Tough to hear there DJ. They really become like family.
My 10 year old chocolate lab is at my parents and has been for about a year. The little shit in my picture took a nip at our youngest when he was a year old and momma pretty much put an end to that. So they went to mom and dads for a few weeks to let things calm down. That was over a year ago. The parents being empty nesters wouldn't let us bring them home so they stayed.
My dad and my lab are pretty much inseparable at this point and he gets more attention than we could give him, plus he's outside all the time there so it works out. I do miss my buddy a lot though, but he's pretty much fully gray in the snout and an old man so we aren't rocking the boat.
And the people at MU vet are just unreal. We had my labs back left hip replaced there when he was 3 and they were just awesome. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
Tough to hear there DJ. They really become like family.
My 10 year old chocolate lab is at my parents and has been for about a year. The little shit in my picture took a nip at our youngest when he was a year old and momma pretty much put an end to that. So they went to mom and dads for a few weeks to let things calm down. That was over a year ago. The parents being empty nesters wouldn't let us bring them home so they stayed.
My dad and my lab are pretty much inseparable at this point and he gets more attention than we could give him, plus he's outside all the time there so it works out. I do miss my buddy a lot though, but he's pretty much fully gray in the snout and an old man so we aren't rocking the boat.
And the people at MU vet are just unreal. We had my labs back left hip replaced there when he was 3 and they were just awesome.
We're dog people. Dog people have dogs...so we'll soldier on. I put a deposit down on a new boy this morning because my other two are 14 and 8; the 14 year old can't have too much longer left though he seems healthy as a horse apart from a degenerative disk (that's gonna be a fun call to have to make....ugh). I just can't leave the 8 yr old as a solo act; he'd be crushed by it. He's never known life without 2 buddies around so going it alone would blow his mind.
So we have 2nd pick of a male from a litter of rotty's born last week. Here's dad:
Spoiler!
and here's mom:
Spoiler!
This is a picture of a puppy from dad's last litter:
Spoiler!
That's what sold me. That dog is only 4 weeks old in that photo and looks like a small bear. Dad's a german import; incredible lines and certifications. Mom comes from a line recommended by none other than Sauto (much obliged to him for putting me on these guys years ago); great granddaughter of a world champion. Dad weighs about 130 lbs, mom about 125 (with a brother who checked in at 150). Honestly, that's a little heavier than I'd prefer but the bone structure on those guys is just incredible.
It'll be an adjustment and I'll never have another one like Rommel, but like I said - dog people have dogs, man. Gotta keep going forward. We'll be able to pick him up about a week before my daughter's 5th birthday and she has no idea. It'll all work out in the end. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
We're dog people. Dog people have dogs...so we'll soldier on. I put a deposit down on a new boy this morning because my other two are 14 and 8; the 14 year old can't have too much longer left though he seems healthy as a horse apart from a degenerative disk (that's gonna be a fun call to have to make....ugh). I just can't leave the 8 yr old as a solo act; he'd be crushed by it. He's never known life without 2 buddies around so going it alone would blow his mind.
So we have 2nd pick of a male from a litter of rotty's born last week. Here's dad:
Spoiler!
and here's mom:
Spoiler!
This is a picture of a puppy from dad's last litter:
Spoiler!
That's what sold me. That dog is only 4 weeks old in that photo and looks like a small bear. Dad's a german import; incredible lines and certifications. Mom comes from a line recommended by none other than Sauto (much obliged to him for putting me on these guys years ago); great granddaughter of a world champion. Dad weighs about 130 lbs, mom about 125 (with a brother who checked in at 150). Honestly, that's a little heavier than I'd prefer but the bone structure on those guys is just incredible.
It'll be an adjustment and I'll never have another one like Rommel, but like I said - dog people have dogs, man. Gotta keep going forward. We'll be able to pick him up about a week before my daughter's 5th birthday and she has no idea. It'll all work out in the end.
We just moved to our new house about 6 months ago so we're trying to get that finished up before we do anything else dog wise. Plus I hate to get anything else while my babies are with my parents just out of respect.
We do have a couple outdoor cats that are keeping the mice away I guess, dunno, not really a cat guy.
I'll always be a lab guy though I think. I could be talked into a German Sheppard or a Great Dane, but I'll probably stick with old faithful. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
Tough to hear there DJ. They really become like family.
My 10 year old chocolate lab is at my parents and has been for about a year. The little shit in my picture took a nip at our youngest when he was a year old and momma pretty much put an end to that. So they went to mom and dads for a few weeks to let things calm down. That was over a year ago. The parents being empty nesters wouldn't let us bring them home so they stayed.
My dad and my lab are pretty much inseparable at this point and he gets more attention than we could give him, plus he's outside all the time there so it works out. I do miss my buddy a lot though, but he's pretty much fully gray in the snout and an old man so we aren't rocking the boat.
And the people at MU vet are just unreal. We had my labs back left hip replaced there when he was 3 and they were just awesome.
I second the emotion on MU Vet. We were raising our 8th Guide Dog puppy and she presented an auto immune disease called "strangles". When we took her there, they thought she was a goner, but diagnosed it in two days. 7 weeks of prednizone, a year total with us, 4 months at Leader Dogs for the Blind and voila......... shes a working guide with a blinded man in SD. Prednizone stunted her growth but at 52# shes the little engine that does. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Oxford:
I second the emotion on MU Vet. We were raising our 8th Guide Dog puppy and she presented an auto immune disease called "strangles". When we took her there, they thought she was a goner, but diagnosed it in two days. 7 weeks of prednizone, a year total with us, 4 months at Leader Dogs for the Blind and voila......... shes a working guide with a blinded man in SD. Prednizone stunted her growth but at 52# shes the little engine that does.
I got a little short with MU cardiology a couple weeks ago. During his regular cardiology appointment and chest x-ray he had a mass show up in his chest and they wanted him to go to oncology for general anesthesia and a CT scan; possible surgery to remove it or chemo. No signs of spreading; likely a slow growing carcinoma but they weren't sure and wanted the in depth look.
I just wanted to ask them what the fuck they were thinking. I get it; teaching hospital and they're going to overtreat 100 times out of 100 if you let them. But FFS, he'd have a 0% chance of surviving the surgery, a 10% chance of surviving the chemo (that shits terrible on the heart), a 100% chance of being miserable if I administered it and for what gain? Hell, he would've only been 50/50 to even make it back from the general and the CT.
So he has a mass in his chest and a heart the size of a grapefruit - the heart was going to fail well before the mass got him. There was just nothing left to do and they were trying to schedule appointments with oncology.
I felt bad about being irritable later because they're the ones that found the heart failure to begin with; they're why he had a nice year down the stretch. But at some point the answer can't just be 'treat treat treat' and when I'm trying to get some straight answers regarding the status of his heart...maybe give me that rather than have me sending him to the cancer ward. His heart finally gave out a whopping 2 weeks later and the amount of pissed I'd have been had he spent any of that time going through chemo would be pretty much off the scale. Cardiology needed to do better there because someone a little less studious about that stuff would've gotten led around and done their pet a disservice.
All that said, they're the best in the region. Just a remarkable group, provided you're willing to wait a couple hours for pretty much anything you go in there to do. They're not sudden, but they're damn good. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I got a little short with MU cardiology a couple weeks ago. During his regular cardiology appointment and chest x-ray he had a mass show up in his chest and they wanted him to go to oncology for general anesthesia and a CT scan; possible surgery to remove it or chemo. No signs of spreading; likely a slow growing carcinoma but they weren't sure and wanted the in depth look.............
.
I remember the emotions from the times we've been down that road. Sometimes the "treat-treat-treat" and the "I just want him to be a dog for as long as he can" and the "we can fix this" paths don't all mesh. The guilt when you have a terminal "member of the family" gets hard to bear. I'm sure they understand......... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Oxford:
I remember the emotions from the times we've been down that road. Sometimes the "treat-treat-treat" and the "I just want him to be a dog for as long as he can" and the "we can fix this" paths don't all mesh. The guilt when you have a terminal "member of the family" gets hard to bear. I'm sure they understand.........
I switched primary over to MU as well and that helped. I could use my primary care vet to coordinate between the services and when they weren't around I could just have that kind of conversation with her.
But since this was just a follow-up, I handled it myself. He went downhill before I got in to confirm what I was thinking with the primary vet but it was pretty clear that there was no real decision to make.
Having most of that stuff go through the primary vet is the way to go though. They'll arrange consults as needed and basically act as your advocate when the respective specialties get a little too gung-ho. [Reply]
