#pet death -

[identifying-dogs]

Shiba Inu

Goodnight Kabosu [2005-2024] many memory, much loved

[great-and-small]

This is going to be an unpleasant post but I need to talk to y’all about heat stroke in dogs. I am an ER vet and I am seeing firsthand the death toll that this heat wave is taking on our pets. In the past two weeks, for every single weekend shift I have worked, we have had at least one DOA with a body temperature over 107 degrees. One of them had simply been on a 20 minute walk at 5pm. All of them were brachycephalic (short faced breeds like pugs and french bulldogs). Their owners were in shock that this could happen so quickly, and their grief lingers with me.

If you have a dog, and especially if you have a brachycephalic dog, you need to familiarize yourself with the signs of heat stroke. Do not take your dogs out in the heat of the day, be aware of the pavement temperature, and always have fresh water available for them. When I am outdoors with my dog I am checking on him constantly. This heat wave is extremely serious; I need you to keep yourself and your pets safe.

[onenicebugperday]

Please pour out some detritus for my precious ivory millipede Alice who passed away today after nearly five years with me. She was a very long and very special lady 😔

Here is a really artistic and accurate MS Paint drawing of her as an angel

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Cacoa was my service animal and constant companion for 18 years. She died on Thanksgiving Day, 2024, due to side effects of a pain med the vet assured us was good and would help her. Three days after that, she was gone. I still feel like I betrayed her, I still feel her around the house, and I'm still adjusting to this level of loneliness I haven't experienced since living in university housing.

I miss her so much.

Lyra, my beloved cat of 13 years, passed away this year on Father's Day. She's been by my side through very difficult times and was my little rock of steady and unrelenting love. I struggled a lot drawing this, and struggled a lot posting it, but I know I would've wanted to read a comic like this that validated my grief for her when I lost her.

Wherever you are, Lyra my little summer star, I love you always! Thank you for being the best thing in my life.

[imagine-darksiders]

Sad news, Hennifer Lopez died today. 15 years old. Like stupid old for a chicken. Here are some of the last pictures I took of her.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

doing great chat

[palaeosinensis]

As paraphrased from Gustav Mahler's second symphony (fifth movement): "You were not born for no reason. You have not lived for nothing. Nor suffered in vain. What has lived must also perish What has perished shall rise again." Happy Winter Solstice.

[drferox]

Sometimes, but thankfully only rarely, something catastrophic happens in veterinary medicine and by the time that animal reaches the clinic, it’s already many minutes too late.

This is worse when the catastrophe is unexpected, when the animal is juvenile or when cruelty was deliberate. And sometimes the body is such a mess that CPR or any attempt at heroics is really just… performative.

In times like this, all we can really do is try to manage the people that witnessed it: the owner, their family, the good samaritans who helped them get to the clinic, and the bystanders who happened to be in the waiting room. All of those people need to be managed to some degree after witnessing that degree of trauma.

The pet owner, and possibly the family, need the most time and attention. They may well be in shock, and while you’re trying to tell them what’s happened and get permission to stop CPR, you also need to watch them. Encourage them, gently, to sit down if they need to. Bring them a glass of water if they need to. Nothing wrong with offering a bit of emergency chocolate if they look really shaky or this is going on a long time. Tell them you will clean up their pet and make them look presentable if they want to spend time with them saying goodbye. Encourage them to call family or a friend. Do not let them drive until you are quite sure they are safe to do so.

Then we have the good samaritans, who also witnessed the trauma. Though they’re less emotionally invested they will still be affected. And practically, they may need a lot of help cleaning up their car. (Do not apply heat to blood)

Lastly the bystanders also need to be spoken to, because they’ve also witnessed a terrible trauma, or its aftermath. And you don’t know what previous traumas or baggage they’re carrying with them. At the very least they need a check in, thanked for their patience, and possibly herded to a location that is not covered in blood.

When you can’t do anything for the animal other than clean up the body, there’s still work to do caring for the people surrounding it.

[vaspider]

I was saying to Emet earlier that one of the big things I was worried about with this fucking Kristi Noem thing was that she was trying to present this as "a rural thing"

Like "oh you city people just don't understand, this is just how it is in rural places"

And I really didn't want to see this just accepted by the news media, most of whom have never lived anywhere rural, as just "how we are"

Like, no, absolutely not, we don't just fucking shoot dogs bc they aren't good at being hunting dogs. Everybody I've ever personally known who hunts with dogs knows that a dog that is a bad hunting dog may be a great family pet. It's clear that people like that must exist - she's a person, after all - but it's not just How Things Are.

There are enough bad stereotypes about Rural People. We don't need more.

However, I have been relieved to see that a bunch of places covering this have had people on who grew up in rural places & who were pushing back on this hard, saying exactly that: no, this isn't normal.

Ugh.

[luminarai]

Can you teach me how to say goodbye?

For Hampus.

[tributary]

i knew when i got him in 2010 that the day would come when he left, but i’ve always been a procrastinator. i thought i could maybe push these feelings off for 18, 19 years, not almost 15. and that’s still good for a dog, i know, but sometimes muppet’s breed lives longer. i hope whoever invents the drug that extends dogs’ lives by decades becomes very, very rich.

his bad days started to outnumber the good ones and it was time, but it’s never time, you’re never ready for the hole that loss tears into you. that you have to carry around like nothing’s wrong, because the world continues to spin, and that’s the worst part of all.

i love you, muppet. and though i am your biggest fan, i’m far and away not the only one.

[kaijuno]

[great-and-small]

One of the hardest things about working in a veterinary ER is delivering bad news. I feel like at least once a shift someone is blindsided by their pet being diagnosed with a condition they’ve never heard of before. In many cases this is unavoidable but I really feel that some of the most common critical emergencies I see would be easier for owners to process if they had prior knowledge about the illness.

The following infographic is far from a comprehensive list and truthfully I have a LOT more to say about diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of each of these conditions. However, this image shows just a few of the major points that I wish owners had been able to prepare for prior to hearing about them in the ER. Some of these conditions are preventable and some are not but they all require an owner to make difficult decisions in a crisis situation. If your pet fits into one of these categories, please just do a quick google about the condition, and maybe discuss with your vet signs that you can watch for at home.

[nevertoomanyspiders]

hey, so my friend is struggling with medical bills for her cat, please help her out if you can! if nothing else, boost her posts!

edit: update jun 14 2024:

her Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/dreadianz

[fish-cakez]

[kedreeva]

After a month-long fight, Artemis' system finally threw in the towel. We put her to sleep this morning.

I am crushed, and I don't really know what else to say.

She started slowing down shortly after her last suprelorin implant, and the xrays showed something, a weird shadow or cross-peritoneal sac encompassing her heart and liver, but none of the three avian vets who saw it could interpret what it actually was or what to do about it. We started her on some painkillers and antibiotics, and tube feeding liquid chow so she would not lose condition if she was not feeling well. We changed up antibiotics, we gave her an antiemetic for nausea, we tried different pain meds...

For a little while, she seemed to be improving. Whatever it was, it wasn't as visible on the next xrays, and her bloodwork looked better. She was moving around more and sleeping less (she'd been sleeping all day at the start), she could get up and down to the big perch on her own.

And then last night, her crop was a little squishy when I gave her her evening meds. I hoped that it was just that she'd finally eaten a good meal before bed, but when I came out today to give her morning meds, the blueberries from the evening before were still in her crop. That's NOT good. Her urates were also stained yellow. I called the vet and got an emergency appt, but I knew before I left that I would probably have to make the call to end it. I gave her a little time out in the sunshine and grass while I got the car ready, and then we drove down. She sat quietly, and didn't complain during the exam, but ultimately the radiograph showed the problem was still present, and her kidneys were shining bright. Her GI tract had slowed to a stop, her heartbeat was slowed way down, and her urates were showing crystals.

So, I said my goodbyes, and the vet did as well. Everyone was fond of Artemis- she was always well behaved and sweet to everyone she ever met. She loved people, she loved cuddles. She was only 6. I knew she wasn't going to make it a full, normal lifespan, not with everything that was wrong from the get go, but I had hoped for a few more years. I got a few more than she'd have gotten with anyone else. It's never enough.

Artemis was my favorite, from the moment she hatched. She was never mean- not to humans, not to other birds. She is the ONLY bird I've ever owned that was like that. She loved Stan from the moment she met him, and tolerated his weird social habits to the end of his days. They were ALWAYS together, always sitting in the sun together, always following one another. I'm honestly not surprised she followed him to death- there are so many anecdotes from keepers who have birds that spend weeks, even months, grieving after losing a close flock mate. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find Artemis had been holding onto life with both hands for Stan, and with his passing she gave up.

I am going to miss painting with her so much. I have her first painting, and her last, in my bedroom, and I'm really glad I didn't let that last one go yet.

I don't really know what else to say, besides that she was my heart. I loved her, and I hate that she's gone. There will never, ever be another lady like her.

Sleep sweet, lovely. I'll miss you til the end of my days, and I look forward to joining you at the meadow when that comes.