night, so she made an appointment at the vets for Thursday to get it checked out. He was acting as normal, eating, drinking and running about daft. But felt better to get it checked out none the less.

So Ollie went to the vets on Thursday, and they were unsure on what it is on initial examination. Best case scenario is it is an infected gland, worst case it’s cancerous. The vet however was concerned by how big the lump was and it seemed to be more than one lump, but the fact it enlarged quickly could possibly be a good sign. They booked him in for Friday and they would extract cells from it and send them off for testing.

They hoped to do the tests while conscious, but if he wasn’t tolerating it, they would have to sedate him, so him having no breakfast wouldn’t go down well as he loves his grub!

So he went to the vets, they could only test for limited infections on the day, so anything else would be sent off to the lab and results would be back in around a week.

Nothing did show on the in-house tests, so they have been sent off to the lab. He didn’t need sedated so as of today, he is fine and doesn’t seem to be in any pain thankfully.

Vet said it could still be an infection, but to prepare for worst case scenario just in case. It could also be his thyroid and he mentioned a couple of other things that aren’t as serious as cancer. Basically we need to wait till the tests come back.

It’s going to be a long week. Gutted

 

26th March - He ended up back at the vets this morning, Gillian was worried as she thought the lump looked bigger last night. She sat up with him most of the night as he seemed to be breathing funny. Lump definitely bigger now, but vet saying just swelling from the biopsy.  They checked his breathing, heart beat etc. and said they were normal. He does seem to be in a bit of pain around where he got his injection yesterday, but is still eating as normal which is a good sign.

Vet has said the weird breathing is probably lying on the lump and pushing it into his windpipe, and to try to make him lie on his other side till the swelling goes down. Gillian was up most of the night with him, glad she is there to look after him as she loves him too and doesn’t want to see him suffer.

Going to be awful waiting for these results to come back next week, and perhaps need to try get up there to see him as soon as possible.

Over the weekend he was apparently still breathing funny if he lay on the lump, but was still eating ok and just being really sleepy.

30th March - On Monday night, I got a text to say his breathing had gotten worse without him lying on it, and Gillian was really worried about him and planned to take him to the vets in the morning. I was out drinking all day or I would have got in the van and drove up there.

Tuesday morning and he was better again, really annoying that we don't know what is causing this, just wish the results would hurry up and get back to us.  He still is snorting at times but doesn't seem to be bothering him.

He is still eating fine, Gillian has taken a few days off work to make sure he isn't on his own, feel really bad that I am not with him, but I know she will look after him for me.

 

31st March - So he was bad again last night, but seemed ok in morning. But the vet called with the results of the Biopsy.

The great news first, it’s not cancer! The tests have shown nothing other than an infection. At the moment, they really don’t know what the source of it is though, they need to get the lump reduced so they can examine it properly to find the cause. He has to start on antibiotics and anti-inflammatorys tomorrow and go back to the vet on Tuesday to see what’s happening.

Now the not so good news, if the lump doesn’t decrease they will have to remove it surgically. The vet isn’t keen on this due to Ollies age and the risks involved, but the lump needs to go due to the adverse effect its having on his breathing. So if it doesn’t shrink with the medication, they will have no option but to operate. So while there could still be future issues, it’s not as serious as it could have been.

5th April - So Ollie was back at the vets today, has been taking the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory since Thursday and the lump has gone down a bit.

Not so good news sadly, the vet has said he has 4 out of 6 Lymph Nodes swollen, which can be one of 4 things - Infection, Inflammation, Bacteria or worst case Lymphoma which is a cancer which they haven't tested for.

The vet is very concerned about his breathing issues and the lump.

So the decision has been made to operate tomorrow, to try get the lump out or at least get to know what is causing it. Obviously due to his age, this itself brings complications, and just hopefully he makes it through it.
Hopefully he will, and they find the cause of this, and if it is that cancer, we need to decide on next steps.

 

6th April - Ollie has come through the operation, and should be back at his home tonight, but there are some complications.
When they went to take the lump out, it burst and was full of blood and have only managed to remove part of it, as was too risky to continue.

However, and this is where it gets worse. They have noticed some cells growing round his wind pipe, which have been the cause of his breathing issue. The vet is unsure exactly what it is, and has extracted some cells to send away for testing, along with the lump, but from what he has been saying, its most likely malignant.

Due to his age, chemo although an expensive action, isn’t guaranteed to cure him and may only prolong his life for a short while. As it stands at the moment, he doesn’t think he is in any pain, but the speed that this has came along with the breathing issue, might cause him pain in the near future.

The results should be back next week, and although he has been given some more antibiotics and opiates, we should think the worse and assume it looks like Lymphoma.

Not even sure what else to say, devastated isn’t the half of it.. going to try get up this weekend hopefully.

7th April - He's up and moving about fairly well albeit slowly.  He's very subdued but was cuddling in during the night and also making it very clear when he wanted more food haha.  He's eaten about 3/4 of a tin of tuna between last night and this morning.  Hasn't touched the regular food and has drank loads of water. Ended up with him in the bath for about 15 mins at 3am so he could drink out the tap lol. 

He's had his meds this morning too.  He's struggling to lie down so he hasn't slept much.  His breathing seems much better so not sure if they managed to loosen his windpipe a bit, definitely less noisy though.

 

I've decided to take time off work and travel up tomorrow, it's 300 miles and a 5-6hr journey, but given the circumstances, I feel it's necessary. And depending on the results next week, I might have to go back up next week to say goodbye

[feral chile]

1 hour ago, Paul ™ said:

This is a story over the past 2 weeks now, about my cat Ollie aged 11 who I had to leave up in Scotland when I moved to Nottingham in October. I've not seen him since...

"25th March - Gillian found a large lump on Ollies throat on Tuesday night, so she made an appointment at the vets for Thursday to get it checked out. He was acting as normal, eating, drinking and running about daft. But felt better to get it checked out none the less.

 

So Ollie went to the vets on Thursday, and they were unsure on what it is on initial examination. Best case scenario is it is an infected gland, worst case it’s cancerous. The vet however was concerned by how big the lump was and it seemed to be more than one lump, but the fact it enlarged quickly could possibly be a good sign. They booked him in for Friday and they would extract cells from it and send them off for testing.

 

They hoped to do the tests while conscious, but if he wasn’t tolerating it, they would have to sedate him, so him having no breakfast wouldn’t go down well as he loves his grub!

 

So he went to the vets, they could only test for limited infections on the day, so anything else would be sent off to the lab and results would be back in around a week.

 

Nothing did show on the in-house tests, so they have been sent off to the lab. He didn’t need sedated so as of today, he is fine and doesn’t seem to be in any pain thankfully.

 

Vet said it could still be an infection, but to prepare for worst case scenario just in case. It could also be his thyroid and he mentioned a couple of other things that aren’t as serious as cancer. Basically we need to wait till the tests come back.

 

It’s going to be a long week. Gutted

 

 

 

26th March - He ended up back at the vets this morning, Gillian was worried as she thought the lump looked bigger last night. She sat up with him most of the night as he seemed to be breathing funny. Lump definitely bigger now, but vet saying just swelling from the biopsy.  They checked his breathing, heart beat etc. and said they were normal. He does seem to be in a bit of pain around where he got his injection yesterday, but is still eating as normal which is a good sign.

 

Vet has said the weird breathing is probably lying on the lump and pushing it into his windpipe, and to try to make him lie on his other side till the swelling goes down. Gillian was up most of the night with him, glad she is there to look after him as she loves him too and doesn’t want to see him suffer.

 

Going to be awful waiting for these results to come back next week, and perhaps need to try get up there to see him as soon as possible.

 

Over the weekend he was apparently still breathing funny if he lay on the lump, but was still eating ok and just being really sleepy.

 

30th March - On Monday night, I got a text to say his breathing had gotten worse without him lying on it, and Gillian was really worried about him and planned to take him to the vets in the morning. I was out drinking all day or I would have got in the van and drove up there.

 

Tuesday morning and he was better again, really annoying that we don't know what is causing this, just wish the results would hurry up and get back to us.  He still is snorting at times but doesn't seem to be bothering him.

 

He is still eating fine, Gillian has taken a few days off work to make sure he isn't on his own, feel really bad that I am not with him, but I know she will look after him for me.

 

 

 

31st March - So he was bad again last night, but seemed ok in morning. But the vet called with the results of the Biopsy.

 

The great news first, it’s not cancer! The tests have shown nothing other than an infection. At the moment, they really don’t know what the source of it is though, they need to get the lump reduced so they can examine it properly to find the cause. He has to start on antibiotics and anti-inflammatorys tomorrow and go back to the vet on Tuesday to see what’s happening.

 

Now the not so good news, if the lump doesn’t decrease they will have to remove it surgically. The vet isn’t keen on this due to Ollies age and the risks involved, but the lump needs to go due to the adverse effect its having on his breathing. So if it doesn’t shrink with the medication, they will have no option but to operate. So while there could still be future issues, it’s not as serious as it could have been.
 

 

5th April - So Ollie was back at the vets today, has been taking the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory since Thursday and the lump has gone down a bit.

 

Not so good news sadly, the vet has said he has 4 out of 6 Lymph Nodes swollen, which can be one of 4 things - Infection, Inflammation, Bacteria or worst case Lymphoma which is a cancer which they haven't tested for.

 

The vet is very concerned about his breathing issues and the lump.

 

So the decision has been made to operate tomorrow, to try get the lump out or at least get to know what is causing it. Obviously due to his age, this itself brings complications, and just hopefully he makes it through it.
Hopefully he will, and they find the cause of this, and if it is that cancer, we need to decide on next steps.

 

 

 

6th April - Ollie has come through the operation, and should be back at his home tonight, but there are some complications.
When they went to take the lump out, it burst and was full of blood and have only managed to remove part of it, as was too risky to continue.

However, and this is where it gets worse. They have noticed some cells growing round his wind pipe, which have been the cause of his breathing issue. The vet is unsure exactly what it is, and has extracted some cells to send away for testing, along with the lump, but from what he has been saying, its most likely malignant.

 

Due to his age, chemo although an expensive action, isn’t guaranteed to cure him and may only prolong his life for a short while. As it stands at the moment, he doesn’t think he is in any pain, but the speed that this has came along with the breathing issue, might cause him pain in the near future.

 

The results should be back next week, and although he has been given some more antibiotics and opiates, we should think the worse and assume it looks like Lymphoma.

 

Not even sure what else to say, devastated isn’t the half of it.. going to try get up this weekend hopefully.

 

7th April - He's up and moving about fairly well albeit slowly.  He's very subdued but was cuddling in during the night and also making it very clear when he wanted more food haha.  He's eaten about 3/4 of a tin of tuna between last night and this morning.  Hasn't touched the regular food and has drank loads of water. Ended up with him in the bath for about 15 mins at 3am so he could drink out the tap lol. 

 

He's had his meds this morning too.  He's struggling to lie down so he hasn't slept much.  His breathing seems much better so not sure if they managed to loosen his windpipe a bit, definitely less noisy though.

 

 

 

I've decided to take time off work and travel up tomorrow, it's 300 miles and a 5-6hr journey, but given the circumstances, I feel it's necessary. And depending on the results next week, I might have to go back up next week to say goodbye

I'm so sorry.

[Paul ™]

11^th April - So back to work this morning after a couple days up Scotland visiting my Ollie boy.

He's recovering from his operation, slowly getting more mobile, and back at the vets tomorrow to get his stitches checked. They should come out Friday all being well.

Now it's just a waiting game for his 2nd lot of test results later this week. Everything crossed it's not the news we're dreading.

 

13^th April - Few people have asked so just to let you know, the test results are still not back for Ollie, hoping it would be this week so maybe tomorrow now.

He was at the vets on Tuesday, they are happy with his wounds and stitches will come out on Monday. Although they have noticed an issue with his teeth on the side the lump was on, but nothing needing done at moment with them.

His breathing has got slightly worse this week, although he has been subdued a fair bit, he seems better today and is eating more now so not all bad.

Poor boy, been dragging on now for weeks, just want to get to the bottom of it asap!

 

15^th April – Well the results are eventually back, the reason being they took so long is due to them having been sent to 3 specialists, and they can confirm it is vascular & cancerous. However, all 3 have never seen this type before and for them to find out any more, would require more investigative surgery, x-rays etc. and we’re not willing to put him through that as it’s too risky.

Devastated doesn’t cover it, however Ollie is a strong boy, he has a big healthy heart and is not in any pain for now, if that was to change then what happens would change of course.

So there are 3 options available just now to us –

1 – Chemotherapy, costing thousands, would involve going to Glasgow every 2 weeks, getting anaesthetics and have no guarantee to improve his lifespan or even quality of life.

2 – Palliative Care, this would involve being put on a course of steroids, as soon as possible once stiches out etc. This should improve his breathing and his quality of life, however nothing is guaranteed and won’t extend his life, but make him more comfortable.
It may have side effects of him eating more (as if he can anyway!) and possible sickness, but can be given anti-sickness medication if need be.

3 – Do nothing at all.

I’ve agreed to option 2, it may not help him and if at any point the vet thinks he is deteriorating or in any pain, the treatment would stop and we would need to decide from there.

[feral chile]

29 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

11^th April - So back to work this morning after a couple days up Scotland visiting my Ollie boy.

 

He's recovering from his operation, slowly getting more mobile, and back at the vets tomorrow to get his stitches checked. They should come out Friday all being well.

 

Now it's just a waiting game for his 2nd lot of test results later this week. Everything crossed it's not the news we're dreading.

 

 

 

13^th April - Few people have asked so just to let you know, the test results are still not back for Ollie, hoping it would be this week so maybe tomorrow now.

 

He was at the vets on Tuesday, they are happy with his wounds and stitches will come out on Monday. Although they have noticed an issue with his teeth on the side the lump was on, but nothing needing done at moment with them.

 

His breathing has got slightly worse this week, although he has been subdued a fair bit, he seems better today and is eating more now so not all bad.

 

Poor boy, been dragging on now for weeks, just want to get to the bottom of it asap!

 

 

 

15^th April – Well the results are eventually back, the reason being they took so long is due to them having been sent to 3 specialists, and they can confirm it is vascular & cancerous. However, all 3 have never seen this type before and for them to find out any more, would require more investigative surgery, x-rays etc. and we’re not willing to put him through that as it’s too risky.

 

Devastated doesn’t cover it, however Ollie is a strong boy, he has a big healthy heart and is not in any pain for now, if that was to change then what happens would change of course.

 

So there are 3 options available just now to us –

 

1 – Chemotherapy, costing thousands, would involve going to Glasgow every 2 weeks, getting anaesthetics and have no guarantee to improve his lifespan or even quality of life.

 

2 – Palliative Care, this would involve being put on a course of steroids, as soon as possible once stiches out etc. This should improve his breathing and his quality of life, however nothing is guaranteed and won’t extend his life, but make him more comfortable.
It may have side effects of him eating more (as if he can anyway!) and possible sickness, but can be given anti-sickness medication if need be.

 

3 – Do nothing at all.

 

I’ve agreed to option 2, it may not help him and if at any point the vet thinks he is deteriorating or in any pain, the treatment would stop and we would need to decide from there.

 

I'm so very sorry. It's a horrible situation to have to deal with. I think you've made the right choice out of a difficult set of options.

Hugs xx

[The Nal]

Moved house recently. Supposed to keep the cat in for at least two weeks. Left him out this morning after 10 days. Disappeared over the neighbours wall at 9am. Came home a few minutes ago, had some food and is sound asleep. 

[feral chile]

27 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

Unlucky mate. Nice try 

Tut!

[The Nal]

Have a robin in the new garden. Missed the last one when I moved house. May try to train him to come up and take food off my hand. One of my favourite animals. Cheeky little fuckers. 

[ThomThomDrum]

Robins are great. We get loads of them in the garden. You could see 3/4 of them mucking about at a time. Never tried to feed them from hand. May just give it a go. Any tips? 

 

[The Nal]

3 minutes ago, ThomThomDrum said:

Robins are great. We get loads of them in the garden. You could see 3/4 of them mucking about at a time. Never tried to feed them from hand. May just give it a go. Any tips? 

They're quite solitary, aggressive and territorial so likely you'll just have 1 as a mate.

Basically set some food (they like cheese apparently) close to the house, on a table or something. They'll come and eat it, then you put some more out but sit or stand closer to the food. If they take that, closer again etc to the point where its on your hand.

I tried but ran out of time in the old gaff. My auntie hand fed one for years. She loved gardening so he followed her round all day, within inches of her and ate all the insects etc that popped up. 

Heres the one Im looking to befriend. Looking to cement his spot for the summer at the moment.

 

Only problem is this evil killer.

[ThomThomDrum]

Cheese eh? Ha, thats gas. Anywhere on the Easi Single to Pule Cheese scale I should aim for? Or are they not too fussy?

Mad you say they are solitary, aggressive and territorial as there always seems to be a few hanging out together in the garden and they seem happy enough with each other. 

Probably a male and his happy harem...........