What pets do you have, and what pets have you had?

[brianmoooore]

Well, he's laid to rest now, right where I promised him, wrapped in a duvet and lying in his bed.
This is the third dog I've buried in less than a year. Daughter's husband cleared off three years ago, leaving her with two young children and two ancient dogs, both of which have passed away in the last ten months.
No plans for another dog at the moment, but daughter and grandchildren have been hinting that we could get a 'shared' dog, which probably translates as we pay for food and vet's bills, and get to look after it when they're on holiday or she's at work.
The cat eats dog food in preference to cat food, and Max has preferred cat biscuits to his own in recent months, probably due to lack of teeth.
About the only thing left over is a couple of part boxes of dog treats that we could donate. Google says there's a rescue place about half a mile further up the lane that mother in law lives in.

 

[mainline]

Labrador 7yrs old now.

 

[littlespark]

June last year I mentioned on this thread that we had lost one of our two rabbits….
Number two died sometime last night.

They were himalayan dwarf rabbits…. The biggest dwarfs you’ve ever seen. Both mostly white, but one with brown flecks, the other black flecks. Mirrie made it to over 10 years old… recently developed a grape sized lump on her back end.. Routine vet visit just said removing it would be too much distress… maybe not waking up from anaesthetic.. but keep an eye on it in case it gets bigger and ruptures.

Hadn’t noticed it getting bigger, but I realised she hadn’t eaten any food yesterday, apart from some carrot out my hand.

Went to put her out in the run this morning, and the thing must have burst through the night.

Died of old age in her bed… but the burst lump made it look like a massacre.

Photo is a couple years old now

 

[littlespark]

Just to add to my bunny post above…. A picture my daughter painted a few years ago. We had forgotten about….

 

[littlespark]

A little sad news of my mother in laws little doggy. 9 or 10 year old mini schnauzer, a bit daft, and a few strange little quirks.
Didn’t like hard floors, didn’t like walks, didn’t like toys, and hardly ate….

We had quite heavy wind last night, and she was out in the garden at home… something frightened her, and she got out… wether the gate blew open, or there was a big enough hole in the fence…. We don’t know… But she got out.

Ran away from the house and made it to the main road in the dark where she was struck by a vehicle on a 40mph stretch.

All credit to the driver, who phoned for an emergency vet, who then got in touch with my FIL through the collar name tag.
She was sedated when my in laws got to her at the vets, and apart from a visible broken jaw, there wasn’t much apparently wrong.
The vet said they could try to fix her, but being such a small dog, the risks with anaesthetic could be large…. Along with unknown brain damage from being struck in the head, and any other internal damage they didn’t know about.

It was decided the best course of action was to put her to sleep. An awful decision for any pet owner…. But the right one in certain circumstances.


A reminder that some, if not the majority of animals have an instinct about bad weather and will try to hide, escape or just act a little funny when stormy weather hits.
Also, it doesn’t matter how good you think your dog may be off a lead, anything can make it run off unpredictably….

By the roadside, keep them on a lead, please.