Making the decision of when it’s time to put an animal to sleep is absolutely one of the worst decisions of your life. Almost everyone who has to make the decision feels very guilty afterwards, always wondering if there was something more they could have done. I know, I have been there twice — and with four animals, obviously, I will be there again.

Too many people, however, assume that nothing can be done, and do not want to “torture” their animals with treatment. They come to this decision, often, without consulting a vet, or joining a mailing list to discuss treatment with others going through the same thing.

And that’s sad. Veterinary medicine has made so many advances. Most animals are more resilient than we give them credit for. On one of the forums I frequent, recently, when a poster’s cat went blind suddenly (it had had mild kidney disease for a while), the poster just assumed that was it, and didn’t want to go to the vet and “torture” her cat by treating it.

Many people urged her to go to the vet. She did. Although they do not know why the cat went blind (high blood pressure is usually the culprit — and treatable — but not in this case), one reason it wasn’t eating well was because it had a urinary tract infection. Simple fix: medication, and the cat is already doing better.

Your vet has vast experience in judging whether or not an animal is in pain, and can also help by viewing your case dispassionately (we are so often blinded by our closeness to our animals).

No matter how dire things lo0k, please consult with your vet. Maybe things are as bad as your think, but so often there is hope. Many animals suffer in silence because their humans just assume nothing can be done for them, or that they will not tolerate treatment.

Technorati Tags: put an animal to sleep, vet

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Yes, we are still in the grip of ice. It’s been either sleeting, freezing rain, or snow all day long.

To the right you can see the icicles hanging off the “tunnel” that leads from the house to the boys’ kennel outside (no, the boys did not get to go outside at all today).

Everyone, I think, is already feeling the effects from being cooped up inside. Cats, dogs, humans. And we’re lucky — we don’t have to look forward to this all winter, although the forecast remains yucky (rain, even possibility for more ice later in the week) all week long.

The real challenge, though, is getting Lola to do anything at all outside. She goes out because she has no choice — she’s on a leash. But it took until 2pm today for her to produce anything; and she hadn’t pooped in 2 days!

Now, that would be wonderful if she was housetrained and could be trusted in the house. But even though she doesn’t have many accidents, she isn’t trained. So she can’t be trusted in the house when she hasn’t gone. So she spent until 2 pm in her crate — with me taking her out every hour or so.

She does seem much more comfortable when she’s let loose in the familiarity of our backyard. But there’s a couple of problems with that:

1. I can’t follow her to see what she does, because it’s too icy for me to get off the patio (but not for the dogs, apparently)
2. Even though I can’t follow her, I do watch her — but she seems to be determined to stay out of sight behind bushes!

Chester, on the other hand, is well trained. He’s learned to go outside on his own. In fact, one night he woke me at 3 am, and since it was very cold, I sent him out on his own. When we went back to bed, he dove under the comforter & spent the rest of the night curled up by my feet — under the comforter!

This is how the boys have spent much of their last couple of days. It’s warmer when you cuddle.

This has nothing to do with the ice. My husband was up earlier than usual this morning, and he was able to catch this scene that occurs most mornings: Chester stays on his bed while I prepare the dogs’ breakfast, and the boys wait for tidbits on their stools.

Only they don’t get anything from the dogs’ breakfasts. They do, sometimes, get tidbits from the dogs’ dinner, however, which is Wysong Archetype (which they love). So I guess hope springs eternal.

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On one of the forums I frequent, a poster recently asked if two dogs were more work than one. Yes, in many ways. Especially weeks like this. On Saturday, we had about 5 inches of rain in as many hours.

Lola refuses to do her business when it’s cold & wet. She’ll go outside (because we carry her); she’ll walk around; she’ll even sit down. Shivering. Imploring. But she won’t do anything.

Now, she can also hold it a very long time, too. The problem is that she still isn’t completely housetrained, so when the weather is icky and she hasn’t gone in a long time, she either has to be crated or closely watched — which can make it difficult to get anything done.

So that makes it even more challenging. Not only do they not want to go outside, we’re going out the front rather than the back, because our patio becomes very slippery when icy (not to mention our backyard is a lake right now).

Tonight we’re supposed to get more ice, and possibly snow. Up until now, I’ve still been able to get the dogs out for short walks, so at least they’re getting a little exercise. We’ll see about tomorrow.

Recently, we upgraded Lola to a “big girl’s crate”; the next size up crate. So far, so good; no accidents. But who had to nap in it the first night?

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Chester & Lola are very cat-like in many ways. They love cat toys (although I suppose they love just about any toy, but they do go to great lengths to steal the cat toys). They curl up on us like cats do. They are both big lickers — not just faces, but hands, and really, pretty much any part of the anatomy they can get to. Chester has a tendency to head butt me when he’s trying to get comfortable at night.

Yet there are some major differences, too, some good, so just okay. Dogs don’t purr, for instance. Boy, I tell ya, if they could just purr . . . there’s little more soothing than a purring cat on your lap (or around your head, as the case may be).

Dogs aren’t anywhere near as soft as cats. Yes, petting dogs can be very soothing, but petting cats can be a sensual experience. It’s like having a living fur coat on your lap. Chester is actually quite plush, and Lola’s fur has softened a lot, but they just don’t compare to the boys’ coats.

One great difference: at almost any point of the day, I am assured to have one of the dogs near — or on — me. Chester in particular is my shadow. He is not happy, usually, unless I am within sight. If I lay down on the couch, I usually have a dog at my feet and one curled up on me.

The boys love me. Simba would lay in my lap for hours in the mornings, if I only had that kind of time to sit still. And he’ll seek me out in the afternoons, sometimes, too. But he isn’t constantly with me. I would never call my cats aloof, but the truth is, during the day, they usually find one comfy space to curl up in — and then they don’t move. For hours. No matter what I’m doing (unless it involves food or catnip).

And it’s mostly nice to have constant companions.

Of course, you pay the price for that companionship. You have to walk them a couple of times a day. In the mornings, they want to play. They don’t use a litterbox, so it’s you standing out in the pouring rain while they sit there & stare at you in misery.

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It occurred to me, recently, that the relationship between Chester & Lola is quite similar to the relationship between Gizmo & Simba, which is odd, considering that Gizmo & Simba are littermates, but Chester & Lola aren’t (although I am sometimes asked if they are).

Lola seems completely besotted with Chester. She wants to play with him, she wants to curl up with him, she wants anything that he has. It’s really funny watching her trying to entice him into playing, sometimes.

Chester does love to play with her, and slowly but surely, I see him thawing towards her. But he sometimes growls at her when she approaches him on his bed (although not always).

Yet recently I’ve seen them grooming each other a little bit — going beyond kissing, and licking faces or ears. Sometimes they lay together peaceably in one bed; although most of the time they’re busily engaged in trying to steal the bed from one another.

Maybe Chester would have thawed quicker if he hadn’t been the only dog for a year. I know that having Lola here is very good for him — she runs him around like we never could. He does love to play with her, and it’s great fun to watch them together. But, like Simba, I think Chester prefers snuggling up with us humans.

Gizmo’s main aim in life is to snuggle up with his big brother Simba, who sometimes lets him but more often doesn’t. They always groom each other after meals, and they share bowls peaceably (ok, so Chester & Lola don’t share bowls — they can be a bit growly over food sometimes).

Supposedly Lola was best friends with the cat in one of her homes, or so I’m told. She doesn’t interact that much with the boys, here; she only has eyes for Chester.

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There’s one thing that makes me very happy: having all my animals snuggled around me. Of course, it hasn’t actually happened yet. But we’ve come close.

Simba & Lola share the couch . . . barely

I’ve had a couple of times recently where Chester & Lola were laying on the couch with me, as usual, and then Simba jumped on top of the couch, and made his way down onto me.

The first time it happened, apparently he got too close to Lola for comfort, and she lunged at him. She got put off the couch & made to do puppy push-ups, and so far she has left him alone when he chooses to snuggle with me — with her already there.

The above photo might not have happened if I hadn’t been there to facilitate it. Still, you’ll notice that I wasn’t close to Simba & Chester . . . but they’re close together.

The next couple are just me & the dogs, but for impromptu portraits, they came out suprisingly well.

Now just have to Photoshop the cats in . . .

Gizmo is glaringly absent from these pictures, you’ll notice. No, he will not share a couch with the dogs. He had gotten to the point where he’d lay on top of a couch if Chester was on it, after months, but apparently 2 dogs are 2 too many for him.

We recently moved our living room furniture, though, and now the couch is against the front windows — where the birds are. So there’s definitely been a bit more interaction between Gizmo & the dogs.

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