Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Gwen
I think it was an excellent decision to make arrangements and pre-pay. In my family it goes for pets and people. We have been through some very traumatic ends with family members and it is so difficult if not impossible to make rational decisions at that time. Each person and family has to decide what is right for them.
And I find talking about the end helped me come to grips with the reality of it all. It was very clear in my mind the signs I was looking for from Maggie, when it would be her time. As hard and as sad as it is, it is the reality we all face. This clarity did not in any way take away from the quality of our time together. I find it helpful to think through the emotional decisions while things are not so stressful- it helped me be confident in the decision I had to make for Mag.
All that being said- I hope you have much quality time with Harley. You know him so well, and have been through so much with him. Take your lead from him- you will know what is right for him.
Karen and the pug girls
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You saw us today, right? Sorry I didn't see ya go by. (Unless it was when my roommate took him out with her dog earlier today).
For better or worse, I'm real big on seeing signs in what are most likely natural coincidences, so let me take a crack at this too...
Seeing Yoda was a good thing, right? Helped make the amputation okay and Harley then had more hoppy time. Perhaps we can interpret seeing Gerry in the neighborhood finally (can you believe it's taken this long? haha!) as a little more encouragement that you're right about it not being time yet (though I agree that preparing financially makes sense).
One more thing, which I hope this encourages as well, because I could really use a bright side to this - a very short while before you saw us, while we were on University, Gerry caught a young bunny. (On a 6 ft. leash on our walk - just snatched it out of the brush 
) Let's take this as Gerry made a bunny sacrifice to the platelet gods to get Harely's marrow working again, shall we?
More thoughts and prayers (some non-pagan ones in addition to Gerry's, if that matters to you, heh heh) are coming Harley's way and I hope to visit him again soon. He's such a sweet teddy bear of a guy.
Gerry has been a tripawd since 12/16/2009.
He was a shelter dog with a mysterious past and an irrepairable knee injury.
Videos and pics of Gerry's pawesomeness can be found at: http://gerry.tripawds.com
Thank you, everyone, for all the well-wishes and prayers for Harley. He has received many, many hugs, kisses, and pats tonight. Harley has definitely had a rough night, but he is soundly sleeping with Michael right now. I'm hoping it was just the change in his medication today. (Paws crossed!) Hopefully the morning will bring with it a dog that feels better.
Happy 3rd Birthday to Brandy! I'm so sorry you are having to go through this already ... cancer would be hard at any age, but she is just too young. I pray you are able to celebrate many, many more birthdays with her! Her avatar picture looks like a young Harley, before he got so grey.
I saw Gerry walking with your roommate this afternoon. I can't believe it has taken this long to see Gerry out and about! Crazy. I'm not sure what seeing Gerry meant, if anything, but if Gerry killing bunnies is a good thing ... bring him on over, plenty of bunnies here!
Harley looks forward to many, many more visits!
I didn't mean to "create waves" with the prepaying. But because we have noticed this change in Harley, we've been talking about at what point do we let him go. While it is not something we are dwelling on, it is something that has been on my mind. So today I just thought, "I'm picking up and paying for pills, I'll just pay for that now too, since it has to be paid for at some point anyway." Yes, seeing the words "euthanasia" and "cremation" on his invoice made me sad, made what I had done more real, but I'm not sitting around moping over it. I think at times it is hard to know exactly how a person feels from just reading something online, you can't see their face, or hear their voice. I'm fine. Still enjoying my Baby Dog each and every minute.
Again, thank you everyone. I'm going to go join my boys and sleep ...
Amputation on 11/10/09, due to Histiocytic Sarcoma in left elbow. Angel Harley earned his wings on 06/24/10.
Gwen,
I just wanted to comment on how you noticed Harley hopping differently. We're almost at the same ampuversary date (a week apart) and I noticed recently that Mackenzie was hopping differently too, seemed to have lower energy and just not herself completely. Of course, I worried but then a few days later she jumped right back to being her normal self and had a lot more energy. Even took her for a walk and she did so well. But it did scare me and I felt I needed to start preparing for what could be a turn in her health. So let's just hope that what this is is just a 7 1/2 month itch if you will and things will get back to normal soon. We'll be keeping our paws crossed for you and Harley and hope that all this is is a change in his medication.
Kami (Mackenzie's Mom)
My sweet golden Mackenzie. She became my angel on Dec 29, 2010 at the age of 8 1/2 although she was always my angel from the time we brought her home. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in Sept 2009 and officially became a tripawd (front leg) on Nov 5, 2009. She will be forever in my heart and now she's running free with all of our other tripawd heroes. I love you Mackenzie!
Hopalong Harley said:
... Gerry was in the same spot I saw Yoda hopping last Summer... What does seeing Gerry in the same spot mean?
We are a firm believers in synchrodestiny and the power of coincidences. This tell us that all is going to be OK. Just as seeing Yoda resulted in Harley having a hoppy recovery and Loving Life On Three Legs as long as he has, seeing Gerry in the same spot means you should not worry about the time to come, whatever it may bring. Best wishes.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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