I wrote a post in The Pub about my experience of having to use private vs government veterinary care, which was the start of the end of expressing my journey with my dog Newton the Rottweiler.
I had to get X-rays through a private vet. They diagnosed him as having cancer of the lymph glands in the throat and that was the lump we discovered. The X-rays confirmed it. Private told us nothing, no advice, no plan, nothing. We had to google to find out the fate of our furbaby. It took us two weeks of raised voices to get our X-rays form the vet. So finally we were able to show them to the new vet that was helping us.
Long story short Newton has been living on quarterzone for the 20 days and we took him to the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals for the second to last time today. Dr Ash, the vet told my wife that he would give Newton 2 weeks of medicine, but she had these two weeks to come to terms with the fact that these are his last two good weeks.
Newton really is my wife's dog, if she moves somewhere, he follows. He is her shadow. Anyone who has pets knows what I am talking about. I may feed the menagerie, I may train and discipline, but their mother is my wife, so without doubt this has hit her the most and the hardest.
The only thing about government services is the wait. It took 3 hours to get to see the vet. But somehow, when you know this fact, it isn't a mission, because if you are that warm kind human you can get to throw some of that warmth around to other folks who are alot of the time in an even worse position than you. For example I met an old lady who had one very swollen leg and you could see that she was in distress. She arrived with a very old scraggly dog, wrapped up in a big fluffy blanket. She sat there with her one arm on its back and just tapped him slowly and gently. The dog was facing away from her and sat very still. She wasn't in the waiting room long and when "NEXT" was called out, she picked her pooch up and went in to the consultation room. She was literally in there for a couple of minutes and hobbled out with shoulders back, chin out and tears streaming down her cheeks. With a thousand yard stare on her face she left the premises quietly. It was obvious what had just happened.
I couldn't help feeling like the univers was ever so gently showing us what was in-store for us in a couple of weeks time.
So to any any all you out there that have been through something similar, my heartfelt love and warmth to you. Blessings.
:(
It is always an incredibly hard time to lose a pet and have to make the decisions, but at the same time, isn't it proof they mattered?
We have a new 10-month old puppy now, but a few years ago we had to put down our old fella, and it was very hard.
Strength to you.
Hi @tarazkp. Thanks a ton for your comment. Means alot. Its' interesting at the moment. This Rotti never tolerated the cats, but they were sitting and lying together mere inches apart on the steps this morning. They all know it seems, and a quiet peace has swept across their territories. Its either that or the THC drops that we are giving him.
My misses is all " NO more animals" - but know that will change down the road.
Thanks for your warmth. Appreciate.
Not a fun time and as animal lovers we all go through this which never gets any easier having done this too many times already.
Thank you brother. Life. I remember all your dogs. Ol' slobber chops as a pup eating everything.