As christmas day beckons, I have a problem. My mum will be having her 4th cycle on Tuesday this week. My sister will be coming for Christmas day, but she has a diabetic dog that needs to be given injections ( and taken out to wee quite a lot!).
My mum is terrified to have the dog in the house as she is convinced it will give her something and make her ill. Can anyone advise if having the dog around would be a serious risk to her,as if so my sister and I will need to come up with alternative arrangements so we can spend the day with Mum?
Did fec/tax Chemo this year, my two dogs kept my spirits going, perfect companions, I have never heard anything to indicate dogs/cats are a hazard whilst on Chemo. If your mum needs further reassurance she could always ring her oncology team. X
I’ve four dogs and no problems. Just make sure the dog has it’s jabs up to date but honestly people with coughs and colds are a greater risk. Like anything else you just have to be careful re the hygiene risk - so no eating out the dog bowl!
I have 3 dogs, and nobody said anything about them. Just that I should wear rubber gloves when tending to my many chickens, which I can understand with them being uncaring where they leave their droppings! Dogs and cats are a great source of comfort, they seem to know when their owners are under par, but is your Mum normally worried about pets in the house? x
No - most dog diseases cannot be transferred to humans. There is a tiny, tiny risk of infection through faeces of unvaccinated dogs - I think there have been a handful of cases in the last 30 years in the UK, generally involving small children, but I’m sure your sister will deal with disposing of the faeces herself. I’m sure your sister’s dog will be up to date with vaccinations, as it is clearly having regular vet care. Specially trained dogs are used to visit patients in hospital because the value of the comfort they give is recognised.
finty xxx
The dog will be fine, honestly. The only tiny risk is in picking up poop, and a) can’t see any reason why your mum should have to do that and b) wearing gloves and hand washing afterwards will take care of any probs. The same goes for cat litter (and chicken poop - we have plenty of that here, too Half-Scottish - so OH gets the joy of cleaning out the coop, see, there is a bright side to chemo!).
My four dogs are a god-send - body length hot water bottles, and it’s amazing how many tears a dobermann’s head can soak up when no one is looking…
It is good hygiene practise to wash hands after stroking any animal - so your mum might want to make sure of that - for my part, because I live with the dogs all the time, I’m pretty sure I’m immune!
I agree, Sophie, my dogs are a god send, too.
Oh, dear, I was engrossed reading your posts and caught a whiff of the smell coming from the kitchen…did a sneaky dash in there, as I remembered I’d put some chops on to brown off! Black off would be more appropriate, on one side, anyway! Decided to finish cooking them in an impromtu stew, to disguise my neglect! OH LOVES stews!Hehe!
Don’t want to bore you, but how many chooks do you have? Until last year we were happily hatching rare and unusual coloured chickens, and selling hatching eggs on eBay, even. Then we decided to cut down, as we hadn’t a holiday for a few years, then this year… !! Heart sugery for OH, then a month later my Dx, and all the treatment, so still no holiday yet. Now down to 54 chickens still have some beloved huge Brahmas), and aiming to try for a Hol next year. You have to aim for something in all this mayhem, don’t you? I know I’ve digressed from the thread, so apologies, but that’s what I tend to be like, and always was! Sorry!
Heather.xxx
Heather - nothing like as many as you!! We started out with three, then at one point had almost twenty, but a load were cockerels and were destined for the freezer… now down to eight layers and one cockerel. Desperately want to add a couple of Brahmas to my flock! Mine were meant to be dual purpose, eggs and meat, but can’t resist the rare breeds…lol… so have a couple of fayoumis, a norfolk grey and did have a kraienkoppe, more for decorative purposes than anything. OH responsible for our cockerel though, after dispatching our beautiful, big fat speckled sussex boy because he made so much noise, OH then picked up an araucana…bantam! Needless to say, the last hatch consisted of midget chooks… and all males at that!!! So, think I may have to rethink flock next year, and stick to speckled sussex as main birds, with a couple of Brahmas for fun!!
It’s lovely to talk about something else!!! Hope the stew is good
I’ve got to dash now, dobes are shouting over the gate at someone, really don’t know why OH was worried about a noisy rooster… sure the neighbours can’t hear the chooks over the dogs…
Hi
Im on Fec T and have 7 patterdale terriers that all live in the house and 4 horses.(OOPS the horses dont live in the house) ha ha. They keep me alive. My immune system is use to it and so i carry on as normal. I dont muck out the horses and dont pick up any dog poo unless I have to. If i do have to i wear double gloves. Im sure you will be fine.
Oh yes and i have cleaners come in twice a week to help me keep my house spotless lol… something i will carry on with when cancer is long gone…
We also have chucks and some Jacob sheep.
Just had the stew, we really enjoyed it, and OH didn’t know what I had done!
At one point we had around 180 chickens!There are hardly any breeders of Brahmas, especially in North East Scotland, so we were constantly getting buyers visit! However, most people wanted hens, of course, and when we realised we were left with 35 cockerels we called a halt to hatching!! Brahmas are great though… if you want to cuddle one you just pick it up, no flapping or squawking, totally laid back birds. Have changed my profile pic to one of my favs…It’s Titan with Daisy,one of my Jack Russells. Titan was (and his sons are ) a wonderful strain, and standing upright come up to my thigh…OK, I am only 5 foot 2, but still!
Yes, it IS good to talk about something else, Sophie ( that’s the name of one of my other J. R’s!) but I do tend to get carried away on the subject of chooks, I’m afraid!!
Heather.xx
Not too many Brahmas round here either! A friend of mine came down from Gloucester to collect one that was about twenty five miles further on from my house - gorgeous girl!! (The hen… lol). There is a rare breed poultry farm not too far from here, and I see on their website that they’ve added Brahmas… so that’s a def. poss for next spring! Have to get my name on their waiting list, I think.
Hatty - 7 Patterdales!! That’s a lot of terrier attitude for one house! I know a woman that runs a rescue centre for Patterdales - unfortunately they often finish up needing re-homing, they look so cute but people don’t understand they are essentially working dogs and you need to know what you are doing. Her house is chaos - she’ll have 20 or more at a time, they often have to be separated to prevent scrapping so there’ll be a dog in each room of the house, and it takes her all day to walk them - often individually. She’s a saint though - goes all over the country to collect them and to re-house them.
Well hello other livestock n dog keepers!
I have 2 dogs, numerous sheep, chickens…light sussex, maran, buff orpingtons (anyone want a free Buff cockerel 7 months and about to put 3 in freezer if no takers!)We had pigs until Sept…now relocated to the freezer! I work with tons…literally…of smelly raw wool plus loads of processed wool.
Basic hand washing is always practised…but we reckon more bugs come in with the children than the livestock!
I grow veg and spend a lot of time in grubby work clothes, am never ill so probably immune to most dirt!!!
Sophie, forgot to say I’m very curious as to what a Kraienkoppe looks like!I must see if I can find a pic of one. We all atart off with 2 0r 3 chickens, don’t we? Lol! Love fayoumis and speckled Sussex, and hatched several Norfolk greys for a neighbour last year, as it was a relation of his who started the breed. Oh, yes, we have lots of “chicken friends”, and when we get together we could bore the pants off normal people! ( Def get your name down for a couple of Brahmas, though, Sophie).
OH and I love Patterdale dogs, too, but WOW, 7! The most dogs we have had at one time was 5, so admiration for you, hatty!
Lost in France… more power to you, what you look after is very hard work! Orpingtons are gorgeous, how tempting you have a boy going free, but, even if we lived near you, we still have 12 cockerels to rehome, and no chance of that until spring!
Reading this reminds me how soft I am with animals and birds!
Love to all,
Heather.xx
I agree, more germ warfare from my boys bought home from school than the dogs, primary school children are a real health hazard! Maybe it would put your mum at ease if the dog could spend the day with someone else. I think during Chemo a lot of women feel very vulnerable and if it causes her stress and anxiety maybe you could make an alternative arrangement. Good luck and hope you can all enjoy a peaceful Xmas together. X
Heather, we had a silver kraienkoppe - she was lovely. The hens don’t have a comb, as such, more of a flat red patch, but she was so laid back, and a very good layer. There’s just so many breeds to choose from!! But have to be practical, and start sticking to the sort of poultry that we actually need… they’re not decoration, they’re not decoration…they’re not decoration…or pets…ha! Yeah, right… they’ll stop being pets when we stop naming them (except all the boys are Roger, after the first boy we hatched out, get less attached that way, as we discovered when seven year old nearly mutineed over eating Patrick…)
Sorry, Lisa, Tina45’s sensible reply made me realise how much I had deviated from your original question. I can only say I am being hyper chatty on account of feeling much better than i have for several months, and hope you will understand!
Heather.xx
(Can’t resist another reply !) Have just looked up that breed, Sophie, and she was a stunner, wasn’t she.You’re right, so many breeds, and most are gorgeous. At one time we had 22 different breeds, and several were on the endangered list, so had a lot of pleasure hatching offspring from them.
We keep 2 dozen brown hens for eggs, and the rest for their looks/ personalities! I know you will know exactly what I mean. Guess I should have started a new thread for chicken lovers! Oops! Didn’t mean that to sound so weird!
xx
