Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

LOL, I just read your name in the visitors book and I just said to Joel, Charlie was here on Tuesday. I said "what the" he didn't say hello!!! Joel was having his day off behind his desk and maybe I was sleeping, was I? Charlie, that is just not fair, how will I know what you look like, and how can I put a name to the face? Are you shy?

Ha ha, yea I am a little shy.
I spent an hour or so wondering around and sticking my head inside every lovely system you have there, you guys are doing such a fantastic job. Everything looks so wonderfully green and healthy!! And the chooks are a great addition although they didnt seem interested in talking to me? I do beleive at one stage they were mocking me hehe. funny creatures.
You looked busy so I didnt want to bother you and I gave Joel a nod as he glanced up from his desktop when I was paying for my goodies.

As for my identity, like any super hero Faye.....it will remain a mystery.....

Your identity will remain anonymous then Charlie. I did speak to someone from Kambalda this week, and a heap of other forum people. It is one thing to remember names and faces, and where people are from as well as their forum names, it gets a bit challenging at times. I do my best.

I've got a spare identity somewhere around here that you can have if you need one Charlie

Yeah, here it is...

Sooooo, one of our cats have been missing for the last 4 days and she finally turned up today looking very drowsy and out of sorts.
The poor little thing was covered in urine and really slumping in her lower/ back half. Immediately raced her to the vet and they think she has been nailed by a car causing some pelvis and spine breaks/cracks/damage.
They are keeping her over night and dose her up with pain killers, x-rays tomorrow so we will know what the extent of the injuries are. $550 thank you very much.
Worse case scenario is her diaphragm is punctured (which causes the intestines to move into un-welcome places) and will require surgery with the friendly price tag of $1500-$2000.
We love our little baby but where do you draw the line? How do you put a price on a pet? Is a dog rated closer to humans than cats? Or if you have connected with your pet is there no limit on what you would do? How should you feel about your fish? Eventually you will eat them. My brain and heart has gone into overload!! Immediately I had wished Id followed the path of becoming a vet so this decision would become easy but when I came to my senses I was left with an overwhelming feeling of horror and guilt that I will need to make a decision tomorrow.... a decision that I am feeling extremely uncomfortable with. I have to put a price on how much I love my cat.......

Mate thats harsh.
good luck.

Yeah, not good mate. Been there once or twice and its hard when they have been part of your life for so long.

Ahhh, terrible thing Charlie....

I know I just had my dog in last week with a swollen gonad, $1200 later that's removed and now they say there's a 10% chance it may have spread so they want to do mri scans, take tissue samples from glands etc, then if it has spread it will be chemo treatments..

Becomes a terrible time when you have to start making the cut off decisions of how far to go. Don't ever feel guilty about saying "no, that's enough" though. They have already had a much better chance than they would have in many other situations...

Seriously sorry about your dog EB, we seem to be in a similar situation.
Cant say Ive felt this way in a long time, its soooooo hard! Nicole (my partner) is so upset, I really dont want to be the one that makes this final decision if it needs to be made but you are right in saying that she has had a good run and gets never ending love from us and the kids but that makes it all the more harder in a way.
I think for now I will focus on a good outcome and face tomorrow when it comes.
Cheers for your support Joel

sorry to hear that Charlie, we had to put one of our cat's to sleep a while back.. it's a tough decision, most vet's will tell you honestly if it's "worth" it, but that doesn't make it easier

Cheers Keith and sorry for your loss. Out of interest did it come down to a $ situation or injury level or length of time with family, connection to kids? Or all of the above that assisted in your decision?? Its all most like you need to put everything in a formula to best make your choice.....

with the cat that was put down, it came down to them not being able to figure out why she was sick, she was a pretty good size maine coon and only 7, but started loosing weight, it was pretty sad..
one of our other cats, (a rescue) started throwing up and wouldn't stop for over an hour, he's the smallest of our cats, but his stomach blew up like a balloon, brought him to the vet er, when they told us it could be 1800 for surgery to "search" for an obstruction (nothing showed up in x-rays)
we had them keep him overnight and monitor, brought him to our regular vet the next day, and he cleared up, it ended up costing over 1000 for everything without the surgery, and it took a bit to pay everyone off, but it was worth it.. i probably would have given the go-ahead for surgery if the regular vet recommended it..

If it happened to one of my 2 dogs, the following would be my thought process:
1. Will doing the surgery/procedure/action allow full or sufficient recovery
2. Can I afford it

In the last couple of years of my last shepard, he started to develop alergies, hayfever, became blind, skin conditions...etc. In all, I think he cost me clost to 5k over the last 2 years of his life. After close to 13 years of companionship, it was an easy decision for me to go ahead with remedial work.

Ofcourse, you may be in a completely different circumstance.

In the end, the lesser of 2 evils would be to let the pet go if the treatment causes it to suffer.

Agreed Vlt, if she will continue life in pain the decision becomes simple.
Waiting on x-ray results....

best of luck