Posted on 09/22/2013 6:50:58 AM PDT by Kaslin
I have a 16 year old shepherd/lab mix named Mocha. Yes, you read that right; she’s 16. Almost unheard of in a dog her size.
I’m certain of her age because I adopted her over 15 years ago, when she was estimated to be ten months old.
Yes, I know she’s in the final stages of her life. She has months at most, and possibly weeks, to live. Her long life is due largely to the cushy life she’s had. Always an indoor dog, and given lots of love and exercise.
Over the last couple of years, as Mocha has aged, I’ve done all kinds of things to make her life more pleasant: I’ve given her Rimadyl twice a day, had a small tumor removed near her rectum that was giving her trouble, and installed a rubber “bar mat” in my shower so she could stand safely and comfortably while I cleaned her up after a “leak”.
(I tried “doggie diapers”, but they are difficult to put on, and you haven’t truly lived until you’ve come home to a “doggie diaper blowout”).
She’s very creaky, but still very alert and happy, wagging when I come home, going up and down stairs, and begging like a pro. She’s deaf, but apparently the nose is the last thing to go. But she’s not “productive” anymore, in the eyes of some. She can’t even go hiking anymore, and she can no longer hear, much less threaten, an intruder. What good is she, they might ask?
I feed her anything she wants, if she’ll eat it. Because of her old teeth, she has gotten expensive canned food for several years, while my other four dogs eat dry. They don’t understand the unfairness, but if Mommy doesn’t want to become homeless, they can’t ALL eat canned food!
I have put waterproof plastic sheets and blankets everywhere she sleeps, because she “leaks” a bit sometimes. I have to wash some of them daily. If she’s sleeping too long in one room, I go and check on her.
I know she won’t live forever, but in the meantime, I’m doing everything I can to make what’s left of her life as pleasant as possible. When the day and time comes, and I feel she’s suffering, I WILL do the right thing for her. But that day is not today.
I am CHOOSING to care for Mocha in this way, because I love her, and because you don’t put a dog down just because their aging is inconvenient. I’m glad I have the CHOICE to alleviate her pain, rearrange my house, and feed her anything she wants.
All this got me thinking; will Obamacare do as much for us as we do for our dogs? Will we be allowed to do for our parents, or allow others to do for us, what we can now do for our dogs?
Obamacare will have a Independent Payment Advisory Board (IBAP), that will make decisions on how to cut costs. Supporters swear its not rationing, but what else could it be? You can only “control costs” by limiting expenditures and ultimately, care.
What if, under Obamacare, we can’t have access to pain meds for our parents like we can for our dogs? Some might resort to using veterinary pain meds for their families. After all, under Obamacare, access will have to be limited, because there’s not enough money to go around, and people who don’t love will consider you “inconvenient” and “no longer productive”, and therefore not worth wasting money on.
Some pet owners would have put my dog Mocha down at the first “leak”, because they “don’t want to deal with that”. What would the IBAP say about the money I spend on Rimadyl, or the GALLONS of Nature’s Miracle I clean my carpet with, or special food I give her? She’s 100 years old, in dog years. She’s lived a good life, and I have other dogs, so why bother?
Fortunately the government has no say in my dog’s life, but wait until your parents get beyond the age of productivity. If Obamacare isn’t stopped, veterinary care, primarily purchased directly by owners, may be the best “healthcare” this nation has to offer.
That is amazing.
One of my dogs who was dying of liver failure, waited until I came home from a trip and died 30 minutes later laying in my lap. The vet couldn’t believe she had lived so long but I know she just wanted to see me one more time.
“My labs lived to be about the same age I figured it was do them being outdoor hunting dogs and lived like dogs are suppose not like humans.”
We had a German Shorthair Pointer, who lived to the same general age.
Fortunately, we lived in an area where her ancestors were still alive and being bred when we got her.
We got to know the owners of her parents, grandparents and back to great/great grandparents.
Their advice was simple. These are hunting dogs not children. Don’t spoil them. Keep them outside in good ry/warm dog houses with clean hay to keep them warm.
Exercise them 2x daily, an once a week take them hunting or let them run beside your truck for a few miles*. Feed them a good balanced dog food, a few scraps from our table and buy them big bones to chew on to keep their teeth clean. They told us to add a half can of alpo to her dry food each day.
For some reason, she loved vegetables and fruit. I would buy a couple of cabbage heads and throw a half one by her house each day. My wife planted a couple of miniature cherry tomatoes by her dog house for her to snack on. The tomatoes became self planting after a couple of years and even continued for a few years after she was gone. We enjoyed them and named them after her.
She had healthy DNA, got her exercise, *including her weekly run to trim her toe nails and to keep her cardio/muscular system in shape. Besides her shots she had to go to the Vet 3 times. 2X’s because she tangled with porcupines and once when she missed judged the height of a chain link fence and ended up with a large number of stiches in her under belly.
Her vet said by keeping her outside and not treating her like a human, we added about 7+ years to her life and saved thousand of $’s in Vet bills.
Yes, I remember sending to you my condolences. It does help to keep busy, as you are doing. When I was very young, I had a terrible fear of dogs. Mom and Dad got us a dachshund. We named him “Dutch”. It took only a few hours for me to fall in love with that sweet little puppy, and I partially owe my love of all dogs to him. You and your family are still in my notebook, but then, I never take anyone out. :-) May God bless and keep you all and Max.
TOL, you have the finest recollections and write about them so well. I never tire of reading about your relationships with your fur family. :-)
LOL! I know that look!
Very good advice, Grampa Dave. Thanks for sharing it.
And I didn’t even mention that her ghost followed us to our next two houses.
We could tell it was her ghost because of her unusual gait when she was walking up- or downstairs.
She finally abandoned us when we moved to Ohio from California. I hope she haunted Jerry Brown. [smiles]
Not all vets would agree with your vets advice. My vet takes his dog to work with him at his clinic everyday and she sleeps in his bed with him and his wife at night. She is 12 years old and has the energy of a puppy.
Yes, Obamacare will make sure that if you get real sick and you’re old, you will be put down in a humane manner.
Meanwhile, just take a pain pill.
How touching. There are tales of animals hanging on to see their loved ones just once more before they pass. [coughblurryscreencough]
If the DEA will let your doctor prescribe it......
There is no question that they can read our minds.
The link of mutual love is that strong.
Bless her heart, she had work to do! She’ll, no doubt, join up with y’all, later. ;-)
Losing beloved pets can be devastating.
I miss my two girls and my little guy more than ever.
.
Awww.. so precious. Look at that sweet, old face with his greying muzzle, having his picture taken by mama, no doubt. Just lost my heart. You don’t have to explain anything to me, R_V. We’ve been down that road many times.
I think she may have gone on to the Rainbow Bridge, where her life-long companion went 4-1/2 years before she passed.
We’re more likely to join up with them and the others.
We took in a few hopelessly ill strays*, and they were all very grateful for the love, care, and our attempts to save them, but we did not always succeed. I expect that we will see them all again.
RIP Muffin (renal), Tiger (age), *Baby (cancer), Slinker (lymphoma), *Katy (FELV), *Little Bit (FELV), and my Rocket (renal).
Let’s get to the point of this thread.
‘If Obamacare isn’t stopped, veterinary care, primarily purchased directly by owners, may be the best “healthcare” this nation has to offer.’
Indeed, it’s already that way in Canada.
I think it was Stossel, or maybe even Beck, who pointed out on a show once that it’s far easier to get any of your pets in for a CAT scan. Because free-market forces allow the vets to have many CAT machines, while humans have only 7 in the whole country. Ridiculous!
Our beloved dog was an orphan. Some cruel person abandoned a mother dog and her pups by the main road up the way from us. One of our neighbor's was driving being a guy and the mother and pups ran out in front of his pickup truck and he kept going. My neighbor gathered up the mother dog and pups and took them to the vet. The mother and one of the brothers had to be put to sleep as their injuries from being hit were grave. There were 3 pups who survived.
Later that day when I came home from work, I noticed a lot the neighborhood kids and adults coming in an out of our place. Something was up. When I went through the front door, I was greeted by our kids, pleading with me, "can we keep him?". Of course I said the obligatory, "absolutely not!" and he was our buddy for the next 15 years! He was only about 6 weeks old.
Here's a photo of K-ci when he was doing well:
His mother was a beagle and the vet who first treated him thought his father may have been long-haired dachshund. He resembled a golden except he had a long body and short legs. He was such a good boy and everyone loved him.
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