#pet death -

[creative-anchorage]

When my vet was giving me my options, only one of them horrified me, and that was "let him die at home." That would have been drawn out and terrible for everyone.

I say this with all the gentleness in my heart. If you know you cannot make the decision to euthanize, you are not ready for pet ownership.

[sillydegu]

Laurel

November 2022 - 5th November 2024

Laurel, affectionately known as Bitey McBiteface, joined the mischief in February. She settled into the group well and was often found at the bottom of a cuddle pile. She was lowest in the ratty hierarchy and did the only logical thing: picked on the human hundreds of times her size. She learned that you get more food if you're willing to make the sacrifice of leaving the spoon behind, and became less bitey as she aged.

[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.

[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.

[ichaserabbits]

Well first of all cities are not devoid of native birds. I live in NYC and we still have native birds.

Secondly if your cat eats a mouse or rat that consumed rodenticide they can also die or hemolytic anemia ie bleeding to death internally.

Finally I don't know how fast you think a car needs to be to kill a car but it's not very.

It's irresponsible to let pets outside unsupervised full stop

Discourse abt outdoor cats always cracks me up bc you can instantly tell who lives out in the burbs or urban-wildlife interface vs the city

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

doing great chat

[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.

[kaijuno]

[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.

[ex0skeletal-undead]

WIP Memorial Illustration by Mary Esther Muñoz on Instagram

[luminarai]

Can you teach me how to say goodbye?

For Hampus.

[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.

[drferox]

I’ve been working at this one job, just this one clinic, a fairly long while now. 12 years, in fact. It means I’m basically part of the furniture at this point, I’ve seen a lot of changes, and I’ve seen a lot of staff come and go.

You know what else is about 12 years? The lifespan of larger or less fortunate pets.

Over the last couple of months I’ve guided a fair few patients to the end of their life, some becoming very frequent visitors as we tried to get their condition under control. I have euthanised these old, beloved dogs that I first met as bouncy little puppies.

It is a peculiar privilege to have been there from cradle to grave for these patients, to have been a recurring encounter on the entirety of these pets’ lives. It’s a sad event, obviously, but there is something beautiful in knowing how deeply loved these animals have been, and for such a long time.

[wolfchanw]

Ah. Right. Kitten season. When my heart gets broken over and over and I don’t sleep and sometimes all the work is really rewarding and sometimes it’s really not.

I’m down from five kittens to two. The little buff girl passed away the first night, the orange and solid black boys passed away between 1am and 4am this morning.

The remaining two saw the vet today and they look all right. The black and white girl has consistently been thin and dehydrated and a bit weak, but she keeps eating and pooping and slowly gaining weight, so I’m going to support her fight for as long as she wants to keep going. Little grey boy is a bit plumper.

My toddler named the black and white kitten “Bunny” and the grey one “Frogs”.

Hang in there Bunny and Frogs, a whole big, fun world awaits.