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h y p o c h r i s t i
Hello there, Pets regulars. I hate to take the topic in a negative direction, but I'm unsure of where to turn.

My cat Feliciti (pictured here) had to be euthanized today. We adopted her when she was 5, and she would have been 15 this year. She was last at the vet five months ago for her yearly check-up with a clean bill of health, but due to some recent appetite changes, was taken to the vet today. The discovery was a fast-spreading cancer that had metastasized to her other organs and caused renal failure. The vet said nothing could be done for her because of her advanced age. The tumor was the size of an orange. I'm grieving a great deal right now. Would any of you know any resources I can turn to for support on grief management?

I was out-of-town, so my dad was the one who took her to the vet. He let me make the decision of what to do, though. I hate that I wasn't there to say goodbye.


If you're spiritual in any way, you may want to say a prayer or do a ritual to say goodbye. An alternative would be writing a letter as you'd explain things to your cat.

I think expressing your grief is good too. It's natural to cry. She was special to you.
Moth Feathers
Kipluck


Kipluck, I adore you. You're so amazing.

Sorry about your bearded dragon, I have no clue what you could do. If I were you, I would PM some of the reptile-knowledgeable people on here (Pythonhandler, ladycrotalus, and anyone else you can think of) and even join some beardie forums and ask there too. Get as many opinions as possible.

Is there any helpful things you can do for reptiles when they can be possibly ill? Things that you do when it's not serious enough for a vet visit, yet, but just something to help.
I know one day I came home and saw my fawn female zebra finch, Twitter, looking ill. Eyes squinted, not moving very much, but still perching and not looking too awful. I caught her and put her in a hospital cage with heat about 80, quiet, and hoped for the best. The next day she was very perked up but I kept her in there one more day longer to make sure she was all in the clear. She turned out fine.

Anyway, maybe something like that could help.

By the way, what's wrong? Sad to hear you've been having medical problems.
You too, Moth. I am so glad to have friends like you on here. Restores my faith in humanity just a bit!

So, Stanley seems to be doing okay. From the forum on BeardedDragon.org, my guess is that he just ate too quickly and got an upset stomach. I gave him a little bath to rehydrate him in case vomiting depleted him, but he was NOT impressed with that idea (he does not like soaks, though they help him shed). Gave him a little dish of water, too, though he usually gets most of his water from his greens.

He hasn't vomited again, and is pooping regularly, and is super perky as always. (He needs Ritalin-infused crickets) So I am hoping that's all it was. He is SUCH a cutie and growing so big. I can hardly believe he is the same little guy I got back in the summer... and I thought he was a big baby then (he was. He was returned to the pet store for some reason and they plopped him in a cage full of tiny baby beardies that I am SURE he was bullying as he looked like he could almost eat them. I bought him because I figured he was PRACTICALLY a rescue, since he wasn't going to have much luck with all those cutsie babies to compete with... while also doing the babies a favor by saving them from the store's ignorance of Stanley's bullying and the stupidity of housing a juvenile Beardie with little baby beardies. Also, I just fell in love with him. That happens.).

As for myself... *sigh* Yeah. So, they still don't know what's wrong with me. I have a lot of "pre-existing conditions" you might say that make things a lot harder, because, well, I have a LOT of chronic pain. I have diabetes, but also fibromyalgia and have always had migraines pretty frequently. I also have mental illness thrown in the mix. Plus I have some, ah, "girly" issues that I am putting on the back burner for now as I don't plan on having sex or reproducing anytime soon. Then about a year ago I started having really REALLY horrible migraines. All day. Every day. To the point that I had to quit working full time or doing full time school or anything. They have suspected Lime Disease, West Nile, incredibly weird stuff... because they have ruled out everything else. It still continues, though I am on meds that are FINALLY diminishing it... BUT may be PART of the reason I have been having really serious abdominal pains for several months. I also throw up a couple times a day. The vomiting is probably Gastroparesis (preexisting condition... reason I can't eat meat or raw fruits or veg or fat)... but the pain is to severe for that. They are still looking into that, which is my current reason for being my doctors' favorite guinea pig lately. They are kind of thinking Crohn's. They are also kind of thinking I may have to have a feeding tube. Not the kind that goes down your throat... the kind that skips your throat entirely... your stomach entirely. You inject your "meals" directly into your intestines. YAY. gonk Still waiting for some unfun results on some tests for that.

Now all this is frustrating enough to go through for myself... but I hate how much this affects my babies. My family is being AWESOME. Often they are the ones cleaning cages they normally would be scared to OPEN, They are dutifully feeding lizards live bugs, shuddering the whole time. They are doing their best. But their best is not MY best. I HATE not being there ALL the time for my babies. I hate having others do things for me anyway, but when it comes to my animals, I am insufferable. I am always on the cellphone (not allowed, really, by the way, but doctors leave the room and out it comes) "Mom, can you make sure Stanley's greens are ripped up? He wolfs things down and he needs things in little shreds... And make sure you use the YELLOW tweezers for Clementine's food and the green for Stanley and the Orange for Jack because I don't want to cross-contaminate? And would you put treats in the gliders foraging toy? I don't want them to get bored with no tent time..." it goes on and on. And they do their best. I KNOW because I find lists of my instructions taped all over the house. But my mom had a freaking STROKE a couple years ago. She has a memory, I am sorry to say, like Dory on Nemo. My sybs help. My dad even helps a little (mostly by staying out of the way, and being civil). But it is not the same as me. Water dishes are not rinsed as often as they should be. Tent time is missed. Moist hides don't stay moist enough. And I am laying in a stupid bed, crying, half because the morphine hasn't kicked in and half because I miss Lilo and Nani and just want to hold them.

Things are not good right now. Really REALLY hoping 2012 is a year of MUCH improvement 3nodding !

Morphine Kiss
Guuyyss,
Every day I pace back and forth from the pet room and back around the house. Needless to say, I always check for babies when I do this.

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And I finally have mouse babies! =D

Look at those cute chunky pink tummies. <3
There's only two so far, I am avoiding digging around in the nest, she's a new Mom.
OH THAT WIDDLE BELLY! Is it perverse that I want to give it zerbets?! I swear, furrbabies are cuter than people ones. I'm terrible. blaugh

Nomru
~ Aki - Fairy ~
Nomru
Kipluck

Eh, threads that turn to all this is just sad...and it's a horrible way to greet a new addition...i'm embarrassed a bit for that...LD is my current home... emotion_facepalm
i've got three cats right now...Two males and a female... heart Loki, Rudy, and Mia...

Welcome to Pets!. You should make a thread about your kitties.

Thanks...^^
Would be too awkward ranting about my kitties and how much i wub them...i'd go on and on and on...xD
Aw, we are used to that here, though. We are all pretty dorky when it comes to our critters! xd

Shearaha
Speaking of random updates on our critters I can't believe that I haven't told you guys how Will's first vet visit went.

He did really well, but I'm really really glad that I had him wear his muzzle. I put it on before he got out of the car. After a quick potty (on every single bush and fence post xd ) we went in. They've got a nice double door set up with a little waiting area between the doors in addition to the regular waiting room. I had warned them in advance that Will is not good with strangers, especially in confined spaces, so they had an exam room all ready and had me as the first appointment after lunch so that there wouldn't be other people in the waiting room. Well, there was another client of theirs who was picking up meds and he took his sweet time leaving. Kept opening and closing the interior door. When he finally left I told him that Will wasn't friendly and to just keep going out, but no, he had to try and pet Will. Will aggressed and if it hadn't been for the muzzle he would have bit the guys arm. THIS IS WHAT AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT LOOKS LIKE!
But once we got inside he did well. He sat on the scale. Sat to wait for doors to open, took treats from me and then even took them from the vet. She's awesome. This was mainly a visit to see if I was going to let her work on Will, see if Will was going to be able to work with her and get to know the staff a bit. Vet is all on board for us doing regular "fun" visits where we go through all the motions of a visit but nothing actually happens. He's not due for any vaccines or blood-work until July/August so we're going to be visiting monthly until then, and after that just to keep up on "this is a fun place." Hopefully we can make the vet one of his favorite places to visit.
That is SO smart, having "fun visits." I wish I would have thought of having non-scary practice visits back when I had my dog, Cassie. She had SUCH vet anxiety, she would turn into a quivering, (sometimes snarling) crouching mass as soon as we were in the parking lot. I could have saved her so much stress. But I didn't hear about that idea until my vet tech classes! How crazy is that?!

h y p o c h r i s t i
Hello there, Pets regulars. I hate to take the topic in a negative direction, but I'm unsure of where to turn.

My cat Feliciti (pictured here) had to be euthanized today. We adopted her when she was 5, and she would have been 15 this year. She was last at the vet five months ago for her yearly check-up with a clean bill of health, but due to some recent appetite changes, was taken to the vet today. The discovery was a fast-spreading cancer that had metastasized to her other organs and caused renal failure. The vet said nothing could be done for her because of her advanced age. The tumor was the size of an orange. I'm grieving a great deal right now. Would any of you know any resources I can turn to for support on grief management?

I was out-of-town, so my dad was the one who took her to the vet. He let me make the decision of what to do, though. I hate that I wasn't there to say goodbye.
I am so so sorry. First of all, while I do want to say you are not alone, and please feel free to lean on friends here, I don't expect anything anyone says to really make it not hurt. My little boy, ********* (a sugar glider) passed away at the vet's office from a very fast tumor as well. He had been to the vet for a health check just a month before and had a clean bill of health, but still a month later, there was a marble-sized mass in his tiny stomach.

The only advice I can give you is 1. Here a couple of articles I wrote about losing a pet for my Exotic Pet column. Here and . 2. My therapist (yeah, I see a therapist) sent me this when ********* died:
Quote:
GRIEF:
Different people experience grief in different ways. You have a right to feel pain and grief! Someone you loved has died, and you feel alone and bereaved. You have a right to feel anger and guilt, as well. Acknowledge your feelings first, then ask yourself whether the circumstances actually justify them.
Besides your sorrow and loss, you may also experience the following emotions:

*Guilt may occur if you feel responsible for your pet's death-the "if only I had been more careful" syndrome. It is pointless and often erroneous to burden yourself with guilt for the accident or illness that claimed your pet's life, and only makes it more difficult to resolve your grief.

*Denial makes it difficult to accept that your pet is really gone. It's hard to imagine that your pet won't greet you when you come home, or that it doesn't need its evening meal. Some pet owners carry this to extremes, and fear their pet is still alive and suffering somewhere. Others find it hard to get a new pet for fear of being "disloyal" to the old.

*Anger may be directed at the illness that killed your pet, the driver of the speeding car, the veterinarian who "failed" to save its life. Sometimes it is justified, but when carried to extremes, it distracts you from the important task of resolving your grief.

*Depression is a natural consequence of grief, but can leave you powerless to cope with your feelings. Extreme depression robs you of motivation and energy, causing you to dwell upon your sorrow.


The grieving process happens only gradually. It can't be forced or hurried―and there is no "normal" timetable for grieving. Some people start to feel better in weeks or months. For others, the grieving process is measured in years. Whatever your grief experience, it's important to be patient with yourself and allow the process to naturally unfold. Feeling sad, frightened, or lonely is a normal reaction to the loss of a beloved pet. Exhibiting these feelings doesn't mean you are weak, so you shouldn't feel ashamed.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Trying to ignore your pain or keep it from surfacing will only make it worse in the long run. For real healing, it is necessary to face your grief and actively deal with it. By expressing your grief, you'll likely need less time to heal than if you withhold or "bottle up" your feelings. Write about your feelings and talk with others about them.

Reach out to others who have lost pets. Check out online message boards, pet loss hotlines, and pet loss support groups. If your own friends, family members, therapist, or clergy do not work well with the grief of pet loss, find someone who does.

Create a legacy. Preparing a memorial, planting a tree in memory of your pet, compiling a photo album or scrapbook, or otherwise sharing the memories you enjoyed with your pet, can create a legacy to celebrate the life of your animal companion.

Look after yourself. The stress of losing a pet can quickly deplete your energy and emotional reserves. Looking after your physical and emotional needs will help you get through this difficult time. Eat a healthy diet, get plenty of sleep, and exercise regularly to release endorphins and help boost your mood.

If you have other pets, try to maintain your normal routine. Surviving pets can also experience loss when a pet dies, or they may become distressed by your sorrow. Maintaining their daily routines, or even increasing exercise and play times, will not only benefit the surviving pets but may also help to elevate your outlook too.
I don't know if ANY of that will help you... I hope it does. cry I am so sorry.




So, do think someday I will actually visit this thread regularly enough that I respond to posts like a normal person instead of posting a novel of quotage every time? Hmmm...
terradi
If you're spiritual in any way, you may want to say a prayer or do a ritual to say goodbye. An alternative would be writing a letter as you'd explain things to your cat.

I think expressing your grief is good too. It's natural to cry. She was special to you.

Writing a letter? That sounds like a good idea. There's so many questions that were left unanswered that I'll never know, like how long was she cancerous and how much pain she was in.
Kipluck
I am so so sorry. First of all, while I do want to say you are not alone, and please feel free to lean on friends here, I don't expect anything anyone says to really make it not hurt. My little boy, ********* (a sugar glider) passed away at the vet's office from a very fast tumor as well. He had been to the vet for a health check just a month before and had a clean bill of health, but still a month later, there was a marble-sized mass in his tiny stomach.

The only advice I can give you is 1. Here a couple of articles I wrote about losing a pet for my Exotic Pet column. Here and . 2. My therapist (yeah, I see a therapist) sent me this when ********* died:
Quote:
GRIEF:
Different people experience grief in different ways. You have a right to feel pain and grief! Someone you loved has died, and you feel alone and bereaved. You have a right to feel anger and guilt, as well. Acknowledge your feelings first, then ask yourself whether the circumstances actually justify them.
Besides your sorrow and loss, you may also experience the following emotions:

*Guilt may occur if you feel responsible for your pet's death-the "if only I had been more careful" syndrome. It is pointless and often erroneous to burden yourself with guilt for the accident or illness that claimed your pet's life, and only makes it more difficult to resolve your grief.

*Denial makes it difficult to accept that your pet is really gone. It's hard to imagine that your pet won't greet you when you come home, or that it doesn't need its evening meal. Some pet owners carry this to extremes, and fear their pet is still alive and suffering somewhere. Others find it hard to get a new pet for fear of being "disloyal" to the old.

*Anger may be directed at the illness that killed your pet, the driver of the speeding car, the veterinarian who "failed" to save its life. Sometimes it is justified, but when carried to extremes, it distracts you from the important task of resolving your grief.

*Depression is a natural consequence of grief, but can leave you powerless to cope with your feelings. Extreme depression robs you of motivation and energy, causing you to dwell upon your sorrow.


The grieving process happens only gradually. It can't be forced or hurried―and there is no "normal" timetable for grieving. Some people start to feel better in weeks or months. For others, the grieving process is measured in years. Whatever your grief experience, it's important to be patient with yourself and allow the process to naturally unfold. Feeling sad, frightened, or lonely is a normal reaction to the loss of a beloved pet. Exhibiting these feelings doesn't mean you are weak, so you shouldn't feel ashamed.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Trying to ignore your pain or keep it from surfacing will only make it worse in the long run. For real healing, it is necessary to face your grief and actively deal with it. By expressing your grief, you'll likely need less time to heal than if you withhold or "bottle up" your feelings. Write about your feelings and talk with others about them.

Reach out to others who have lost pets. Check out online message boards, pet loss hotlines, and pet loss support groups. If your own friends, family members, therapist, or clergy do not work well with the grief of pet loss, find someone who does.

Create a legacy. Preparing a memorial, planting a tree in memory of your pet, compiling a photo album or scrapbook, or otherwise sharing the memories you enjoyed with your pet, can create a legacy to celebrate the life of your animal companion.

Look after yourself. The stress of losing a pet can quickly deplete your energy and emotional reserves. Looking after your physical and emotional needs will help you get through this difficult time. Eat a healthy diet, get plenty of sleep, and exercise regularly to release endorphins and help boost your mood.

If you have other pets, try to maintain your normal routine. Surviving pets can also experience loss when a pet dies, or they may become distressed by your sorrow. Maintaining their daily routines, or even increasing exercise and play times, will not only benefit the surviving pets but may also help to elevate your outlook too.
I don't know if ANY of that will help you... I hope it does. cry I am so sorry.

Believe me, this helps. I see a therapist too, but my next appointment isn't for awhile. I'm glad I went ahead and posted on this thread for some ideas to deal with my grief. My stages of grief skipped from guilt to depression. The veterinarian spoke to me personally over the phone and said that even if the cancer was caught early enough (which he said in itself was nearly impossible because it began so recently and had no symptoms until all the damage was done), removing the mass or treating it with drugs wouldn't have been advisable because her age would have made for a difficult recovery.

I named her Feliciti because "felicity" means intense happiness, and that's the kind of cat she was. She loved everyone, including guests. There was no one she wouldn't rub on, sit on, knead, or purr for. She made everyone she met happy too, so I knew I chose the right name for her. She lived up to it well. That's what I'll remember her most for. heart
h y p o c h r i s t i
Hello there, Pets regulars. I hate to take the topic in a negative direction, but I'm unsure of where to turn.

My cat Feliciti (pictured here) had to be euthanized today. We adopted her when she was 5, and she would have been 15 this year. She was last at the vet five months ago for her yearly check-up with a clean bill of health, but due to some recent appetite changes, was taken to the vet today. The discovery was a fast-spreading cancer that had metastasized to her other organs and caused renal failure. The vet said nothing could be done for her because of her advanced age. The tumor was the size of an orange. I'm grieving a great deal right now. Would any of you know any resources I can turn to for support on grief management?

I was out-of-town, so my dad was the one who took her to the vet. He let me make the decision of what to do, though. I hate that I wasn't there to say goodbye.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss and know how it feels to lose a pet without the opportunity to say goodbye. I don't really grieve over death, persay, so I'm not perhaps the best to offer advice, but..

Cry for her, and maybe get something in memory of her - a kitty-paw-print-and-her-name tattoo or a piece of jewelry. If she had her own food dish, find a favourite picture of her and put it in the bottom and hang on your wall/lean on a shelf - use the dish as a sort of frame. If she wore a collar, wear it as a bracelet. If she loved playing with string, make a necklace or bracelet or whatever out of such.
Depending on what you believe as far as what happens after death (if you believe in the spirit moving on to habit another form, or anything of the sort), you could make an origami cat to let float down a river or drift away on a breeze, writing your letter on the paper you use to make the shape..
~ Aki - Fairy ~
I'm sorry to hear about your loss and know how it feels to lose a pet without the opportunity to say goodbye. I don't really grieve over death, persay, so I'm not perhaps the best to offer advice, but..

Cry for her, and maybe get something in memory of her - a kitty-paw-print-and-her-name tattoo or a piece of jewelry. If she had her own food dish, find a favourite picture of her and put it in the bottom and hang on your wall/lean on a shelf - use the dish as a sort of frame. If she wore a collar, wear it as a bracelet. If she loved playing with string, make a necklace or bracelet or whatever out of such.
Depending on what you believe as far as what happens after death (if you believe in the spirit moving on to habit another form, or anything of the sort), you could make an origami cat to let float down a river or drift away on a breeze, writing your letter on the paper you use to make the shape..
Thank you for your condolences. They couldn't make clay imprints of her paws, although I had the vet make ink pawprints on a sheet of paper so that I could carry a little piece of her around if I so wish.

The tattoo idea doesn't sound bad either. It would require a lot more thought as to when and where I'd get it, but I'll definitely consider it. I have a birthday coming up fairly soon, and that might be what I do. She was my favorite cat that I've ever had.
*screams, dies, comes back to life and jumps around like a maniac* well I finally have something to talk about on this forum (the last few weeks I've wanted to talk, but not known what to talk about lol).
So some of you may know that my guinea pigs are in a small store bought cage, and that my mum didn't want me to build a new one. I finally got her approval.
Well, ok, not quite yet. She said she wanted me to draw up my plan for the cage, and make sure it would fit in the corner where I've been claiming a good sized cage will fit.She wasn't happy about it, though she isn't having the best day...

So hopefully in the next week or two, I might be making a thread about my guinea pigs new cage!


EDIT: Just read above. Had no idea about your medical issues Kiplup! Had no idea there was anything wrong. Here's hoping 2012 treats you well!

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h y p o c h r i s t i
terradi
If you're spiritual in any way, you may want to say a prayer or do a ritual to say goodbye. An alternative would be writing a letter as you'd explain things to your cat.

I think expressing your grief is good too. It's natural to cry. She was special to you.

Writing a letter? That sounds like a good idea. There's so many questions that were left unanswered that I'll never know, like how long was she cancerous and how much pain she was in.

I think everyone deals with this sort of thing differently .... I do a blog for the no-kill cat shelter I volunteer with, so I've had the odd responsibility of writing up a farewell for each of our kitties. None of them were as close to me as your pet would be to you, but it was comforting to think back about their lives. Also to recall that in each and every one of their cases we saved them from what would have been a much earlier death simply by giving them a warm, safe place to be.

If you're artistic in some other way ... good at poetry or drawing or sculpting or whatever, you may want to go that route. Writing always feels like it's the best way I can express myself, so that's my route.

^^ You could also go the route of donating money to a shelter or any animal charity drive really in the name of your kitty. I'm sure there are plenty in your area.

Aged Hunter

Kipluck
Shearaha
Speaking of random updates on our critters I can't believe that I haven't told you guys how Will's first vet visit went.

He did really well, but I'm really really glad that I had him wear his muzzle. I put it on before he got out of the car. After a quick potty (on every single bush and fence post xd ) we went in. They've got a nice double door set up with a little waiting area between the doors in addition to the regular waiting room. I had warned them in advance that Will is not good with strangers, especially in confined spaces, so they had an exam room all ready and had me as the first appointment after lunch so that there wouldn't be other people in the waiting room. Well, there was another client of theirs who was picking up meds and he took his sweet time leaving. Kept opening and closing the interior door. When he finally left I told him that Will wasn't friendly and to just keep going out, but no, he had to try and pet Will. Will aggressed and if it hadn't been for the muzzle he would have bit the guys arm. THIS IS WHAT AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT LOOKS LIKE!
But once we got inside he did well. He sat on the scale. Sat to wait for doors to open, took treats from me and then even took them from the vet. She's awesome. This was mainly a visit to see if I was going to let her work on Will, see if Will was going to be able to work with her and get to know the staff a bit. Vet is all on board for us doing regular "fun" visits where we go through all the motions of a visit but nothing actually happens. He's not due for any vaccines or blood-work until July/August so we're going to be visiting monthly until then, and after that just to keep up on "this is a fun place." Hopefully we can make the vet one of his favorite places to visit.
That is SO smart, having "fun visits." I wish I would have thought of having non-scary practice visits back when I had my dog, Cassie. She had SUCH vet anxiety, she would turn into a quivering, (sometimes snarling) crouching mass as soon as we were in the parking lot. I could have saved her so much stress. But I didn't hear about that idea until my vet tech classes! How crazy is that?!

I didn't realize your medical issues had gotten that bad crying I hope that 2012 brings some healing, or at least less pain and more functionality.

I picked this vet because her college (vet school) roomie is the Behavioal vet/teacher at OSU. She got a lot of behavior by proxy ninja She also came highly recommended by the local Behavioral Vet and the trainer I'm apprenticed under. With Will's fear issues I wanted a vet that would be able to handle him without manhandling him and making him worse.

She did so well with Will that I'm going to try her with the kitties as well. I hate leaving the vet I have for them now, since Shearaha LOVES him. This is no small feat. Before going to him I was asked not to bring her back at 3 different vet clinics. And the place she got her declaw didn't even want to go into her carrier to get back their blanket sweatdrop Dr. Labib was always great with her, but I really don't like the clinic he works at. He's at a Banfield and they go through VTs at an alarming rate, the office staff are very rude and trying to deal with billing was a nightmare.

I really wish that more behavior classes were required for vets. And that more would recommend "fun visits". More and more trainers are advising it during puppy classes, but the word really needs to get out.

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Kipluck
As for myself... *sigh* Yeah. So, they still don't know what's wrong with me. I have a lot of "pre-existing conditions" you might say that make things a lot harder, because, well, I have a LOT of chronic pain. I have diabetes, but also fibromyalgia and have always had migraines pretty frequently. I also have mental illness thrown in the mix. Plus I have some, ah, "girly" issues that I am putting on the back burner for now as I don't plan on having sex or reproducing anytime soon. Then about a year ago I started having really REALLY horrible migraines. All day. Every day. To the point that I had to quit working full time or doing full time school or anything. They have suspected Lime Disease, West Nile, incredibly weird stuff... because they have ruled out everything else. It still continues, though I am on meds that are FINALLY diminishing it... BUT may be PART of the reason I have been having really serious abdominal pains for several months. I also throw up a couple times a day. The vomiting is probably Gastroparesis (preexisting condition... reason I can't eat meat or raw fruits or veg or fat)... but the pain is to severe for that. They are still looking into that, which is my current reason for being my doctors' favorite guinea pig lately. They are kind of thinking Crohn's. They are also kind of thinking I may have to have a feeding tube. Not the kind that goes down your throat... the kind that skips your throat entirely... your stomach entirely. You inject your "meals" directly into your intestines. YAY. gonk Still waiting for some unfun results on some tests for that.


Oh...my...GOD. I thought my sister and my mom had problems (my sister's a bit mentally unstable, has migrains and is pre-diabetic and a bunch of other stuff, while my mom has, to put it in as little a disgusting way as possible, bowel problems that cause her a LOT of discomfort) but this...it just takes the cake. D8 I keep you in my prayers and hope you feel better! D8 *huggle*

@Everyone else: I came back as soon as things settled down. <3

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Kipluck


*hug*

I dated a guy with Crohns for a number of years. I know a lot more about the disease than I really want to. If it does turn out that that's what you have though, it is entirely manageable. And once you get the right combination of medicine, it isn't that big a deal for a lot of people.

It is serious pain though. Watched my ex go through some pretty horrible stuff when his was flaring up. I always used to wince when someone's stomach grumbled because it always meant pain for him.

He went on an IV diet more than once just to give his stomach a rest. Most of that was before my time with him though. I just remember the all-liquid diet and him overdoing it after getting out of the hospital and landing right back in because he didn't understand the idea of REST.

I hope you get good news this year.

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Oh god ... when I brought Mr. Pants to the vet the worst I suspected was a nasty cold. The vet suspects FIP. He is running tests. I get the answers in five days.

My foster kitten, who is such a charming boy may be dead in two months. And that's optimistic. I can't stop crying.

I thought I was giving him a place to stay until he could find a permanent home. Not giving him a place to stay until he needs medical care I can't provide.

I am not taking this well. He still has his baby teeth. Death should be far, far away.

~*~

edit --- Mr. Pants went to the vet because I had a successful TNR event this morning. Got the bad-eye kitty. Vet suggested removing the eye before it was punctured or dessicated to reduce risk of infection. So kitty will be minus an eye on Sunday. Hoping it turns out to be friendly. Being a cat with one eye is not an easy life as a stray, even if the temple complex is relatively safe and secure.

Caught a kitten with a pretty bad upper respiratory infection as well. That one is at the shelter. Going to try and socialize it and hope for the best. It's about three months old so it is going to be harder .... I was planning to take it in but with Mr. Pants sick and contagious, had to use the isolation cage for him. When Mr. Pants goes in for hospice care, it might be reasonable for me to take this kitten (or one of the many others at the shelter) for further care.

It will depend on what happens with Mr. Pants and how swiftly. If he has FIP he's in stage two of it, and he has the one that rapidly gets worse. I brought him back home because I wanted to wait to see what the results are, and I want to say goodbye before I send him to the shelter. I get the feeling he's going to need to be in the house at the shelter (where visitors are not allowed to go) and that his time is going to be really short if this goes downhill quick. So ... he's home where he belongs tonight. If medicine helps him perk up he'll stay with me a bit longer. If it becomes obvious he needs emergency vet care or drips I'll hand him off. I'm just ... not ready to do that. Even understanding that it would be good for him, watching a kitten that I worked so hard to fatten up and socialize die every day in my house would just be too much. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing the drips and listening to him protest as I tried to medicate him would tear me apart.

The monks say we can come back any time, just to check in before trapping. If we can take them all, they'd love it. If we have to return them though ... they won't kill the cats. Just won't like it.

They've had cats for six years, not by choice. Neighbors feed them and they poop in the temple complex.
Spending the night at my brothers with his three dogs. Couldn't bring our dogs, Sparky is car sick. Seeing how my brother and his gf can drive anywhere with their dogs has made me decide to try and counter condition sparky to driving in the car. It may be actual motion sickness, but a lot of people say it can be trained out of them. So we will be spending lots of time in both my parents cars, clicker training and playing with toys to give him positive associations with the car. I will wait until he jumps in the car and is comfortable while it's not moving, then work on having it not moving but turned on, and then will get my dad to help me out by driving the car, nice and slowly, just to up and down the street first, the will go an extra few minutes and get him to drop me off at sparkys fav. Trail. Then driving around a few extra blocks before going to the trail, driving to close by places for him to explore, and while in the car he will have a yummy kong or chewy, or we will be clicker trraining, or both.I figure if I can make him enjoy the car, then I can drive into the city, where there are actually oppurtunities to condition him to other dogs who aren't going nuts at him ( right now most of his counter conditioning is with dogs out in the yard who bark at us. He is actually now much more comfortable with loud barky dogs then he is with quiet, calmer dogs )

Aged Hunter

DeeSpark
Spending the night at my brothers with his three dogs. Couldn't bring our dogs, Sparky is car sick. Seeing how my brother and his gf can drive anywhere with their dogs has made me decide to try and counter condition sparky to driving in the car. It may be actual motion sickness, but a lot of people say it can be trained out of them. So we will be spending lots of time in both my parents cars, clicker training and playing with toys to give him positive associations with the car. I will wait until he jumps in the car and is comfortable while it's not moving, then work on having it not moving but turned on, and then will get my dad to help me out by driving the car, nice and slowly, just to up and down the street first, the will go an extra few minutes and get him to drop me off at sparkys fav. Trail. Then driving around a few extra blocks before going to the trail, driving to close by places for him to explore, and while in the car he will have a yummy kong or chewy, or we will be clicker trraining, or both.I figure if I can make him enjoy the car, then I can drive into the city, where there are actually oppurtunities to condition him to other dogs who aren't going nuts at him ( right now most of his counter conditioning is with dogs out in the yard who bark at us. He is actually now much more comfortable with loud barky dogs then he is with quiet, calmer dogs )

Another thing you can do is if you've got a fast food or ice cream place within 5 min of your home take him for a ride there once there give him something special that he can only get there. Most dogs will start associating the ride with the awesome treat when the car stops. I know a few people that this has worked really well for their car anxiety dogs.

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