What a week, what a week...

[Elaine]

Think I should keep a journal of events or something....

Am house sitting again for the 3 little lhassa apso's, the week began with Rayne having an ear infection. She will persist on running on her side through the grass .
The next few days were relatively quiet, just working away. Apart from Tuesday and Wednesday, I had to learn how to medicate a chicken before the owners left on Thursday, they have two chickens and a cat but I'll get to that in a bit.
Wed night I decided to watch my Sons of Anarchy dvd, I love Jacks. They have quite a complcated set up with regards to the tv, sky, dvd stuff. Normally they leave me instructions but havent this time. Anyway, got the dvd running ok, watched Sons of Anarchy, tried to switch back to sky and cannt now get it. Have pushed so many buttons now, all I can get is digital tv but no sky. Oh dear.
So Thursday, got through work, including medicating the chicken quite well then while driving back to my house sit I found a young bloke lying on the pavement outside the house with a head injury . Stopped the van and went to see if he was ok, he had split his head open, the only thing I had was Raynes personal embroidered towel to help mop up the blood. Not a sinister story, he had been sitting under a metal statue in the park behind the house and jumped up when a dog came running towards him and hit his head off a sharp bit. He kept running until he saw the blood running down his face. He didnt feel sick or dizzy and I offered to take him to hospital or to his g/f's house, which he said wasnt far, but no where did he want to go? The pub! And he took my dogs towel too.
Friday, went to feed and medicate chickens and cat, found the poor cat with it's head thrust back, front legs outstretched and back legs curled under her, poor girl was wailing and tried a few times to get to her feet. She was cold to the touch, her gums were pale and he had vomitted everywhere, I knew this wasnt going to be a good outcome. Called the vet and the owners, got ther there as quick as, there was no option other than pts sadly, she had had a thrombosis and had suffered brain damage also. Vet asked me to sign the consent forms, I asked to call the owners and he said ofcourse and that he would talk to them and explain everything. It was one of the most distressing things to watch and witness. The vet explained to me that normally the euthenall (sp) goes to the brain before the heart but because her blood wasnt circulating properly due to the clotts, her heart stopped first but she was thrashing about, let out a couple of yowls and big breaths. It was awful to watch and all I could do was hold her helplessly. The assures me that she wouldnt have been aware of anything or felt anything and that it looked so much worse that it actually was for her. Still the images haunt me though.
Am going to clean up the house later today as I couldnt face it last night. Hope to god the chicken is going to be ok until they get back, cannt go through that again so soon.

[Shelley123]

Oh my goodness what a week. I am so sorry about the poor little Cat. The only consolation is that at least you were there for her at the end. I know what you mean by being haunted. If this happens to me i have to tell myself "No , don't think of it " , if it comes into my head and remind myself that it won't do any good at all to keep reliving it.
Hope your weekend goes ok

[yola]

That must be every pet sitter's nightmare . . . having an animal in a life/death situation, extremely sad outcome there Sorry you had to experience this Elaine.

Glad pub bloke was ok though . . . it's amazing what a pint can put right

[angieh]

Yola has summed that up just right - I do sympathise Elaine. Poor little cat.

As for that guy - shame you lost Rayne's personalised towel to him!

[Mags]

Goodness me, Elaine .... it all happens to you So sorry to hear about the cat, I'm not surprised the images still haunt you, it must have been quite frightening to witness that.

Hope you'll feel a lot calmer about things soon ....

[Elaine]

I'm ok, perhaps being pragmatic helps, the imagery will go in a little time I guess. It did feel strange going back in there today and cleaning all her stuff up. Have taken the throw off the couch to wash as it's a mess.
Have got a card for the owners and have printed off the rainbow bridge poem.
I do wonder though if they have perhaps been putting off taking her to the vets as she was a sorry state when I saw her Thursday, but I just thought that her arthritis had stepped up a bit since the last time I looked after her.
Either way, what's done is done and done in the best interests of dear old Pandora.

[Velvet]

Horrible week! Sure the cats owners were distraught. How awful for it to happen when you were minding them.

[dandysmom]

The week from Hell. Sorry it was such a bummer, Elaine; horrid about the little cat; hope things will be much much calmer and normal this week. (((hugs)))

How DO you medicate a chicken???

[Elaine]

Fairly similar to how you'd medicate a cat really. Get her between my legs, hold her neck, open her beak, pop tablets in, close beak.
She does get a little stressed by this sadly, and I hate stressing them.
Today I bought a tin of corn, popped the tablets into the corn pockets and she took them that way and with no stress at all, so I may continue with that way instead.

[Tink]

Oh Elaine, I'm sorry you were subjected to all that. Crossed fingers for peace and quiet from here on out.