R.I.P. Luger~Your Family Will Miss You

My friend’s Older Years
Welcome to My friend’s Older Years, please take your time and enter one step at a time. My name is Cass and my friends name is Luger we would like you to sit back while we take you on a short journey thru are time spent together. Are journey starts around the time when things had gotten bad for Luger and we didn’t know why?

Luger how are you feeling today I asked? Well Cass I am feeling really tired and I do not have an appetite today. Well Luger, are you sure this isn’t due to something that you ate last night? No, I am sure it is a feeling of exhaustion and maybe nothing more. Well just to be sure I will make you a doctor’s appointment and make sure that you are alright. That will be fine with me since I do not like being in this condition. I cannot enjoy playing catch with you or even laying in the grass on those nice warm days just talking about life.

The next day comes and Luger and Cass make it to the doctor’s office. Luger is very nervous about his visit to the doctor’s office. We are placed in a room and wait for the doctor to enter. Upon entering the room the doctor asks how are things going and Luger responds that his appetite is not quite what it should be and that he is very tired. Hmmmm, says the doctor and looks at Cass to see if it’s ok to run blood work on Luger. Cass responds that it is ok and the doctor leaves the room and a intern enters the room and takes blood from Luger. Luger asks the intern is this necessary? Yes replies the intern this is a great way for us to see if you may have a virus or something else going on inside of you. After the blood is drawn the intern leaves the room and doesn’t return for quite awhile.

During that time Luger looks at me and starts to cry, I ask him what is troubling you. He responds, what if something is going on inside of me that they can’t fix. I told Luger that no matter what is going on that I would be there for him as a good friend should be. He told me that he was very grateful to have such a friend like me. You know there are days when I come home and I see your smiling face and everything seems alright.

Well about that time the doctor re-enters the room and informs us that Luger has some kind of virus that she cannot pin point and wants to send him to another doctor that has more experience than she does with this type of problem.

We agree and head over to see the other doctor, upon arriving we just hold each other and say that everything is going to be alright. We enter the doctor’s office and wait in a room until the doctor arrives. He enters the room and introduces himself and says that he would like to take some x-rays of Luger to see if something might have been overlooked. The intern enters the room and asks Luger to follow him he turns and looks at me and I tell him that things will be alright. About 30 minutes pass and Luger returns and they say that we can go home and they will contact us once the results have come back.

We headed out for home and stopped by the park just to walk and talk about what it means to be friend. Well after that day we received a call from the doctors office and they informed us that Luger was very ill and he is probably only going to be around for another 6 to 8 weeks.

After I hung up the phone I informed the rest of the family and we just sat together and cried and asked ourselves why Luger. Well after trying different medicines we decided to stop using all of those medicines and rely on prayer. It has been 7 months now and Luger is still with us and doing well, I guess it just goes to show you when all else fails just trust in your faith.

~Written by Luger's best friend

 

(Blogger's note: With faith & prayer Luger lived another 2+ years)

How to Travel with Your Pet

The following are a list of things to think about before you travel with your pet.

“LoJack” Lassie
Implanting a pet with a homing device was practically science fiction in years past. Today it’s a simple procedure performed during a veterinary office visit. A microchip “only the size of a grain of rice is injected under the [pet’s] skin” without fuss or discomfort. You must also register the chip with the manufacturer's database, so that animal control agencies can track it if your pet disappears. As always, your pet should be wearing an ID tag with his or her name and your cell number. And it's smart to carry a recent photo of Fido with you should he disappear.

Coach or cargo?
If you’re flying with a cat or small dog, stowing it in its carrier under the seat in front of you is the most desirable option. Fido needs to stay put throughout the flight, so ensure the carrier “conforms to the shape of the seat without collapsing” or turning over.

Pack your papers
Have a vet examine your pet within ten days of your trip and issue you a health certificate. The airlines will ask to see it, especially if you’re transporting Fido by air cargo. Many hotels will also want to eyeball the document to verify Fido is flea, tick and disease free. All European Union countries and many other overseas destinations will require the certificate to bear a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stamp, which you can obtain for a $45 fee at your local USDA office. Bone up on country requirements and leash laws, too.

Treat your terrier like a toddler
If you’re hitting the highway, contain your pet as you would for air cargo, stowing it in the back of the car. Take bathroom breaks every two hours if motoring with a dog.

Get Fido in the mood to travel
Conditioning your pet to travel before your trip is critical. If Spot or Felix don’t get out much at home, test your pet’s sociability, taking it places like dog parks and [elsewhere] out of its environment and see how it reacts. Take short car rides, perhaps initially with a friend in back, to reassure your pet that the traveling by car is safe.

Start keeping your pet in its carrier at your feet, so that over time the carrier “becomes a fun place to be,” and your pet doesn’t just associate the carrier or travel with going to the vet or groomer.