Ace of Spades Pet Thread

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Why don't you drop whatever was going on and enjoy the world of animals.

Please leave current events at the door.

Being at the right place at the right is rewarding. H/T Shibumi

Pets bring so much love and cheer into our lives. To be honest with you, I can't imagine life without a pet or two. The worst thing about having a pet is when you say goodbye to it.

A Moron recently had to say goodbye to his pet. He has a heart wrenching story that he wishes to share.

Good morning,

You posted my pics of "Dorkie Dork" a few weeks ago. Thank you.

I'm writing this email partly as therapy for me and partly to educate the Horde. It is about euthanasia, aka (by the vet profession), "the greatest gift you can give your pets". Ironically, in German, "gift" means "poison". Yes, it has the same root as the English word. Euthanasia is not, as much of the profession says, a gift. It is not all rainbows and tutti-frutti sherbet. It is a medical procedure that can be fraught with peril and disastrous results. I can't comment on how often and all that but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a lot more common than believed (everything's anecdotal). All I can do is relate my two experiences and what I've learned. I'll just say this at this point: if you have pets or love someone's pets ("companimals"), PLEASE educate yourself. Don't suffer my fate. When you and your SO are about to lose a companimal you love as a family member, especially if your SO devoted the last couple of years of their life to carrying for your handicatted companimal, you will not be that big, bad, tough, cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-cucumber-in-a-crisis dude or dudette you normally are. One last caveat: for my first cat, Toonses, euthanasia was an absolute must. He'd have died in agony without it. I am not anti-euthanasia or anti-vet. I am pro-knowledge.

Euthanasia is basically poisoning your companimal. For companimals, most states outlaw such traditional means as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression chambers, shooting -- basically, barbaric stuff. The ideal is to quickly and painlessly inject a substance into their bodies that quickly and painlessly kills them. It ain't that easy.

Sedation first or no sedation. Traditionally, vets just gave one injection of some kind of
-barbital solution that caused the heart to seize up.

How to get the stuff into the body. There's intravenous (IV), which doesn't work if you can't get a vein (i.e., poor circulation, low blood pressure, dehydration - common things). There's intramuscular (IM - some of you may have gotten a gamma globulin shot in the ass cheek. That was into the muscle) - easier to administer but can sting. IM is not for killing solution to my knowledge. There's also intraperitoneal, intrahepatic, etc. If you don't know what these are, look them up. This is important because not only are dogs and cats different animals, but when it comes to euthanasia, there are differences informed by breed, size, physical condition, etc. For instance, Toonses was a big tabby (15#) who was dying of pancreas cancer. Getting a vein on him was not a problem. However, for the sedative, the vet injected it by IM. (To do it by IV and do the euthanizing by IV, you'd have to put in a catheter, unless you want to do 2 injections.) The sedative stung Toonses a bit - he yelped and tried to run a bit, but he didn't go very far and plopped himself down. I stroked him and talked to him while he began to fall asleep (he hated being held, the exact opposite of Dorkie Dork). The IV'd killing solution went smoothly. Later, I cried hard, but I couldn't right then, and not because the vet was there.

Skill: yeah, this matters. Some vets are just better at the physical coordination necessary to do very delicate work on small animals. Also, is the vet hung over or sweating out his next delivery? (Yes, opiates are prescribed and administered to animals. Most domestic animals weigh a lot less than most humans, and an addicted vet is going to need a better supply than what's available at the pet hospital, which is going to notice that much stuff missing fairly easily, esp. because Schedule 2 drugs are extremely regulated and require a ton of paperwork.)

Different formulations. For both sedation and killing, there are different formulations depending on cost, storage issues, animal to be injected, etc. Find out what's best for your animal ahead of time, and also what's best for your animal's condition.

I recommend every companhuman read Robert Repin v. State of Washington.

https://tinyurl.com/ybqef5f7

You can skip over all the technical stuff. Focus on what happened and why relief was denied. Basically, the law in most states is that you cannot get "noneconomic" damages from vets for negligence and even, depending, gross negligence. "Noneconomic" damages is, basically, emotional distress/mental suffering/etc. You haven't lost money or something fungible (easily converted to money). There're various reasons why, but it basically boils down to doing so would pretty much make veterinary medicine so expensive, it would be eliminated as a viable profession. That's beyond what I'm writing about but I just wanted to bring that up since it's relevant to the bigger issue. In contrast, economic damages would be if you had to get another vet to fix what the first vet botched (assuming the result wasn't death), those bills are the first vet's obligation.

Also, to be or not to be present, that's the question. You should be present if you love your companimal, but in rare circumstances, I can understand why not. If your animal is conscious and loves you, but you're not there..., WTF? I read one story about a vet whose client brought in a kitten with FIP or whatever it is cat's can get that's 100% fatal. Client couldn't bear to be there because the kitten was a gift to his wife after they lost their young son to leukemia -- the wife had been at her son's bedside nearly round the clock for weeks and they couldn't bear to watch another living being die so soon. Otherwise....

Back to why I couldn't cry when ol' Toonses died (and yes, I cried when Ol' Yeller died -- if you didn't cry when Ol' Yeller died, you're a danger to society). It took place in my backyard. Just after his heart stopped, little Dorkie Dork (about 7#) started coming over to see the fuss (and to see me). I intercepted her so she wouldn't see Toonses dead (he feared and hated her, but I think she had a crush on him) and made her a fateful promise: if she stayed with me, I would make sure she didn't suffer when the time came. That was the night she moved in with me and though she had free roam of the world, she came back in every night. So I couldn't cry until after the vet left and I went inside. That night, after I got in bed, Dorkie Dork climbed over me and curled up against my upper right arm. I really needed that. She turned out to be the sweetest, most affectionate, and most genuine cat I'd ever known. She never did anything annoying (well, accidentally...) she was so low maintenance, and what she wanted most was companionship. She had to have her right, rear leg amputated in 2016 and she recovered like a champ. Barely slowed her down, and to me and GF's credit, we didn't think of her as handicatted (though, of course, we took precautions). Still, it was hard on her little body and it worsened her arthritis. Add in that she was probably a runt (never getting above 8#, at least 2# of which was fur) so she had malformed kidneys, hyperthyroidism, enlarged heart and heart murmur, pancreatitis, and a cystic tumor that grew off her liver. Removing it was never really feasible so we hoped it would grow slowly. She and my GF (a dog person) fell in love with each other, as if they were meant to be together. It was remarkable.

Eventually, at age 13, Dorkie Dork's body gave out despite our intense hospicing and doing everything we could. Most people would have euthanized her long before, but she had a wonderful 4+ months we'd never have had. In fact, most people would have euthanized her when she broke her leg (causing the amputation) -- total cost was nearly $20,000 and she almost died on the operating table. But we got to the point where no amount of medicine, love, hope, and prayer were going to keep her alive, and though there wasn't much left of her, my God, she was still sweet and affectionate. The morning of, I had to find a traveling vet and did so after reading their incredibly persuasive euthanasia webpage. My GF was going to hold Dorkie Dork while the vet administered the sedation and then killing solution, we'd bawl our eyes out and then cherish our memories of her knowing that we gave her the most peaceful and dignified death an animal could have.

First, the vet's assistant grabbed Dorkie Dork from my GF's arms and put her on a towel (we were in the backyard). Then the vet told us to "go over there" pointing 30' away. We couldn't see what was going on. We were in no condition to do anything but obey. Then he came to us and said that he couldn't get a vein, said that giving her an OD of buprenorphine (aka suboxone, which is one of the few painkillers cats can take) would take too long (WTF?) and then told us there was a technique that involved a very small needle, it was quick, and she wouldn't feel a thing. I'd never heard of it and not sanguine on the idea, but he knew his NLP and we gave in, not having any other options. Then he told us to go inside the house. We never even saw Dorkie Dork again before he stabbed her in the heart, unsedated, and injected the killing solution.

That is "intracardiac injection", aka, "heart stick". Later, when we recovered and I looked up what had happened, I was furious, appalled, sick to my stomach, and heartbroken that such a sweet animal, who wanted nothing more than to hold her mama (my GF), and who was not in imminent need of euthanasia (she'd have probably died on her own later that night) was in the company of two strangers and stabbed in the heart while conscious. In most states, including CA, it's illegal to do a heart stick on an unsedated animal unless there is no other alternative. Well there were two (buprenorphine and natural death). I just imagine that little kitty on her back, missing her back leg, wondering where her mama and daddy are, and it's waterworks. That happened April 18, 2019. Today is the 1 year anniversary of her murder. I'm looking at her "portrait" photo right now. It's a pro-style shot my upstairs neighbor took of her sitting on his fence several years ago. Everyone who looks at it says she looks regal. She was regal, but also humble. It took her 4 years to come up to me, then she developed all these health problems, and in the end, I failed to keep my promise and failed as a man, as a "father" to comfort his dying child and not abandon her to evil. Yes, I know I don't bear any moral culpability, but that doesn't change the fact that I made that phone call and I didn't stop him from doing it. I'll never get over this.

Experience can be a cruel teacher. Please, learn from my experience so you don't have to suffer like I, my GF, and Dorkie Dork did.

Sincerely,

Your humble pet moron, SFGoth

Hello, I thoroughly enjoy the pet pictures everybody sends in. Our pets have been so special to us. Three unique personalities and that makes us crazy sometimes.

Gus, long hair red Dachshund, came as a puppy that was abandoned. He is 10 years old.

Alexa, blue merle Shetland Sheepdog, is from a champion line and guards her domain. She is 5 years old.

Caylee, long hair black and tan Dachshund, thinks she runs the house...ok she does, but we won't let her know that she's right. She is 2 years old. -Susan

Beautiful pets Susan. By the way how much time do you spend grooming them? The long hair must be a challenge at times. Thanks for sharing today.

This is Dottie, she's been on the pet thread before, but this pic is so cute I had to share it. Thanks for making my weekends so much better with the pet thread. - Jennifer

First of all, you're welcome Jennifer. Quite the close up of Dottie. She appears to lead a challenging life. Thanks for your submission today.

Hello Mis Hum,

Moniker - Lurker Since Before Kaboom (LSBK)

Earlier, I shared a photo of my adventure buddies Mattie and Chief. This is an adventure pic of my blue Australian Cattle Dog, Mattie.

We were on a float trip down the Snake River. The crew “put in” in Wyoming “took out” in Idaho. It was an easy ride during that time of the year. That’s Mattie next to me - always on ”attention”, it was her first float on a river. Mattie was about year and a half old at this time. She liked water and she was a good swimmer. Mattie did not relax the whole float. That night she slept like a rock!

In the back ground is a good friend’s black Lab Retriever, Jasper. As opposed to Mattie, Jasper was chill. They say Lab Retrievers and water go good together. I believe that to be true! - LSBK

That certainly looks like a fun trip!! Glad to see a PFD on Mattie. I suspect napping wasn't an option that day. Thank you for sharing.

I would like to submit for the pet thread my dog, Sounder. She is a sweet 7-year old rescue that we received from Houston in 2015. The attached picture shows her favorite attention-getting trick.

With a ball in her mouth, she lays down and rolls on her back. Using both paws she then takes the ball from her mouth and holds in the air for display until someone notices and compliments her. Not really a useful skill, like retrieving birds or herding sheep, but it’s all she’s got. - John

Skills? Sounds like Sounder has useful skills to me. Skillful is in the eye of the beholder. Adorable dog. We appreciate you sharing a wonderful story.

Bruno just turned 6 months years old. I had to break the pool out because he was trying to swim in his water bucket. - freaked

It looks like Bruno has outgrown his pool not only his water bucket. I didn't realize that GSD enjoyed water as much as Bruno appears.

Please meet LeRoy, my new best friend. All of 9 weeks, he is all playfulness and fun. Lost 2 frenchies I’d had for 11 and 12 years recently, and I lasted about 2 weeks before I had to get another. He is heaven sent. - Rich

So sorry to hear about your loss. But congrats on your new addition Rich. LeRoy looks full of vim and vigor. Thank you for your contribution today.

This is my new puppy Annie Apple. She has borrowed a slipper - The Big V

i decided to let the horses out to munch some grass and frank decided it’d be a nice place to rest.

oscar, on the other hand felt more at home in the pasture.

life is grand! - trapper’s girl

Pets come in all shapes and sizes. Thanks for submitting photos of Frank & Oscar. If you're around today, let us know if you ride them or perform any other horsie tricks.

What a great and diverse group of pets. Thank you for today's content!

Do you have something you wish to share with other animal lovers? You can contribute at petmorons at gmail dot com. Please provide your nic and any other info you wish to share.

Thank you everyone. Have a great week!!!

Please leave current events at the door.