Loving my Oldies

My stomach has been in knots for the last couple of days leading up to Danny's eye operation. Although my appointment wasn't until 10am, I left home at 8.30am - pouring with rain, back to school travellers, Pacific Highway, etc etc. Danny slept the whole way on the back seat, bless him. So I arrived just before 10am expecting to met the specialist who would be performing the operation, only to be told, "Oh she doesn't come in until much later." So why was I told to be there at 10am to meet her? The specialist whom I saw on Friday, specifically said, be here at 10am and XXXX will come out to see you and you can tell her all about Danny's hernia, reflux, etc etc. I was seen by a couple of the nurses who would be assisting with Danny and while we were going through all his background, meds, etc etc, I noticed mistakes on his admission sheet. The worst one considering his age and frailness was that they had him down as one !! Admittedly you would only need to look at him to realise that was a mistake, but even so. Not a great start. However, I've now heard from the specialist who performed the operation and he has come through well, but, due to his history, she didn't put him under a full anaesthetic. She is hopeful (??) that the procedure she has carried out will be sufficient. I will be picking him up at 5pm this evening.

Oh boy, is she having fun. Great photos. She looks a real personality girl.

Beautiful. I hope you and she have many many very happy years together.

Love the longer coats on some of the dogs in this link.

How sad. I have found it very hard when you are dealing with you own grief and to know that a dog is grieving too. Really hits home the extent of the loss. I agree with the others. It can take time.

Oh she is gorgeous. She has quite a lot of hair all over really, doesn't she. Totally scrumptious.

Oh no!!! That poor little darling. He must have been in so much pain and so sick. RIP little Merlin.

IT WORKED :thumbsup: Terrific music. But hey! You wouldn't even have been born when they were at the height of their fame.

WOW, fabulous Yonjuro. Unfortunately I haven't worked out how to get sound on my new iMac :o

Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a good book. To hell with the costs - this is survival mode. X Ladies, ladies!! Ice cream is a dirty dirty word in this household. I was buying tubs of it hoping Danny would eat a little bit and guess who'd sit at the table scoffing the lot. I had managed to get down to 69.5kg and I am back up to 73kg. :cry: Thanks Shirra. My flurries are my family - what can you do :laugh: :laugh:

I agree, but she was probably refuelling. I've just seen this. :rofl: You are pretty damned good on the riposte, K. :thumbsup:

Forget about the gorgeous boy - what about his owner? :laugh: Has it been hot? I've been inside all day in the air-conditioning watching the tennis. January and February are my do nothing months. And my electricity bills are horrendous.

Never a truer word, LG. This popped up in my FB the other day and I really think it applies here.

We stil have a tireless fighter for justice for the animals at LDH on DOL. http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/260665-ldh-at-it-again/page__p__6606446__fromsearch__1#entry6606446

Who has a bloodlust. And who also has an Order of Australia. Shows you the worth of them

Absolutely amazing. They thought maybe 80 people and 500 turned up. They had photos of some of the animals killed by LDH. Kae Norman is an amazing, indefatigable woman. Wish there were more with her energies and stamina. She has been fighting this house of horrors for a long time.

Isn't it lovely? I've been scrolling through all my photographs, emails and documents having a cull and trying to learn the new systems.

Hi Katjek. So heartening and lovely to read messages from DOLers. :thanks: He seems okay, pretty well same as usual. Happy out of his head to see me (just returned from walking Tamar and Bunter) and content so long as I am in his sight LOL. I have been scrolling through my photos since I acquired a new computer (iMac) and came across this one. It is from a few years ago; he has always been Mummy's Boy.

Oh dear, your poor little girl. Yes, they just don't understand and think that the dogs (or other pets) have just gone somewhere for a while and will be back. It is very difficult when we have our own grief to contend with and at the same time try to help someone else with theirs. My heart goes out to you all. Yes, a very beautiful boy who was meant to share his life with you.

This is the whole point. Every time LDH comes up and it has many time, people come out and say how do we know these things happened, etc etc etc. As you say, every if a few of these stories are true, there is something radically wrong. And we now have incontrovertible proof, that the horrible cruelty that goes on in that dreadful place are facts and not just the ramblings of a few disaffected staff which Graeme Smith, Tribe and others have said over the years. Exactly. And again, over the years, people have sought to defuse any discussion about LDH by sheeting the blame home to incompetent and uncaring and stupid owners. You can have a place like Fort Knox and think you have all bases covered and a determine or very frightened dog can still get out. This issue here is the investigation of LDH which is about 20 years (if not more) overdue.

I imagine Sue Conroy and Graeme Smith drive around in top of the range late model whatevers and have exquisitely turned out offices, while they begrudge the dogs a bit of comfort. Beyond comprehension really.

Thank you ladies. I have to confess I am somewhat concerned tonight. Today we had an appointment at my usual vet to check his eye. We agreed that he really needed to be seen by the specialist and I was able to get an appointment at 4pm this afternoon. Because of Friday afternoon traffic, we were away from home for over three hours and only about 25 minutes of that was at the specialist. Tonight he is absolutely exhausted. He didn't really relax much in the car and it breaks my heart because one of his favourite things was to stand up on the seat and look out the window. Naturally, I wouldn't let him hang out the window and he would be secured by his harness; the window would be down just a little to let the air through. He doesn't have the strength in his legs anymore. My big concern is how he will cope with the little op he has to have. We have an appointment for surgery to his eye on Wednesday and I am wondering how he will come through. We will be doing pre-anaesthetic bloods of course, but he has to have a GA and not just a local. He will be under for only about 10 minutes and the specialist said that he'd be in more danger driving home. I just remember how sick he was after his trip to SASH and I did stress this to the specialist. The thing is, he is so uncomfortable that even with the ointments and treatment from my vet every week, he is squinting pretty well all the time now. I imagine it is like having a lot of grit in your eye all the time. I am hoping that when that discomfort is gone, he will feel a lot better.

Thank you, cavNrott. I am hopeful too. Angus (my vet) doesn't believe he is in pain, but just very very uncomfortable and his squinting has been becoming more consistent. Poor boy. I think I'd be more than squinting if some nasty person was squeezing two lots of gel into my eye three times a day. :( I am sure the goodies from BM Animals are helping as well.

After the morning mishap, we did very well yesterday. He again ate the slurry mixture, so although he isn't eating the daily diet that BM Animals recommended, he is eating [drinking LOL] their probiotics and powdered pancreas mixed in with bone broth and Royal Canin. He hasn't lost any weight this week either. We have an appointment with the eye specialist at North Shore Veterinary Specialist Centre this afternoon and I am very happy that I will be seeing the specialist, Jeff Smith, who waved his magic scalpels and gave Bunter back his sight 4 years ago. Danny is so uncomfortable with his eye, that if they can be fixed, I am sure he will be happier. He has eaten really well this morning!! Never ending with elderly animals (not to mention their mother ).

:birthday: :love: And flowers for mum :flower: I had a chuckle at that last photo. I was at the vet early this week with Danny and Bunter; as Bunter was very fidgety I thought he might need to pee or poo, so took him outside, came back to find the vet and Danny in that position. LOL. Apparently poor Danny was scratching at the door after me. Love the photos of Hank and Odie together - sheer delight.