Grief and Guilt over a dying dog.

A lady came into the vet surgery today distraught and wanted to talk with me. Her 13 year old German Shepard had died of Bloat on Sunday morning, She awoke late on Sunday morning to find the dog's abdomen swollen and the tongue blue, but by the time she had rung the emergency vet the dog had died. She felt so very guilty, why had she slept in? Why had not she taken more notice of the vomiting the night before, why had she let her friends dog come over to play that day? What could have she done to save this dogs life? I could only tell her it would have been very difficult to save a 13 year old dog from bloat. But I could see that she felt tremendous guilt and grief about the loss of her dog. I tried to tell her that is very normal to feel guilt and grief after losing a great friend. One of the best things to do is to focus your energy into remembering what a great dog she had. To put effort into making a memory of the dog. I also suggested she talk to a pet loss counsellor if her feeling became to much. I recommend Penny Carroll. Her details are on my pet loss website www.petsandpeople.com.au I was glad that I had time to listen, I was amazed by the intensity of feeling.

Rainbow on Stradbroke Island

We had a great weekend at Stradbroke Island, We took Rainbow down to the beach, and as I took her off the lead the joy and exhilartion in her face was unmistakeable, She ran in and out of the surf, chasing waves, and meeting other dogs and people. She loved chasing the ball on the beach because as the ball ran across the smooth surface it seemed to go twice as far as normal. When we where back at the beach house Rainbow was happy to hang out on the Verandah as she could always see us. I was sorry that Ruff Ruff could not join us, but I don't think it would have worked out so well as she is not so other dog friendly. It is great to go on holidays with your dogs as you feel as if you have the whole family. We will be looking for more holidays in the future where we can take our dogs with us.

Going on holidays with my pets

Today we are leaving for a weekend to Stradbroke Island, but it is always difficult to decide what to do about our pets. The house we are staying in is pet friendly, but does not have a fence and they do not like dogs in the house. So we have decided to leave Ruff Ruff in a kennel and take Rainbow with us. If we put all three animals in the Kennel it would be $50 per day, which is about 1/2 the accommodation costs for a family of 5 people, seems quite silly really. We are leaving our cat Aussie behind for the weekend and I will get the neighbours to look out for Aussie. I know this is not the most responsible thing to do, But I am confident that Aussie will be fine as he hangs out at the front of the house most of the time without incident. I am really looking forward to going down to the Deadmans beach with Rainbow as it is a dog friendly beach and I know she will love it.

Amazing new cancer drug EBC-46

Last week I attended a presentation about an amazing new anticancer drug called ECB-46. It is has been developed from the rainforest of North Queensland. It has been very successful in it first preclinical trials, producing completed regression of the tumour after 2-3 weeks with no side effects. I was very impressed with the CEO Dr Victoria Gordon as she has developed and planned the progress of the drug in a very professional manner. This is an exciting development for cancer in both animals and humans as now anticancer drugs are very expensive and may only give people several months to live. This drug treatment only involves the single injection of ECB-46 directly into the tumour. It may be several more years until the drug is commercially available but it gives me great hope for the future of cancer treatment. If you would like to know more go to the website
ecobiotics

Ruff Ruff escapes and lands in trouble with council

I came home today to find Ruff Ruff out on the front footpath, happily greeting me. Ruff had escaped from under the fence. A pot plant had been moved and she was able to get under the fence. I was unhappy but still took them for a walk. When I arrived back there was a red council van outside our property. I knew there was trouble, Ruff Ruff had been reported for attacking another dog with their owners. The pound officer had to inspect our yard to look at the fence and is going to issue us with a notice to repair the fence.We have 28 days to repair the fence. I felt very embarrassed that this was happening as I very much believe in being a responsible dog owner. This is only another drama in the life of Ruff Ruff, Our Labrador Rainbow continues to stay out of trouble. Well I will strive to learn about making a dog proof fence!

2 labdradors desperate for a home together

Cookie and Coco
Even if you cant take them, please pass this around!

Contact: Katherine kjmorris74@yahoo.com

We are moving overseas in just 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I have still not been able to find a good home for Cookie and Coco . We ' re not able to take our beloved doggies with us and I ' ve been desperately trying to find a home for both of them ' together ' . They were raised together and pine without each other. The Lab rescue have already said that they would probably separate them, so this is my last resort. Recently I tried to take Coco out in my car alone and she TOTALLY refused to even get into the car without Cookie.......!!!! She absolutely pulled back on her haunches until Cookie was by her side..

Both doggies are in great health, have been spayed and have ID chips implanted under the skin.

Cookie turned 3 December 10th and Coco turned 3 April 1st. Cookie is my mellow-yellow, and just loves her tummy rubbed. Coco is adorably funny and lives for her "ball." She also loves the water...... Cookie loves lots of attention. Both doggies are loyal and love to walk. They have been raised with my 3 kids running around all over the place, and have survived Sammy ' s constant hugging and love of ' dress-up ' , so they are fantastic family dogs.. This is by far one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, but under the circumstances I have no choice.

Please, please forward these pics to all your friends. I want to find a great home for these fabulous doggies. They are just adorable and it ' s heartbreaking to let them go. In a perfect world, I hope that we could find someone local so that we can still keep in touch and visit them. I pray that someone, somewhere can help us keep Cookie and Coco together, and love them just as much as we do.Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. kjmorris74@yahoo.com

Something coming out the back end of the dog.

I knew their was trouble when I was told there was something coming out the back end of the dog. The nurses asked me to see if I could help get the dog out of the van. I walked outside to find the dog inside the van, already with a muzzle on, but nobody was able to pull the dog out, I could just see some mass hanging out, but there was no way the dog was going to let me near it. So I went back inside the surgery and got some sedation. The dog did not mind me giving him an injection in his neck, but there was no way he was going to let me get near his tail. We waited 15 minutes and then finally we where able to bring the dog inside to examine. I was able to lift the tail to find a large dark mass, bleeding and ulcerated. I also examined the dog to find he had a very large fluid filled stomach and was now quite skinny. The owners thought the dog was getting fat and so they where cutting back his ration. Unfortunately the mass at the tail was mostly likely an aggressive tumour that had spread to the abdomen. They had noticed a small lump several years ago but did nothing about it. Now it was most likely too late and I had to recommend that euthanasia was the best option. The owners where very upset, but agreed that this was the best course of action. They paid and left with out waiting for the euthanasia. I always let people decide what they fill most comfortable with, But I actually like when they stay, it seems better for the dog. We all felt quite drained of emotion afterward. The moral must be to always check out lumps with your vet.

Living with cats and dogs may reduce atopy

I found this article in the Australian news paper on Saturday showing that people who live with a dog or a cat may be protected from developing allergies. It makes me happy that I am rasing my children with cats and dogs

PEOPLE who live with a cat and a dog: their pets may protect them from developing allergies, research suggests. A study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology involved 1037 people who were tested for atopy, a tendency to develop allergies. Children who had owned a cat and a dog between birth and the age of nine were less likely to be atopic at age 13 than others. Living with only one of these pets was not protective against atopy. The pets' protective effect continued into adulthood. Among those who were not atopic at 13, having both a cat and a dog in adulthood was associated with a lower risk of atopy by age 32. This link was significant only among those whose parents had atopy.

JACI

2009;doi:10.1016/

j.jaci.2009.06.038

For the full article http://bit.ly/VGzVs

Ruff Ruff is Found!

I woke early this morning after a restless night sleep, where I kept thinking that Ruff Ruff was outside the window. I went walking with Jessica and looking for Ruff Ruff, but no dog could be found. I thought I would start to ring around vet surgeries and shelters first thing, but work was very busy from the moment I arrived, another tick dog, two dogs with bloody diarrhoea, a cat with an unusual skin problem. I received a call on my mobile asking me if I was the owner of Jack Russell, I was very happy, but Ruff Ruff was still in the original owners name, although I have faxed a form to the microchip registry, the details have not changed. Lucky for me the breeder keeps great details and she still had my phone number. Ruff Ruff had been found last night by a kind lady about 6.30pm huddled under a fence, she took Ruff Ruff home and fed and cared for her, then the next morning she took it to the local vet and they scanned Ruff Ruff for a micro chip. My wife and Children picked up Ruff Ruff after school and they where joyfully reunited. On my way home from another busy day I came across a cat that had just been hit by a car. I pulled over and took it off the road, but unfortunately it was already dead. It was an entire male cat, the most likely one to get hit by a car, I was just so glad it was not my Ruff Ruff

Ruff Ruff our dog is missing after thunderstorm

My day at the vet surgery was almost over when I recieved a text message from my wife, saying that our Dog Ruff ruff is missing. Earlier in the day there had been the first Thunderstorm of spring. I knew that Ruff ruff was scared of storms, but nobody was at home. I was just hoping that Ruff would hide in her Kennel. But when my wife came home Ruff ruff was nowhere to be seen and a hole had been dug under the fence. My family searched the neighbourhood but no Ruff ruff could be found. By the time i found out it was too late to be ringing animal shelter or other vet surgeries, so I will have to wait till the morning to start looking. I am confidant that someone has found Ruff ruff and they are looking after her.