Aussie, our cat's birthday today

Our Cat Aussie turned 9 years old today, well it was exactly 9 years ago that we found a little kitten near the milk factory after the Australia Day celebrations at Southbank. Aussie has certainly used up several of his lives, being bitten by a snake, hit by a car, and has been in several nasty cat fights. So it is great to be able to celebrate his birthday today. We gave Aussie a tin of smoke tuna and plenty of attention. I hope we have many more birthdays with Aussie.

Home from Holidays,

We came home to find that one of our gold fish had died, well I thought he looked like he was going to die many years ago as he had a tumour hanging out of his head. But I think it was cleaning the fish tank well just before we left that might have been too much. We bought these fish when Patrick was born, almost 6 years ago. Jim our house sitter did a great job looking after our pets, he put the Goldfish in the freezer. So when we arrived home we had a little funeral for the fish and we buried him in the front garden along with other fish. All our other pets look well, in fact Rainbow our Labrador appears very fat. No more treats for Rainbow. I think it was a very good thing having a pet sitter as they did not have to go into kennels

trying a house sitter for holidays

Well we are going away again, camping at Ammoor, near Gympie and we must leave the pets behind again. This time we are trying a house sitter, my Brother in law knows this man and he looked after his dog well. So we are trying Jim out. We have written up detailed instructions to look after the dogs and cat and gold fish. I hate to leave the pets behind, but options for taking them with us are limited. I was looking on the Internet and I found several large business behind pet sitting such as www.housesittingservices.com.au/ I think it would be a great option when I am retired and would like to go travelling. Well I hope we a have good holiday and the pets are well looked after at home.

Cockatoo dies under anesathetic

I had several operations today, including a large fat dog spey that had just had puppies. But the operation that was most on my mind was a wing amputation of a wild cockatoo. The client wanted to rehabilitate the bird, but it was very emaciated. The operation was going well and we had just about finished when the bird stopped breathing. I was very upset as I knew the client had great hopes to rehabilitate the bird. They where heart broken when I told them the bird had died. I think ringing owners to tell them their pet has died under anesthetic is one of the most difficult parts of being a vet.

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.

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!