Our Animals

[Tigger_the_Wing]

I liked your link, ADoS! Bookmarked!

Sorry I wasn't here when you posted it. I was sick, and then busy with doctors.

I, too, have a mysterious lump in one of my mammary glands.

Despite the fact that it has been palpable (and sore) for several years, it has consistently failed to show up on either x-ray or ultrasound. (The Invisible Lump! )

That, plus the fact that it is veeeeeery slow-growing, led the breast surgeon to decide that it is likely glandular tissue or something else benign.

But she wants me to go for a fine-needle biopsy anyway.

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

Picasso's lump is about the size of half a large grapefruit. He can no longer scratch his ears, due to the lump on one side and his abdomen pushed by the weight to the other side.

Boy, is he still happy though. I was rubbing his lump, pushing on it and poking it a bit. He loves it. What a crazy cat.

[Tigger_the_Wing]

I'm so glad your cat is happy, ADoS!

(As I was equally delighted when the lump biopsy turned out benign.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The latest addition to our household has settled in nicely (although he and Sanka still have the occasional hissing and growling session when they meet in a doorway, they mostly ignore one another).

Somewhere between sixteen and nineteen years old, partially blind from cataracts and with a wonky rear end from an encounter with a motor vehicle in his youth, nevertheless Lachlan the silver tabby manages to purr most of the time. He is very affectionate to humans and talks a lot, especially if he hasn't had a cuddle for a while; that is when he wanders through the house calling out "Helloooo! Hellooooo? HELLOOOOO!!!"

His previous owner, who had rescued him around fifteen years ago, has returned to the USA and we couldn't let him be put down just yet. Hubby originally said we could only keep the cat until we found a replacement home - but Lachlan cannily made a special effort to be extra affectionate towards him! Clever cat…

[Mad Maud]

Hi everyone. Ashley here, just to give a sad update.

Picasso passed away early on Saturday morning after unfortunately suffering from what we initially thought was diabetic shock for several hours. He'd slipped into a hypoglycemic coma (low blood sugar) on Monday and had several seizures within a short span of time. By the time he got to the vet, his blood glucose, which should normally be in the low hundreds, was down to twenty-seven. They were able to save him, but he hadn't been the same right up until his death. He'd been listless and just didn't seem himself. On Friday night my uncle saw him collapse and start crying and twitching. I knew it was the end because it wasn't like when he'd been hypoglycemic, and putting Karo syrup on his gums like the vet said to do if it happened again didn't work. I lost a lot of sleep going down to check on him a couple times during the night. By around 7:30, he was gone, and had already gotten stiff.

I haven't been as emotional as I thought I'd be when this happened--maybe it's taking longer for grief to set in than I assumed.

[Tigger_the_Wing]

Hugs, Ashley.

Losing a pet is sad even if you were expecting it, and we each have our own way of reacting. Don't feel bad because you aren't reacting the way you thought you would.

Console yourself with the thought that you gave Picasso a long and happy life and tried your best to keep him as healthy as possible despite his illness (not an easy thing to do with animals, when it is so difficult to interpret their body language to work out how they are feeling).

He knew you loved him, and that is the best thing we can do for our pets.

[Mad Maud]

Thank you, Tig.

He'd been sick with diabetes for about a year, and a few months back we thought it had gone into remission. Unfortunately, that was not to be. I stayed up with him until midnight on Friday, and it hurt to see him in such pain after taking things in stride for so long. His wasn't an entirely unexpected death, but it's one of those things where, when it does happen, it takes you by surprise.

His sister is still with us, thankfully, and seems to be doing well in spite of all that's gone on. One day at a time, I suppose.

[Milo the dog]

*whimper*

[ET, the Extra Terrestrial]

So sorry to hear Picasso is gone, Ashley and ADOS. It's always hard to say goodbye to a friend.

He'll be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge.

[DavidH]

My sympathy, ADoS and Ashley. It's very hard to lose a loved pet - I know.

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

Another pet is now waiting at the Rainbow Bridge: Jimmy the budgerigar. He died yesterday while I was at the library. I suspect he had a bowel problem, because he'd been launching his feces out of the cage, onto the wall, Ashley's shoe, etc. He went out with the trash today because I couldn't find the spade to bury him with. Ultimately it doesn't matter because I don't believe in all that religious crap that demands this or that manner of handling the dead. The fact is Jimmy's gone, and Cookie the cockatiel's got no cagemate yet again. I hope he doesn't get depressed again, although he seems to be alright so far. Jimmy was kind of mean to him.

Sometimes I hate being an atheist. I don't like never seeing my loved ones again.

DB, if you trot out that quote about treacheries to intellectual integrity again, I'll smack you.

[ET, the Extra Terrestrial]

Very sorry to hear that, ADOS. This has not been a very good year.

[black bart]

A crucial year coming up in the Newt stakes. Apparently it takes two years for newts to return to the pond they were released into as babies. So if I get newts this spring I have succeeded in creating a newt population.

[pieces o'nine]

Trust an amurkin on this, Bart.

Once you've got Newts, you can never get rid of them. They just keep coming back and coming back and coming back...

[black bart]

^
I'd rather have Leprechauns!

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

Check out my new avatar! It's a 100 pixel x 100 pixel, 8 color pixel artwork I made! It depicts Ashley's cat, the late, great Picasso. It's based on a photograph, but I did take some creative liberties with it. I made it by hand, looking at the photo on my right monitor while I drew in GIMP with my left monitor. Something nice to remember him with, I think.

My avatar will probably change around Valentine's Day, because I made a similar 100x100, 8 color picture for Valentine's Day. Not quite as pretty though.