Look Wut I Got! (Scroller and Photo)

[monstersinthedungeon]

This is Screech.

For the last couple of months we've had a very diligent Tawny Frogmouth pair sitting on their nest close to the house.  We've watched with anticipation and were finally rewarded by seeing a little bundle of fluff popping his head out of the nest.

Then last weekend - DRAMA - I walked outside to see a massive monitor making his way towards the Tawny tree.  Screamed at hubby to come and help, we tried to avert disaster, but the monitor was way too fast for us and scaled the tree.  

Mumma Tawny was very panicked, as the monitor came closer to the nest she flew off into a nearby tree.  She gave me a look of absolute desperation HELP ME! (yes, she did!) but the nest/monitor were way too high for us to do anything.  Hubby tried to throw things at the monitor, but I stopped him as the monitor's life is no less precious than the chicks - I didn't want to see the monitor get toppled out of the tree and hurt or killed.  Plus hubby damn near hit my car with a rock. ;\

I put some eggs around the base of the tree so the monitor could see them, in a vain attempt to lure him away from the chick.  We had to go out briefly, so wished the Tawnys good luck.  Alas, when we came back, the nest was empty :_|

Went about our afternoon chores when suddenly I spotted baby Tawny!  Sitting on the ground next to the tractor.  We dropped everything, made him a makeshift nest and put it up in the tree, then caught him and put him in the nest.  We saw Mumma and Pappa Tawny watching nearby.

Cut down a long story, Bubba kept jumping out of his nest over the next three days and Mumma and Pappa abandoned him, so the decision was made to bring him inside to keep him safe from both the monitors and our dogs. (our four young ones would kill him). 

He will be released as soon as he can fly properly and learn to catch his own bugs (I am catching them for him at the moment).  He's all puffed up and hating me in the photo, that's a good thing, we don't want him imprinting on us. He's feeding really well though (I hate you, I hate you, yum, yum, more please, I still hate you). 

[tasfleur]

:_|

You'll be very brave and loving Monsters, and Tango understands and doesn't want to suffer any more either ...  :-x

[the*scarlet*pimpernel]

I've been thinking of you all day Monsters 😞

[tasfleur]

Me too Monsters xx

[cosmosgrove]

Aww I clicked onto this thread to read the update on Screech, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog, it's such a difficult thing to do 😞

[monstersinthedungeon]

Pimpy, Tas, Cosmos and everyone for your thoughts, kind words and wishes, it has meant such a great deal to me whilst going through this sad time :-x

BUT this morning we had the miracle I had been waiting for and Tango is still with us tonight.

Last night we had an - obviously - very sad night, everything had been paid for and organised for this morning.

Woke up around 7:30am, and had our "last" cuddles in bed with Tango. Then got up to feed all the critters before I was due to give Tango his tranquilisers at 8:30am.

At 8:15 am Tango came outside and was looking quite different from the previous few days.   I raced inside and offered him some chicken (testing his appetite) which he gobbled down, then he went back outside to find his Daddy, who was with the calves and went right over to "help". We had a heart-rending decision to make - do we go ahead, or do we give him another 24 hours to see if he improves? We had just minutes to make a decision. In tears rang the vet and crematorium man to let them know.

Well, Tango has had a lovely day - he's not a young dog anymore, and has a bit of a wobble in his walk. But both I and the vet are 100% convinced that he is not in any pain, and Tango has the sparkle back in his eye and was interested in his surroundings, and ate very well today, even trotting around the property for a bit and wanted to eat my icecream tonight!

We don't know how much time we have left, we may have only another week, another month, but there is definately quality of life back for Tango, which has not been there for the last few days. What changed? I cut down his meds. I don't know why I did it, but last night I gave him only one pill instead of the four the vet had prescribed (in order to ensure he was completely pain free until OH could get home to say goodbye). I now believe that he may have been feeling off colour or had a funny turn, or his hips had been painful in all this rain we've been having, and due to his history, the vet and I have over-reacted and inadvertantly added to the problem by over-medicating.

I am fully aware that I may have to go down this road again tomorrow, or next week, but I just couldn't do it when he looked so alive this morning. I very much feel like the girl who cried wolf, but I DON'T CARE! 😄

But the balance of life can be so very cruel, we did have to take our calf up to the vet to have her euthanised this morning. She had been bitten by not one, not two, but three paralysis ticks some days ago, but had been treated and was definately on the mend. Yesterday arvo she was up, walking around, drunk a full bottle of milk. This morning she could not stand, was drooling, could not suckle and was in a terrible mess. We found a young snake that had been stomped to death in the calf pen, we think she must have been bitten.

So it has been an incredibly draining week of massively shifting emotions and I am exhausted and emotionally drained. But our boy is still here and says "it's not time just yet, Mummy"

Back to the original topic, Screechy Boy is showing absolutely no signs whatsoever of leaving, and in fact I am a bit worried he is TOO comfortable - last night when giving our poor calf her bottle, OH said to me, "look behind you". Screech had flown over from his tree and was sitting on the fence post behind me, waiting for dinner. For safety's sake (our young dogs cannot be trusted with birds), I like to keep him up high, so I went over to our usual feeding spot, climbed up my ladder and called him.  Yup, over he flew for dinner!

Sorry for the scroller, if you're not all asleep by now after reading this, thank you for listening, and for your support during these last few such difficult days :-x

[lyndal1838]

Oh monsters, that is great news.

Do you think Tango may have been missing his Daddy?  Is your husband away a lot or was this something unusual.

I know when we had to put our dog to sleep the cat pined badly.  We always thought that she just tolerated him, but when he was not there it was obvious that she missed him terribly.

Maybe it was your husbands absence that affected Tango?

[tasfleur]

Rejoice, hallelujah!!  Oh Monsters, what a gift to you .... it sounds like Tango was just having a few 'down' days and feeling very poorly, and maybe the drugs he is on were having a depressive effect, who knows, but if he has rallied, is eating and back on his feet, then for this here and now time, yes, it's a miracle.

One day at a time is all he can ask for, and all he can give you, but you can enjoy that each minute ...  :-x

[debra9275]

Fantastic news Monsters. that made my day :-x

[*pepe]

wow what a rollercoaster of emotions you have been on!

i hope tango has many more days of feeling better.

screech has you right where he wants you  lol!!!

that poor little calf really was very unlucky.

[monstersinthedungeon]

Tango missing his Daddy is a distinct possibility and one the OH raised himself - OH has a very irregular schedule, we never know from one day to the next when he will be home and for how long. Sometimes he is gone two weeks at a time, sometimes only four or five days, sometimes he's home for only 24 hours, sometimes a week. Whilst I've always been Tango's main caregiver and of course he loves me, he's really a Daddy's boy - they just adore each other.

Tango is an old doggie, even for a healthy GSD he is a reasonable age, their life span is only 9-12 years, so being that he has been on medication for his hips for 6.5 years, he's done well.

I don't know if I made the right decision yesterday, this morning he ate well, and is walking around, but definately weaker in the hind legs. That may be that his hips have gotten worse, or it could be a result of the lack of food over the last few days.

I believe he is not in pain, but it's tough to see him not as agile as he was even a couple of weeks ago. OH goes back to work on Tuesday night, but is hopefully home again for next weekend, so we'll just have to see how things go and hopefully Tango will keep improving. If not, then we're mentally prepared, everything is pre-paid and can be reorganised with two phone calls.

We're just going to take it one day at a time, and even only an extra few days are a blessing to have our lovely boy with us. He is being spoiled rotten, and now that he has regained his appetite is enjoying all the treats (in moderation, don't want to upset his tummy).

We had a long talk last night and compared him to an elderly human, who wants to just potter in the garden for a bit, have something nice to eat, have a bit of a snooze in front of the telly. Just because they're not out skydiving doesn't mean they aren't enjoying life and want to be six-foot under. So we're going to use that yardstick to measure his quality of life. If we believe he is still interested in his surroundings and having a bit of a ramble outside, and eating well, then he's still good. It's so hard to know the balance between keeping here for us, and keeping him here because he wants to be here. I will monitor him very, very closely.

It has been a huge six weeks for us, with one crisis after another, starting with the flooding on Australia Day weekend, being flooded in that time for days, and then weeks and weeks of rain and mud, flooded in again for a week just a month later, losing our driveway twice, second time me having to repair it all by myself with just a wheelbarrow and shovel. Problems with animals getting sick, Piglet (calf) going down with the ticks and of course Tango. 

Lovely OH let me have a huge sleep-in this morning which I desperately needed, so must off now to get some chores done.