Holidays without pets, Aussie in Cat fight.

We have been away in Noosa for most of the week. My Mum was house sitting the pets, I came home for 3 days to do some vet work, and Mum told me she had not seen Aussie our cat, I did not see him on Monday night, that is sometimes a worry but especially so If my Mum had not seen Aussie either. It was late on Tuesday night I opened the garage to see if I could find Aussie, and thankfully he came in but I noticed he had a rather bad limp. On closer inspection I realised that he had been in a Cat fight, his nails where shredded and he had an abscess on his front paw and a cut on his left paw. I gave him some antibiotics and took him into work the next day. I felt awful that I had left Aussie behind, as I realized I had not given my Mum instructions about letting Aussie in. At the Surgery, I had to give Aussie an anesthetic and then clean up his wounds. I felt so sorry for him, it certainly seem so different treating your own pets, You hope and assume they will forgive you for giving them lots of needles. I had to leave Aussie at the vet surgery as I was going straight up to Noosa at the end of the day. The cage was probably the best place to rest for a couple of days.
I will think again before I leave the cat behind at the house for holidays.

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.