What do pet owners do?

I'm not buying anything with wheat gluten in it for us or the dog and I'm throwing out anything that lists wheat gluten in the list of ingredients. Of course, now they'll decide it's something else.

Duke was put to sleep, today, shortly after noon. The strongest evidence indicates that his Epilepsy was caused by a brain tumor. It got to where it was leaving him little pleasure in life, and more than acceptable discomfort and confusion. Nothing else was ever able to beat him.

I said good by, at home. Dani stayed with him to the end. The same doctor and nurse who greeted him, fresh from the pound nearly eight years ago, eased his passing. They had treated him for a lifetime, his shots, his occasional sickness, his combat wounds. He passed on, very peacefully.

When I got him, I was careful not to get too close to him, emotionally. His purpose was to be a fighting dog, against the druggie thugs that attempted to enter our house, at night. He was to take them on, first. I knew that if one came in with a gun, Duke would take the first bullet. I considered it likely. There had been a number of gun-fights, in the neighborhood. He would buy me time to get some shots off. Best not to be too close, under those circumstances. Best if he were ?just a dog.? Didn?t work, of course.

A mere 25 pound puppy, he paid for himself, for a lifetime, his fifth night at his new home, on Ona Street. He drew his first adversary, and finished the job before I got there. Furniture was overturned, and blood was sprayed on every wall. He left me out of the fight. Responding Police fell in love with him. He was so proud of himself, that night. He loved it! That would not be his last time.

He protected his family without fear, without hesitation. He was shot, twice, in his life. Once from a .22 and once from a pellet gun. He stood up, fiercely, against all comers. Once against four, in the park and once against thirteen. If anything ever frightened him, I wouldn?t know what it was.

He loved babies and small dogs, most. Second on his list were women. Police Officers came in, a close third. I was way down the list. There were people he didn?t like, and he was not bashful about it. I found that I agreed with him, without exception.

Dotty came over to say good bye, today. She observed, ?There are lots of Boxers, but there will never be another Duke. He got to do, what Boxers do, what other Boxers only play at. He had a fulfilling life.?

A warrior died, today. We will miss him.
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You have met Duke in several posts, in threads here, related to personal security.

I got him for "canon fodder" and decided that he and I would have a ?business? relationship, rather than personal. In the end, I was simply physically/emotionally, unable to face his death. Dani did that, for me and for him. She held him in her arms and sang to him about where he was going as the doctor gave him his injection. All of the veterinary personnel who had treated him, over his lifetime, were there, in the room. Tears were flowing freely, from everyone, including the vet.

Several months prior to that, Dani and I had the biggest argument of our married life. She wanted to get an understudy for Duke. We both knew Duke?s days were numbered. She won, and we have Jasper. (Like Duke, he came from the animal shelter.) We do think he learned a lot from Duke. Glad she won the argument!

He isn?t Duke. There are no more Dukes. But, he is Jasper, and he is a full fledged, unique, member of the family, with all the rights and privileges. Someday, it will be just as difficult, again.  Until then, we are so lucky to know him. I would be so angry, so sad, if he were poisoned!

You can?t ?replace? a family member, human or other. You can get going, again. It is every bit as rewarding. The understudy idea, for us, was a winner. I recommend it.

Ray D

How lucky you were that Duke shared 8 years with you. He'll be waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for you, a happy, healthy puppy again.

Ray,

I did quite a bit of computer work for the Wisconsin Humane Society and witnessed animals being put to sleep many times. The people who handle that do so with so much love and caring, that you would think those animals were their own. You can be assured that Duke had a loving, gentle, and peaceful passing.

Karl

Ray D said:

You can?t ?replace? a family member, human or other. You can get going, again. It is every bit as rewarding. The understudy idea, for us, was a winner. I recommend it.

Ray D

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How very true.. I recall, several years ago, My wife called and ask if she could bring home a Cat, I told her we'd discuss it when I got home... Well, she acted on her own and suddenly Cinder (Cinderella) was added to our house, a Lovely Mine Coon female she gave us many years before dieing of congestive heart failure.  Most likely aggravated by her earlier life as a football.

You see, her former human had to give her up due to moving to a "No Pets" apartment, this was due to her divorcing her husband, who liked to play football with the cat, using the cat as the ball. 

Well, the day she failed to wake up I visited the shelter and came home with Hector, also a Maine Coon he looked a lot like Cinder,  And you never heard such caterwalling as what I got out of my wife that day.  "No cat can replace Cinder" and the like (Of course that was nit the intent, not to replace her, but perhaps to fill part of the void she left)  Wife (a few weeks later) did admit perhaps I knew what I was doing.

Well, Many years later Hector succumed to renal failure, but in the meantime (in fact about 2 weeks before that) Amber wandered into my life, about 7 weeks old, tired, hungry and dirty she wandered into the office where I work.  Brought her home, and took her to the vet, evicted her unwanted tennents (ear mites) she quickly became the Queen of the House (It is not for nothing a female cat is properly called a Queen).  When Hector passed though she (And wife since Amber was MY cat) felt lonely so we got Alex (Yet another Maine Coon) From the animal rescue league.

I think I posted the URL to their photos up-thread.

Thanks, all. Actually, I was aiming at Tom, and anyone who has lost a pet. Yes, they are irreplaceable and yes, parting is painful. But there is more down the road, and you can be friends with another animal. The reward has no measurable limit.

I have to relate another part of the day we said goodbye. Duke was on the floor, enjoying the company of friends who came to see him, for the last time. He was unable to get up, unassisted. Actually, I had kept him around, too long.

Jasper, 11 months old, insisted upon my attention. He was standing in the hall, yelping. I went there and saw that he was wanting a pig?s ear. I thought ?how inappropriate!?  But, Jasper is only 11 months old, a puppy, and not to disturb others, I gave him one. After all, what did he know? He was just a dog, a puppy at that.

Pigs ears were an infrequent routine, at out house. Dogs love them, but they are not good for a dog. Duke and Jasper had a routine when each of them got one. First, they would fight, tug of war, and snarl and growl over one ear. Then, they would do the same, over the other. Never, just take your own ear and go eat it in peace. After considerable play fighting, they would each take one, laying a foot or so apart, and finish off the ears, growling and snarling at each other. It was a game, a fun game, once we understood it.

That day, Jasper took the ear into Duke, laid it down by Duke?s head, and began growling. Soon, they were at it! We all looked on with amazement as healthy Jasper was unable to get that ear away from Duke. Finally, Jasper laid down, a foot away, and watched Duke consume the ear. Both were growling and snarling.

After we carried Duke out to the car, I offered Jasper another pigs ear, his favorite treat. He didn?t want it. He couldn't have known anything, could he?

I thought I had seen something deeply meaningful, as Jasper brought Duke back to life, one last time. I had to think hard, to remember that scientists have proven that animals have no thought - no understanding - no emotion - no real love, like humans - no sense of self and others. They go thoughtless, entirely on instinct. Yeah, sure!

Scientific Diet, anyone?

Ray D

Attachment, Jasper and Duke fight over a pigs ear. Jasper is the one standing up. He loses the fight. Note the glowering angry faces.

Ray D said:

Thanks, all. Actually, I was aiming at Tom, and anyone who has lost a pet.

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Ray,

I knew that and thanks for the posting. Apologies for not responding although I read your message this morning. I find it emotionally challenging to talk to someone who has lost a dear one, a close friend, or a pet.

Me too!

No appology needed.

Ray D  ;D

We have always had pets around us as kids, and my kids have always had pets near them. Children grow up much more socialised when they have the unconditional love of a pet to share with. Our pets have usually been cats and dogs but we have also had fish and tree frogs (they were fun) and now my daughter has big turtles to look after. At present we have 6 cats, all except one have been either walk-ins or ones we have found a home for.
When we got married we ended up with a 12 month toy poodle as our first fur-child. He stayed with us until he was about 17, almost blind, probably with cancer. He walked away one day and we frantically rang around. We finally tried our vet who is in another suburb. There he was. A lady had been walking past and he had walked up to her, she took him to her vet, who just happened to be our vet. Well up we went like a flash and it was obvious that it was his time to move on. There are no coincidences, we just hadn't done the responsible thing and said goodbye when it was the time to do so.
Since then we took a Shi Tzu from the pound, that dog was somewhat mental from his past life and eventually walked away to live elsewhere and we were happy that he was happy.
Then in 1997 while I was away interstate (running the Internet Cafe for the Whitbred Yacht Race in Perth) my daughter brought a Shepherd pup home, their litter had been dumped under the schoolroom knowing that it would not be long before they found homes. Well he stayed with us for 12 wonderful years, I still cry when I think of him and his passing. I can't help it. He was the closest thing to a human I have ever had the privilege of knowing.
So we now have our 6 wonderful cats and our two crazy turtles and our life is immeasurably richer for having these animals share their lives with us.
Let me share a 1998 picture of a much younger Shadow with a much younger daughter (she's 26 now) and also a wonderful story about the three special days in the life of a pet. Maybe this will strike a chord with some of you.

Thanks for Living Love and thanks for the tears. And what an awesome looking shepherd Shadow was.

Thanks Wendy, I still miss him. Until he grew too tight in the back legs he would sleep on our bed and we would just have to make do the best we could with what room was left. Even after he found he couldn't jump on the bed he would sleep on my side between the bed and the wardrobe. I had to always remember to gingerly feel for the floor and if it felt furry shift my feet away. Often I would be woken in the night with a loud scratching banging noise. It would be his lordship going through a doggy nightmare and his legs going like blazes LOL
One very late Friday night he took a stroke in the laundry just next to the converted hallway that is my office. I sat up nursing him all night and the next day the wife and a friend took him to the vets. Silly fool of a vet said he would recover and gave him some shots. Heck, he had no control over his back legs or bowels fer ch....  Anyways, we waited till the Monday morning when we knew a decent vet was on. I slept on a rug on the floor in the lounge next to him as he would fret if he couldn't get into the bedroom to be with us. We had to do everything for him and it just ripped out our hearts to see his troubles because the silly vet didn't open her eyes.
Come Monday and we manhandled him into a friend's car - it took 4 of us to move him on a blanket - and off to the vets for his last trip. We talked hard to the vet and asked for him to be released from his pain. We stayed in that room for as long as we could, I was the last with him, then I had to leave, I just couldn't take the pain of seeing him leave us.
I still hear him at night, to others they might just be the sounds of the night but I know he is near... and he will never be out of our hearts.

I have lost three dogs and a horse from various problems.  Loved each and every one of them like family.  This whey gluten stuff must be pretty bad!  How can the FDA just let this stuff pass without doing something about it.  Why are standards not set and met?  It is in the dry as well as the wet so things are not safe for our pets.  It also exposes what these high cost, supposedly good for your pet products really are.  I look around at our human food and to be honest I am very worried about all of us!
Phil 

Ray D said:

I had to think hard, to remember that scientists have proven that animals have no thought - no understanding - no emotion - no real love, like humans - no sense of self and others. They go thoughtless, entirely on instinct. Yeah, sure!

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I have to agree with Ray.  Due to my mom's serious pet allergy, my parents have always kept Cairn Terriers.  One particular pair was very close, and when the older one, Cory, died, Dad buried it in the back yard. While Dad was burying it, the younger one, Iko, brought a dog toy from the house and dropped it into the hole Dad had put Cory's remains in.  After that, every time Dad played fetch with Iko, Iko would first go back to sit by Cory's grave for a moment.  It was really quite sad.

Although this seems to be quite a sad topic, it also seems to be a celebration of some really fine animals.  Thanks, Tom.

-Dave

cougar3514v said:

Although this seems to be quite a sad topic, it also seems to be a celebration of some really fine animals.

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It sure does Dave. Discussions here can lead in some surprising directions.

DON'T DROP YOUR GUARD!

Check out the link

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18076803/

Pet food suppliers, in some areas, are still selling tainted pet food. 

I'm not one to be confrontational, as a rule - - - - But if I saw recalled pet food in a store I was shopping in, I'm afraid I might just get a little bit confrontational.  :

Ray D 

Makes you scared to feed your pets anything.

I hate beatng a dead horse, but this horse ain't dead! Read it and weap!

Did someone spike it, to make an extra buck?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18210224/wid/11915773?GT1=9303

Ray D