MelodysMum

I am so very sorry for the loss of your baby girl Chantie. You were so blessed to find each other. My thoughts are with you. RIP Chantie!

I am so sorry for your loss deek! You must be devastated. My thoughts are with you and your wife and family at this sad time. RIP Denzil!

Oh no Gail, when I saw the name I really hoped it wasn't going to be your Benson! He was such a beautiful boy! I am so very sorry for your loss, you must be devastated. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the family, including the other fur kids. RIP beautiful Benson!

Jacq, I have said everything I am able to say on FB. I have been thinking of you and Cordy constantly since I heard the news. You will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. RIP beautiful girl Cordy!

I am so sorry for your loss. He was a beautiful boy and he fought hard. Don't be sad that you weren't there, I am sure Whitey didn't see it that way. He had said goodbye and he was ready to go. He is still with you. My thoughts are with you at this very sad time.

I only just saw this tlc. So relieved for you that it is nothing sinister. I know how you feel, I was terrified when Brianna had to have the lump taken off her ear in January.

The manager of my department had her dog (Maltese x Shih Tzu) on campus on Wednesday for a meeting for a couple of hours and no-one said anything.

I'm so sorry about Chester. Don't blame yourself, you didn't know. It's probably a good idea to move the guineas to a warmer position though in winter. They don't cope well with the cold. We always had ours inside the house.

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words and for understanding how I feel. I knew that the DOLers would understand in a way that nobody else could. I have only just been able to bring myself to post in here again. I can't believe how much losing my little Spike has affected me. I am starting to be able to think of him without crying but it still hurts so much! It has been a tough week, I think of him every time I sit at my desk, his cage was here with me. I will never forget my baby boy.

Dju, I am so sorry for your loss, you must be devastated. They were beautiful girls and it must have been a terrible shock for you. I would be devastated if we lost our girls. My thoughts are with you.

You were the tiniest little baby when Daddy found you on the floor in the aviary. Your parents had kicked you out of the nest. They probably knew something that we didn't, but we couldn't let you die, so you came inside and you have lived in a cage on my desk for the past two months. It took you a little while to work out what I was doing feeding you with a syringe, but gradually you worked it out, and you would get so excited when you saw me walking towards you with your food, chirping excitedly and jumping all over the cage. The weeks went by, but you didn't really grow much, and you didn't learn how to crack seed like a grown up bird. We brought another bird in on Friday night, to stay with you for a few days and teach you how to eat seed. We decided to turn off the light that had kept you warm for all these weeks, thinking that you would be all right without it and that it would disturb the other bird. When I found you on Saturday morning, so close to death, unconscious and convulsing, I never thought I would be able to save you. But you were a fighter, and with the light turned on again gradually you came back to life, and started cheeping again when I called you. We took the other bird back outside and decided to give you a bit more time by yourself. You were your usual self by Saturday night and even this morning we had a cuddle after I fed you. But the stupid light broke this afternoon, and while I was waiting for your dad to come home and fix it for me I put another light on you to try to keep you warm. I should have realised it wasn't enough when you were hanging upside down right up against the light, trying to keep warm. I could not believe it when Megan told me this afternoon that you were dead. My dear little Spike, I am so sorry that I didn't keep you safe. I tried to keep you warm, but the light wasn't the same. I would have carried you around all day with me if I had known you weren't warm enough. But you got cold and I wasn't there for you. I know that there was probably something wrong with your tiny body, but I had really hoped after this long and after the fight you put up on Saturday, that you were going to make it. You were only a tiny little bird, but you won my heart. My office is so quiet and empty without you here tonight, I miss you so much. Goodbye my tiny Spikey boy. Thank you for the wonderful eight weeks of companionship and joy that you gave me, I will remember you every year on my birthday. Your death has made my birthday today a very, very sad day. I love you!

I am so sorry for your loss. You must be devastated. RIP Sophie!

That's wonderful news Steve! Thanks for taking Busta on. I am sure he will do really well.

This story is just about to be on Channel 7 news.

Steve, it is so good to read what you have written! You said it so much better than I could. I know that my own dog Brianna would certainly bite if she felt scared enough and she is a placid, loving dog that adores everyone. I am not naive enough to assume that her instinct for survival would not kick in if she felt threatened enough though. I really don't understand people who say that any dog who bites a human should be put to sleep. Are they supposed to just submit and let themselves be hurt or even killed because a human is superior? Are they not allowed to defend themselves? If a person was being attacked and felt that their life was being threatened they would defend themselves. People who would never normally do such a thing could become violent, even kill someone if they were defending themselves, their family or their home. They get let off on the grounds of self-defence. Yet a dog who may have done exactly the same thing should be killed without any investigation? Sorry, I don't agree. Anyone who owns horses knows that quite often a horse will be spooked or get upset and kick out at its owner. I suffered a broken arm as a result of one of our horses trying to kick me. Nobody would even suggest that a horse should be destroyed because its owner got hurt. They would understand that the horse is an animal, and that its behaviour is not always predictable, but that humans should learn how to handle horses. The same should also apply to dogs. Obviously there are dogs which cannot be rehabilitated, but up until this incident Buster from all reports was a well-behaved, under control, well-socialised dog. There is no reason to believe he cannot be again. If Michael Vick's fighting dogs in the USA can be rehabilitated and become family pets (and it is well documented that some of them have), then surely Buster should be given a second chance.

Poor Buster! It is very sad. He is being put to sleep for being a dog and behaving like a dog. Dogs are not humans, however much they are trained they are still animals. I am sure his instincts kicked in and he reacted to what he perceived to be a threat.

I totally agree MTD!!

Wow! What a wonderful story! I'll bet Lola's owner is absolutely delighted to have her back! The poor dog must have wondered if her mum was ever going to come back for her!

He looked like a beautiful dog, and happily went on a lead with the guy from the council. Poor Buster! The daughter of the neighbour who was attacked said he had been really spooked by the mugging last week when he and his owner were threatened with a knife, and they don't think he should be put to sleep. I hope they give him a chance and let a behaviourist assess him.

I have Dr Stewart at Mt Druiitt Vet. He doesnt have lots of modern equipment but he and his staff and the other vets on Duty are pretty accomodating They even brushed my boy yesterday after he had passed. He was malting and fur everywhere. So they made him look nice before he had to leave They put his ball between his front paws etc. The head vet nurse Louise is very compassionate and caring and she will talk to the animals when they have passed and give them a pat also. They sound wonderful. It is great to know where the good vets are, thanks for sharing that.

I am so sorry! He looks like a beautiful boy. It is so sad when it happens so suddenly, you think they will be with you until they are old and grey, then suddenly they are gone. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Just out of interest if you don't mind, which vet do you go to? I would love to know a vet who is so compassionate they will do what yours did.

Not another snake bite!! How sad, so many dogs recently being killed by snakes! Towser looks like a great fellow, I am really sorry for your loss. I have a stuffed toy dog that I was given when I was about 6 months old (so he is 51 years old) and he is called Towser. RIP Towser!

I missed this thread too, just saw your other one. She is absolutely gorgeous Gayle! Well done for giving her such a wonderful home! I am sure her breeders are very happy knowing she has gone to such a great forever home! I look forward to hearing more about her as she settles in.

It is really sad about your friend's dog. But I also understand it from the vet's point of view, especially if they are not regular customers. Sandra, it depends on the size of the dog how much it costs because they use more antivenene on a large dog. My friend's little Shih Tzu had an altercation with a juvenile brown snake last Saturday afternoon. The snake lunged at Molly a few times when she cornered it in the back yard, but they weren't sure if she had been bitten or not. They rushed her to the only open vet they could find. The vet said he could give the antivenene straight away but the minute he opened the bottle it would cost $900. He said as Molly was showing no symptoms after 20 minutes he thought it best to just monitor her and give the antivenene if required even though it meant more of a risk. he said he really thought she hadn't been bitten if she had no signs by the time she got there. So he did a blood test to check if the red blood cells were bursting (which the venom causes) and they weren't. She stayed in overnight, but she is fine. Thankfully she had managed to jump out of the way every time the snake struck. A little Shih Tzu would need much less antivenene than a Husky though. :D After my friend telling me about Molly, I am thankful all over again that I saw the brown snake in our chook pen the week before last and that the WIRES guy managed to catch it. It was a huge one, even he was shocked. When I think how many times I went in and out of there checking on the chooks in the heat last week, I shudder to think what could have happened!

Oh dear, how sad, I have tears in my eyes! That is a beautiful tribute to what sounds like a very special boy. RIP Jason!