The Official FC Pets & Animals thread
- Thread starter Purpl3_Haz3
- Start date
Cats are adorable but beware, they always have stone cold murder on their mind! 
Ripbongs420
vapiff
I love this thread. 
Currently the only pets I have are my 3 leopard geckos, Fiona, Ramona, and Led.
(Led and Fiona)
Here is my old childhood family dog Milo. He was an awesome plump little half beagle half corgi who we all loved. He got Lymphoma and kept fighting over a year from when the vets estimated he would go. I couldn't imagine my childhood without him.
And he inspired one of my first graphic design color field illustrations
I loved that dog. Also here is a slightly long video of my sister's Jack russell pretty unsuccessfully trying to tug of war with her chocolate lab.
That lab is the sweetest dog ever, sometimes I want to steal her. 
Currently the only pets I have are my 3 leopard geckos, Fiona, Ramona, and Led.
(Led and Fiona)
Here is my old childhood family dog Milo. He was an awesome plump little half beagle half corgi who we all loved. He got Lymphoma and kept fighting over a year from when the vets estimated he would go. I couldn't imagine my childhood without him.
And he inspired one of my first graphic design color field illustrations
I loved that dog. Also here is a slightly long video of my sister's Jack russell pretty unsuccessfully trying to tug of war with her chocolate lab.
That lab is the sweetest dog ever, sometimes I want to steal her.
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VapeNStone
Mark
My dog was having some issues last week and was feeling better so I decided to take a pic. Her name is Izzy but we call her all sorts of names. If you look closely the reason I took this pic is because she has a heart on her butt lol
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arf777
No longer dogless
Off to the vet oncologist now. Hoping Mac has a fighting chance. He lost another 3 pounds or so this week.
I feel like a monster. Despite the strong chance he may be put down, the vet insisted I take away his food and water last night. He's desperately thirsty and miserable now.
Encouraging to hear about a dog living longer with an extreme illness than expected. My parents - not dog people due to my mom's allergies - don't understand why I'd be willing to go into debt to have him just another few months. But fuck them.
I feel like a monster. Despite the strong chance he may be put down, the vet insisted I take away his food and water last night. He's desperately thirsty and miserable now.
Encouraging to hear about a dog living longer with an extreme illness than expected. My parents - not dog people due to my mom's allergies - don't understand why I'd be willing to go into debt to have him just another few months. But fuck them.
Ripbongs420
vapiff
We're all pulling for you and your buddy. I hope for the best news possible! The FC family is always here for support.
This is Mooch. I don't know how old he was when we took him in. He'd been living in my father-in-law's back yard and garage for about 8 years when we realized that he had renal failure. Since my FIL was no longer capable of even feeding him and Lucky, who is still with us, my wife and I wound up taking them both in. We were worried that two cats who had been living outdoors for most of their lives would have trouble adopting to being indoors, but both of them reacted well. There were no behaviour issues at all.
Treating Mooch's CRF was not easy. (If your cat has renal failure, you absolutely must visit Tanya's CRF Information site.) I had to give him daily subcutaneous fluid injections, and he was a perfect gentlecat even when I messed up and had to insert the needle multiple times. I hated to do it but it but there was no doubt that it gave him comfort.
In the two years that he owned us, Mooch had several crises that required vet visits and sometimes, medications. The cost was never a consideration. What we wanted to do—and I hope we achieved—was to provide him with as much comfort as possible. One day, however, he started coughing up the most vile black liquid you can imagine. I took him to the vet immediately but she told us that there wasn't anything to be done any more. His time had come.
So my wife and I held him while the vet administered an injection, and he slipped peacefully away. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I don't regret it for a moment. He was in pain, he would never get better, and prolonging his life because we didn't want to lose him was not an option.
That was almost two years ago. I'm still not over it and I tear up every time I see his picture, but I know we did the right thing. I know you're going to a dark place today and I know how it will feel, but you must always remember that you are doing the best thing for Mac.
arf777
No longer dogless
Mac has inoperable sarcoma. It has already crushed part of his rib cage and is the cause of his breathing and weight loss problems.
The only piece of good news is, given his breed (OEBD), he actually feels relatively little pain, not enough to warrant extreme measures at this time. So I have him home, where I can hopefully keep him as comfortable as possible, until he either dies naturally or the pain becomes too intense. The vet oncologist is giving him a month or so, though he admits it could be far more or far less time.
The only piece of good news is, given his breed (OEBD), he actually feels relatively little pain, not enough to warrant extreme measures at this time. So I have him home, where I can hopefully keep him as comfortable as possible, until he either dies naturally or the pain becomes too intense. The vet oncologist is giving him a month or so, though he admits it could be far more or far less time.
I'm so sorry, @
Madcap79
Jack of all trades, master of none.
Best wishes man. My dogs are my children. Glad he's not suffering (too much).
Havelock Vetenari
Patrician
arf777
No longer dogless
It's funny, but until I moved from NY, I never met anybody who thought it was odd. Those '70s NYC alley cats were bad-ass and big. My doberman-killer, a ginger tom named Jimmy, was huge. Like nearly ocelot-sized. And to give him his due, the feral doberman had threatened me and my sister a couple of times. Jimmy was very protective of us. So one day he tore the dog's neck out. From on its back. Like a tiger taking an elephant from a tree. The cops then had Jimmy out down for being 'dangerous'. A cat.I'm very sorry to read about your dog @arf777.. It sucks to have to put a pet down.. I had a rough time the last time.. ATM I don't have any animals, but I would love a cat and dog.
I have never heard of such a thing.. That's crazy.
Meanwhile, a day later, Mac is getting slowly worse. I can almost feel his tumor growing. A friend pointed out I wasn't taking my handicap into account - if Mac dies at home, I will likely not be able to lift him. Even after his weight loss, he's over 80 pounds. And I live more than an hour from any friends or family. Between the two, it looks like i will have to let him go by the end of the week, unless he makes a miraculous recovery.
As a Buddhist, pain and death are no shock to me. But I am getting fucking sick of the cancer insanity in the Baltimore-DC area. Before we moved here from New York, no one in either of my parents' families had ever had any kind of cancer at all, despite being chain-smoking Russians. Now both my sisters are sterile from uterine cancer, one by the age of 24; my mother has had ovarian cancer; and my father has had two separate cancers, prostate and melanoma. Because Baltimore is a great medical town and they all got diagnosed early (my parents work in public health) all of them lived. But I lost a dozen friends to various cancers before any of us was 30. I knew an entire family - husband, wife, daughter and pets - all dead from the same cancer (the husband, last alive, killed himself when diagnosed).
And when I worked at an EPA lab for a while in the '90s I found out why. The Baltimore - DC area has the plumes of more untreated Superfund sites over it than any other urbanized part of the country. Every site and their contaminants have been known for getting on 20 years. All of 1 of them has had clean up. Of course in this are, all the sites were government or government-related, so no surprise the EPA isn't forcing cleanup. Meanwhile people and animals in the Balto-DC area keep dying, of the same cancers - reproductive, lymphoma, leukemia, systemic melanoma, sarcomas - all known to have connections to water-borne contaminants. Lots of depleted uranium got into the water table here during cold-war weapons testing, as well as other things like TCA and TCE.
Madcap79
Jack of all trades, master of none.
Positive vibes sent your way. I think the uptick in cancer has some to do with our environment and food supply as well. It's a very unfortunate situation. Stay strong and my thoughts are with you.
Buildozer
Baked & Fried
It's tough to have to make the decision when to take them on that last car ride.. I'm sorry that it's getting close for Mac.. I always have a tough time w/ that.. The last time I had to, was one of the hardest times I've had so far... A sweet little black cat that I named Tipsy, because she had this wobble to her walk.. I rescued her from a family that intentionally moved w/o her, intending to ditch her and just let her die off.. I rescued her off the porch of the empty house.. she had been there for just over a month, barely surviving some how.. The old owners said that they had her for about 18 years (weird story, but coincidentally some of my friends ended up renting the same house I rescued her from, and the old owners of the cat were their landlords.. that is how I learned her approximate age) I had her for almost 2 years and, I'm not really sure why she was having problems at the end, and it was too expensive to find out.. She loved her life here, and I'm glad I was able to give her the home she deserved, even if it was for a little bit.. Those landlords disgust me.. I met them a few times, but they didn't know I knew about the cat, and they didn't know I rescued her either.. I don't know how some seemingly nice, normal people could do something like that..
That is a very vivid story about the fight between Jimmy and the doberman.. I was trying to imagine how that would go down.. Now I can picture it pretty well.. WOW.. Yeah I guess it's a NY alley cat thing.. I would never think a cat could kill a doberman.. That's good to know.. What a bad ass hero cat!
Yeah Cancer is a bitch.. It seems to get more common all the time.. Sometimes I wonder what are the odds of me not eventually getting cancer.. I kind of expect to get it one day.. I should probably be more optimistic about that, it couldn't hurt I suppose.
arf777
No longer dogless
I wanted to thank everyone in this thread for their thoughts and support. It helps to be reminded other people, some as handicapped as I am, have been through this. There were some wonderful ideas too - I am getting myself on the DC Service Dog waiting list.
It looks like today is the day. Mac woke me up at 4 am begging by my bed - which he hasn't set foot near in two weeks - and when i lifted him up he spent the next two hours licking me. He was clearly saying goodbye. He barely ate anything yesterday, and as the vet warned it might, his tumor is measurably larger already, and giving him more and more trouble moving and breathing. He will never complain - bulldogs don't - but it would be cruel to make him suffer longer just to assuage my loneliness and grief. Waiting to hear back from the vet with the time to bring him in.
It is likely better for me this happen now as well, rather than Friday. At least I will be in my office the rest of the week, not just sitting at home missing him. Though I know the first week or two of coming home without him here will be heart-breaking.
I will also be avatar-less for a while. I can't keep using his picture or I'll go nuts every time I land on FC. I doubt I'll be ready to even seriously consider another dog for a month or two. Back to the lonely life of a chronic pain patient with a broken wheelchair and no dog.
It looks like today is the day. Mac woke me up at 4 am begging by my bed - which he hasn't set foot near in two weeks - and when i lifted him up he spent the next two hours licking me. He was clearly saying goodbye. He barely ate anything yesterday, and as the vet warned it might, his tumor is measurably larger already, and giving him more and more trouble moving and breathing. He will never complain - bulldogs don't - but it would be cruel to make him suffer longer just to assuage my loneliness and grief. Waiting to hear back from the vet with the time to bring him in.
It is likely better for me this happen now as well, rather than Friday. At least I will be in my office the rest of the week, not just sitting at home missing him. Though I know the first week or two of coming home without him here will be heart-breaking.
I will also be avatar-less for a while. I can't keep using his picture or I'll go nuts every time I land on FC. I doubt I'll be ready to even seriously consider another dog for a month or two. Back to the lonely life of a chronic pain patient with a broken wheelchair and no dog.
momofthegoons
vapor accessory addict
Oh arf777, I am so sorry to hear this. But you are giving Mac the best gift you can for all the unconditional love he has shown you. You are giving him the gift of peace.
weedemon
enthusiast
so sorry to hear about your friend Mac. I cried when reading that last message. and after that I sat down with my rescue and we had a moment together to think about our friendship together.
Sadly the last time I lost a dog the hurting only lessened with time. Much like a breakup with a SO actually.
My heart hurts for you arf777
Sadly the last time I lost a dog the hurting only lessened with time. Much like a breakup with a SO actually.
My heart hurts for you arf777
