When Bad Things Happen to Good Pets - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Elphaba · 05-12-2007, 05:13 PM

This thread is intended for any "bad" thing you and your pets have endured.

Skunk and raccoon encounters are common in the PNW, but until today I had no idea we also had porcupines. Poor Ms. Emma, the neighbor's dog, showed up here with a snout pierced with 40-50 quills. The poor baby's owners weren't home so she must have come to us for help. We made one attempt to remove a quill and it drove her wild. The closest emergency care was over an hour away and they already had a backup of six pets. Emma was calm enough if we left her alone so we waited for her owners to come home and they ran her off to the vet.

I did a Google search on removing porcupine quills and I'm glad we didn't continue trying to remove them. This site is "not safe for the faint of heart", but if you ever have a porkie encounter it's worth a review.

http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/pq.html

Has anyone else had a run in with a porcupine or another critter?

ryfo · 05-12-2007, 07:30 PM

Just checked out that site.....oooowwwwwww!!!!! No stories from me other than the local tom beating up my kitty, but looking forward to reading other peoples posts!

Elphaba · 05-12-2007, 09:38 PM

I just learned the rest of the story from another neighbor. Emma headed off into the woods with her "Smiley" and my "Sadie." When neighbor #2 came home, she found Smiley's face and chest covered in quills, and expected the same for the other two dogs. My Sadie remains very fearful of the unknown which might be why she was never struck.

And poor Emma. Her mom was able to pull the face quills, only to find twice as many inside the mouth and tongue. A $400 vet bill later and Emma is home snoozing off her meds.

There but for my cowardly puppy....

serlindsipity · 05-30-2007, 08:32 PM

Alright, so remember the Colorado blizzards of 2007? During the second one (stuck inside for two days) I managed to mix up the spray bottles under the kitchen sink and I used the wrong one to spray my lovebird to punish her for being problematic. The contents of it? FEBREEZE.

Needless to say, after talking to a vet in New Hampshire, I had to give her two baths (the house was about 60 degrees, very cold for little wet birds) and had to cuddle with her while she dried to keep her warm enough....

She was fine, but I learned that febreeze makes pets smell Great! until you have to bathe them. wet bird smells pretty bad....

Grasshopper Green · 05-31-2007, 04:39 PM

When I was a kid, we had the sweetest cat ever. One day we found him half dead in the backyard; he had been mauled by the neighbors doberman pinschers (they were so mean, one of them chewed the other's leg off). We took him to the vet, who said he was lucky to be alive. One of his legs was partly chewed off and had to be in a cast for a couple of months, he lost part of an ear, and had gashes all over the place. He was never the same after that.

Not long after we got our cockatiel, I let her out to stretch her wings and heard a strange squawk. I looked at her and she looked fine, but she had scratched her eye on something. Since she has pink eyes, it was hard to tell that the eye was irritated until she started scratching at it and it began to water profusely. It was 9 pm in rural NC and no vets were open; I got ahold of an emergency vet in Raleigh and they told me of a vet in the area that handled birds. I made a plastic bell guard out of the top of a coffee can and took her to the vet the next day. He put some antibiotic drops in her eye and told me she might lose sight completely in the eye. She had to wear the guard for about a week, and she had great difficulty eating with it. She became very thin and I was worried she was going to die. She pulled through though, her eye is fine, and she's still the little snot she has always been

CookieCutter · 06-01-2007, 09:01 PM

I had a bunny named twinkles when I was 10-13 years old. He was a mean turd of a rabbit, but I loved him very much. One day I had him hooked up to a nice long line in the front yard and I was in the back yard playing...then I heard a horrible sound (rabbit scream) and I came running to the front to see that the neighbor's dog had broken Twinkle's back.

The dog was actually really sweet, I think he just wanted to play. Anyway, Twinkles drug himself around and pooped all over himself for a few days and then my mom took me into town and when I came home my dad had "disposed" of twinkles and buried him in the backyard. I made him a little headstone and was sad for a few days. RIP Twinkles

calvin88 · 09-20-2007, 12:59 AM

I had a dog named Hobbes.
What bad thing happened to him you might ask? Well, I am sitting here right now. About a month after i had to give him back to the shelter, being unable to find him another home and moving home myself. Then calling to see if i could get the number of the people who adopted him, so i may once more be able to get him back after I got a job and was able to move out of my house.
Instead of getting a number, i recieved the words " I'm sorry but unfortunatly your dog did not make it." What raced through my mind was WHAAATT???!! WTF?! I hung up the phone knowing that I had not only failed to give my little boy a forever home, but I had let him die. He was waiting there for me to go back and get him and i LET HIM DIE. I can't blame my parents for being deathly allergic, or my friends for not wanting him, or my relatives for their dislike of dogs. I can only blame myself. I, who looked down upon those for giving up their family members, had become that which i despised.
I am sickened by myself. Ive waited years to save a dog from the pound and have lifetime friend. And I was only able to provide him with 1 and a half years of life. I hate myself every morning and every night the most. As these were the times I woke up to take hobbesy to pee and poo and then once again before we went to bed. I hate myself in the day when I see other people with their dogs. Knowing not only did i give up my family member but I sent him to die.
I can't post in the rainbow bridge thread because I feel like that would shame other owners, those that saw their dog or cat to and end due to old age or illness. Those are the owners that have the right to post there. I have no right. I gave up the only family that ever loved me unconditionally. The only one that was ever there. I didn't even take him to the dog beach or the dog park one last time because i was tired, settling for a jog and tag in the back yard. I'm such a fuking dumbass.
I could go on and on, but this doesn't even need to bother others.
So in the end, to give an answer to the question proposed in this thread,
I , I , I am the bad, no, I am the WORST thing, that happened to this good
dog.
Sorry lil boy, I failed you. But fuck do I miss you and wish i could see you again.

JustJess · 09-20-2007, 01:14 AM

I can understand your feelings of guilt if they euthanized him - in that case, the "should have" thoughts run to finding a no-kill shelter/fostering place. But by "he didn't make it", it sounds more like he got sick and died. If that's the case, well, that's not the sort of thing you can plan for, or be responsible for. As awful as it is, bad things *do* happen.

05-12-2007, 05:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
Elphaba Deja Moo Location: Olympic Peninsula, WA	When Bad Things Happen to Good Pets This thread is intended for any "bad" thing you and your pets have endured. Skunk and raccoon encounters are common in the PNW, but until today I had no idea we also had porcupines. Poor Ms. Emma, the neighbor's dog, showed up here with a snout pierced with 40-50 quills. The poor baby's owners weren't home so she must have come to us for help. We made one attempt to remove a quill and it drove her wild. The closest emergency care was over an hour away and they already had a backup of six pets. Emma was calm enough if we left her alone so we waited for her owners to come home and they ran her off to the vet. I did a Google search on removing porcupine quills and I'm glad we didn't continue trying to remove them. This site is "not safe for the faint of heart", but if you ever have a porkie encounter it's worth a review. http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/pq.html Has anyone else had a run in with a porcupine or another critter? __________________ "You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to." Molly Ivins - 1944-2007

05-12-2007, 09:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
Elphaba Deja Moo Location: Olympic Peninsula, WA	I just learned the rest of the story from another neighbor. Emma headed off into the woods with her "Smiley" and my "Sadie." When neighbor #2 came home, she found Smiley's face and chest covered in quills, and expected the same for the other two dogs. My Sadie remains very fearful of the unknown which might be why she was never struck. And poor Emma. Her mom was able to pull the face quills, only to find twice as many inside the mouth and tongue. A $400 vet bill later and Emma is home snoozing off her meds. There but for my cowardly puppy.... __________________ "You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to." Molly Ivins - 1944-2007

05-30-2007, 08:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
serlindsipity Psycho Location: Boulder Baby!	Alright, so remember the Colorado blizzards of 2007? During the second one (stuck inside for two days) I managed to mix up the spray bottles under the kitchen sink and I used the wrong one to spray my lovebird to punish her for being problematic. The contents of it? FEBREEZE. Needless to say, after talking to a vet in New Hampshire, I had to give her two baths (the house was about 60 degrees, very cold for little wet birds) and had to cuddle with her while she dried to keep her warm enough.... She was fine, but I learned that febreeze makes pets smell Great! until you have to bathe them. wet bird smells pretty bad.... __________________ My third eye is my camera's lens.

05-31-2007, 04:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
Grasshopper Green ...is a comical chap Location: Where morons reign supreme	When I was a kid, we had the sweetest cat ever. One day we found him half dead in the backyard; he had been mauled by the neighbors doberman pinschers (they were so mean, one of them chewed the other's leg off). We took him to the vet, who said he was lucky to be alive. One of his legs was partly chewed off and had to be in a cast for a couple of months, he lost part of an ear, and had gashes all over the place. He was never the same after that. Not long after we got our cockatiel, I let her out to stretch her wings and heard a strange squawk. I looked at her and she looked fine, but she had scratched her eye on something. Since she has pink eyes, it was hard to tell that the eye was irritated until she started scratching at it and it began to water profusely. It was 9 pm in rural NC and no vets were open; I got ahold of an emergency vet in Raleigh and they told me of a vet in the area that handled birds. I made a plastic bell guard out of the top of a coffee can and took her to the vet the next day. He put some antibiotic drops in her eye and told me she might lose sight completely in the eye. She had to wear the guard for about a week, and she had great difficulty eating with it. She became very thin and I was worried she was going to die. She pulled through though, her eye is fine, and she's still the little snot she has always been __________________ "They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king" Formerly Medusa

09-20-2007, 01:14 AM	#8 (permalink)
JustJess Unencapsulated Location: Kittyville	I can understand your feelings of guilt if they euthanized him - in that case, the "should have" thoughts run to finding a no-kill shelter/fostering place. But by "he didn't make it", it sounds more like he got sick and died. If that's the case, well, that's not the sort of thing you can plan for, or be responsible for. As awful as it is, bad things do happen. __________________ My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.

05-12-2007, 07:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
ryfo Psycho Location: melbourne australia	Just checked out that site.....oooowwwwwww!!!!! No stories from me other than the local tom beating up my kitty, but looking forward to reading other peoples posts!

06-01-2007, 09:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
CookieCutter Upright	I had a bunny named twinkles when I was 10-13 years old. He was a mean turd of a rabbit, but I loved him very much. One day I had him hooked up to a nice long line in the front yard and I was in the back yard playing...then I heard a horrible sound (rabbit scream) and I came running to the front to see that the neighbor's dog had broken Twinkle's back. The dog was actually really sweet, I think he just wanted to play. Anyway, Twinkles drug himself around and pooped all over himself for a few days and then my mom took me into town and when I came home my dad had "disposed" of twinkles and buried him in the backyard. I made him a little headstone and was sad for a few days. RIP Twinkles

09-20-2007, 12:59 AM	#7 (permalink)
calvin88 Tilted Location: socal	I had a dog named Hobbes. What bad thing happened to him you might ask? Well, I am sitting here right now. About a month after i had to give him back to the shelter, being unable to find him another home and moving home myself. Then calling to see if i could get the number of the people who adopted him, so i may once more be able to get him back after I got a job and was able to move out of my house. Instead of getting a number, i recieved the words " I'm sorry but unfortunatly your dog did not make it." What raced through my mind was WHAAATT???!! WTF?! I hung up the phone knowing that I had not only failed to give my little boy a forever home, but I had let him die. He was waiting there for me to go back and get him and i LET HIM DIE. I can't blame my parents for being deathly allergic, or my friends for not wanting him, or my relatives for their dislike of dogs. I can only blame myself. I, who looked down upon those for giving up their family members, had become that which i despised. I am sickened by myself. Ive waited years to save a dog from the pound and have lifetime friend. And I was only able to provide him with 1 and a half years of life. I hate myself every morning and every night the most. As these were the times I woke up to take hobbesy to pee and poo and then once again before we went to bed. I hate myself in the day when I see other people with their dogs. Knowing not only did i give up my family member but I sent him to die. I can't post in the rainbow bridge thread because I feel like that would shame other owners, those that saw their dog or cat to and end due to old age or illness. Those are the owners that have the right to post there. I have no right. I gave up the only family that ever loved me unconditionally. The only one that was ever there. I didn't even take him to the dog beach or the dog park one last time because i was tired, settling for a jog and tag in the back yard. I'm such a fuking dumbass. I could go on and on, but this doesn't even need to bother others. So in the end, to give an answer to the question proposed in this thread, I , I , I am the bad, no, I am the WORST thing, that happened to this good dog. Sorry lil boy, I failed you. But fuck do I miss you and wish i could see you again.