The pets thread aka my house smells of cat/dog/other piss

Weve had a bit of a nightmare with our dog this last couple of weeks. She's a boxer/bull mastiff cross, 12 years old and has had ear problems for years.

This culminated in an episode 2 weeks ago where she got up in the night and her legs were all over the place. Couldn't make it downstairs to go out so I had to carry (38 kilos of squirming nope, not easy). She slept all rhe next day but when she got up her legs were still fucked and her eyes were all over the place. Then she threw up all over the floor. This was a Sunday night so off to the emergency vets we went.

Vet was unsure whether she'd had a stroke, her ears were the cause or some other brain issue so we were referred to the animal hospital in Liverpool for an mri scan.

Been there all day and I cannot sing their praises enough. They were absolutely awesome. However, they diagnosed her with a deep inner ear bacterial infection which they thought they could treat with an ear flush and putting a camera down her ear to puncture a hole to drain the infection. Total cost 3k.

Then they called us to say the bone in the ear was also infected which prevented them doing the drain so she needs an op to sort it out. Another 2.5k

Insurance covers her for 2k so after a lengthy chat with the vet to decide what to do (basically the op or the unthinkable), we've decided to go ahead with the op as it will fix the issue and improve her quality of life, putting her back to her normal self. No brainer really, just lucky we've got the cash to fund it.

So I'm 3k lighter and wishing I'd forked out that extra £25 a month on her insurance for the 5k cover but our girl will get better, even if she probably hasn't got many years left in her.

Bloody expensive these pets!

Absolutely. We love her to bits, shes a huge part of our everyday life. Ive been working from home for nearly 3 years and shes kept me sane.

We were supposed to be having a luxury holiday in Mexico next year for my 50th and have put the money away to cover it, so it came down to holiday or dog. When you think of it like that there's absolutely no choice. There will be plenty ti.e to have that holiday, but the last bit of time we have with her, however short or long, is irreplaceable

Thanks and well said!

Op should be sometime in the next 10 days, just waiting to hear. Got to stuff 8 tablets a day down her throat until then, which isnt too bad as shes a very food driven dog so sticking them in her food is easy.

Comes to something when our pets are treated better than us. Be a 2 Year wait on NHS !

razer

That all sounds very traumatic but it seems like it was a no brainer to make the right call. It's always a difficult thing when pets get older. My parents cat was the same. He lived to the ripe old age of 21 but the cost of keeping him in good health in his twilight years was really high. I can still remember me and my brother going to pick him up as a kitten and bringing him home for the first time. God that seems so recent but it was fucking half my life ago.

Anyway, so glad you were able to do that for her and improve her quality of life. In fact I'm such a fucking soft git these days actually that I welled up a little reading your post. We've only had our little girl for six weeks but I love the shit out of her and am terrified of anything happening to her.

Dude, you can't say things like that and not pay the dog tax!!!

The dog we look after every now and again has some major discipline issues and loves lunging at cars randomly. He only has a collar rather than a decent harness, and apparently he's come out of that quite a few times. It's gotten to the point where we're considering buying a decent harness for walks whenever we have him. Any parts that are near roads are bloody stressful.

Others are probably more clued up, but yeah, definitely put a stop to that shit asap (I'm sure cubby will be along to mansplain soon)

You want a faster aperture setting.

This was taken in full motion on the new Pixel 7 Pro using their "motion capture photo" setting...



Major in a rare moment of submission to one of his many girlfriends.

Partly down to the breed imo. I know quite a few with similar breed mixes and most of them say how energetic they always are. But there's training methods to help them focus on you which does help with time. Always a good idea to think about a puppy class to help you on a good footing to help.

Major is such a handsome goof.

That's rough, Dougs.

I wish I had some advice to contribute, but it's a tough-as-hell situation, and all I can think to do right now is commiserate.

I saw my cousin's dog (a Lab) recently, and I was *aghast* at how massive he is; even then, in a much less emotive scenario than your mum's, I couldn't come up with a way of broaching the subject.

Dog walkers are pretty pricey these days, but it sounds as though getting him additional exercise that way - if it was even an option to begin with - wouldn't solve the issue.

Years ago my parents had a springer. Mom spoiled ber rotten and she was huge. Kept telling her she was killing the dog but she would not listen. Lived to 16 so I felt a little silly!

Maybe try the money route, my sister's dog who's no longer with us had diabetes from being a chubster and that cost them thousands in medicine that the insurance companies wouldn't cover. Not to mention the premiums went up because of his condition.

But yeah if you're mum gets pleasure from feeding him then that could be impossible.

Has the vet not said anything? Ours makes us feel like monsters if the cats are a hundred grams over their ideal weight.

Guess there's just no telling her if even that doesn't get through. Horrible situation

Please sir, can I have some more?