Pet Thread

[meow]

[willeyeam]

Stargell's thoughts are with Carlin

[Freddy Rumsen]

[AuthorTony]

Joining the "so sorry" chorus.

[skullman80]

That's awful tif.

[the wicked child]

Damn.

[tifosi77]

We met Carlin 12 years ago this week.

And it seems I've struck the pet lottery today. The other beagle, Lily, is exhibiting symptoms that she had a seizure or mild stroke this morning.

[meow]

I think she’s had seizures before, no? So I’ll assume you know the symptoms, but some pet owners think stroke/seizure and it turns out to be an inner ear infection.

[tifosi77]

Correct, she's had four seizures in the past, the most recent one being about a year ago. It's not just balance issues, there are behavioral cues. She's denning, backing herself into corners, flexing her front paws, etc.

[Willie Kool]

[meow]

I know you’ve got a discussion to have with Mrs tif, but I’d be interested in which treatment route you decide to take.

[tifosi77]

We lost our first pet (Sybil, the cat) to lymphoma. We treated it for a few months, during which time she couldn't always get to the litter box in time and couldn't get on furniture with us on her own. Went off meds to see how'd she handle it, and within four days she shriveled down to 4.5 pounds. On the way back home from the vet after...... we realized we extended her life out of our own selfish desire, not what was the best medical decision for the critter. We made up our minds then that we wouldn't do that again.

Mitigating circumstances here, in that dogs respond much more favorably to treatment than do cats. (Apparently the varieties of canine lymphoma are so similar to non-Hodgkins human lymphoma that the treatments are more or less the same.) So the quality of life issue isn't nearly as profound. Cost isn't a factor; I don't mean that to sound flippant, but it just isn't a consideration. Sybil was also 17 years old, so she had already out-kicked her coverage, in a way.

The selfish counterpoint, I don't like the idea of going the treatment route knowing that every time I look at her for the next X number of months I'll see a countdown clock superimposed over her head. I've said before that at least once a day every single day since the day we met I've thought about being in this position. But now that I'm actually here it is 1000x worse than I imagined.

[dodint]

No words.

Happy to listen to you vent when needed.

[willeyeam]

Ugh can't imagine having to make that decision. There obviously isn't a wrong choice, I'm sure either way she has had an excellent life in the tif household

[shafnutz05]

I'm so sorry to hear that tif...awful news

[Gaucho]

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Hang in there tif

[redwill]

So sorry, tifosi.

We've lost more than a dozen dogs to various forms.of cancer. Every single time we did everything possible to buy them some more time. Whether that was the right decision in every case ... Who the hell knows?

We all try and do what is best and then spend the rest of our lives second-guessing our decision. It's the price we pay for love, I suppose.

[tifosi77]

And of course, today is the first day since Saturday Carlin is acting like a completely healthy and happy doggo. I've never been so happy to watch her poop.

sigh

[tifosi77]

And just like that, it is over. She's gone.

[count2infinity]

Sorry to hear it, Tif. RIP Carlin. Days like this I hope there actually is a heaven and dogs get to go there.

[the wicked child]

Sorry tif

[dodint]

Jesus, tif. So sorry.

[willeyeam]

Oh no I am sorry

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Sorry tif. My condolences.