The Forum Chit-Chat Thread

Unfortunately, our little one has cancer. It is not advised to operate due to age. Waiting for results of blood tests for next steps.

wotzgoingon wrote: »

What age is he/she? And is it a cat, dog, other?

Our little terrier cross will be 16 in Feb,

We found her outside a traveller camp in 2005 and no one wanted her. So we brought her home and she stayed. We love her very much.

Sorry to hear about your dog anewme - what an amazing age though and I’m sure she’s had an amazing life with you!

wotzgoingon wrote: »

It can be cruel though keeping lizards and fish in far too small a tank than they should have. Even large tanks are too small.

That's why it's important people get educated on how to care for these animals properly. There's not enough education out there. Too many people still think goldfish bowls are appropriate/normal habitats for goldfish, for example.

Thanks for the recommendations here of Pawprints. They are so lovely. We had our little one pts and they dropped her back today. I'll put a post about her in the departed pets forum when it settles and less upsetting.

I’ve actually been researching the same theory regarding COVID-19; I’m approaching it from an academic POV & it’s nice to know I’m not alone in doing so.

For some anecdotal evidence: in my family, those that reside in the US, 1 uncle died from secondary complications due to COVID-19, he was in his 60s, pretty heart heathy and not overweight. 3 1st Cousins between the ages 30 - 35 tested positive with mild symptoms and then my mum, late 60's, health issues along with severe allergies contracted it most likely from a work colleague, major symptoms but is mostly recovered post 12 weeks with no present symptoms.

The uncle that died didn’t have any pets that I’m aware of, the 3 cousins and my mum all have pets/ multiple pets and 2 cousins have babies. I think it’s also important to know that they all live in the Texas to Oklahoma region & the local government attitude towards dealing with the pandemic was slow to say the least.

In our own, I rarely if at all suffer from the common cold, however my OH does & so does our Yorkie. Mind you, I’m also the kind of person who will throw open all the windows on the bus, ya know to let the sickness out and as my OH says it’s too cold in ours for a virus to survive we don’t even have the radiators on yet.

em_cat wrote: »

I’ve actually been researching the same theory regarding COVID-19; I’m approaching it from an academic POV & it’s nice to know I’m not alone in doing so.

For some anecdotal evidence: in my family, those that reside in the US, 1 uncle died from secondary complications due to COVID-19, he was in his 60s, pretty heart heathy and not overweight. 3 1st Cousins between the ages 30 - 35 tested positive with mild symptoms and then my mum, late 60's, health issues along with severe allergies contracted it most likely from a work colleague, major symptoms but is mostly recovered post 12 weeks with no present symptoms.

The uncle that died didn’t have any pets that I’m aware of, the 3 cousins and my mum all have pets/ multiple pets and 2 cousins have babies. I think it’s also important to know that they all live in the Texas to Oklahoma region & the local government attitude towards dealing with the pandemic was slow to say the least.

In our own, I rarely if at all suffer from the common cold, however my OH does & so does our Yorkie. Mind you, I’m also the kind of person who will throw open all the windows on the bus, ya know to let the sickness out and as my OH says it’s too cold in ours for a virus to survive we don’t even have the radiators on yet.

I would be fairly healthy too, I rarely, maybe once a year get a mild cold. 5yr old daughter nothing bar the odd cold brought home from school, has never had an antibiotic for a viral infection in her life, she has only had 2 ABs total. Himself tends to get the odd chest infection and is more susceptible to colds etc than I would be. The only thing that scares me is that in 2010 we both got the swine flu and it floored us. That said, we were only a 1 dog household at that point! It just gives me a little bit of hope that if we do end up covid positive before vaccination that we would be lucky enough to get away without serious consequences.

@borderlinemeath

I’d say it is to be more likely that those with multi species pet households would fare better in immunity response as you’d be exposed to different SAR -COVID mutations, not forgetting that there are 18 before this 19.

I think the most worrisome aspect of COVID-19 is the secondary effects & complications along with the wide variety of symptoms, so like you I’d hope that I may fare better than my OH, however I’ve such severe allergies to some foods and penicillin & a wide variety of other antibiotics that I’m just not taking any risks to myself or those around me.

Also, those with pets on average, probably have more occurrences of hand washing than say those without and that goes along way towards not picking up viruses.

I can’t remember that last time I had a cold & my OH said he doesn’t remember me ever having one since knowing me +20 years. I do however remember the 2 times I’ve had the flu, once when I was a teenager and then again in 2003. I’ve also had numerous URI infections as well several bouts of Bronchitis throughout my life, related to allergies & asthma.

Anyway, I like to think those of us with pets & probably those in livestock farming, will always fare better in situations like this.

em_cat wrote: »

@borderlinemeath

I’d say it is to be more likely that those with multi species pet households would fare better in immunity response as you’d be exposed to different SAR -COVID mutations, not forgetting that there are 18 before this 19.

No, that's not the case at all. Covid-19 was named for the year of discovery, not that there were 18 previous variants. You're not the first to make that mistake though, even government officials have had to correct themselves for saying it.

I think the most worrisome aspect of COVID-19 is the secondary effects & complications along with the wide variety of symptoms, so like you I’d hope that I may fare better than my OH, however I’ve such severe allergies to some foods and penicillin & a wide variety of other antibiotics that I’m just not taking any risks to myself or those around me.

It's the wide range of symptoms and absolutely the after effects, collectively known as "long covid" that are scary. While a person who suffered badly may be "fully recovered", who knows the long term organ damage that they may suffer and may have a shorter lifespan due to it.

Also, those with pets on average, probably have more occurrences of hand washing than say those without and that goes along way towards not picking up viruses.

Not necessarily what the articles were aiming at - moreso that infection with canine coronavirus offers a boost to the human immunity against serious infection with Covid. That being exposed so frequently to canine infections has helped their immunity rather than a higher standard of hygiene.

Data show that the occurrence of CrCoV is high in dogs, which might suggest that humans who possess a pet can have more frequent contact with different types of canine coronaviruses. Since the infected pets may not have symptoms, the contact of owners with pathogens can be unnoticed
and
The analysis showed that the resemblance of the whole sequence between SARS-CoV-2 and Canine Respiratory Coronavirus (CrCoV) is 36.39% (comparing the protein GI QHR63290 to QAY30030). However, further investigation of the epitope sequence shows the high homology: 57.14%, 80.00%, 83.33%, and 100.00% in CrCoV epitopes: 789–799, 754–764, 424–437, and 1139–1152, respectively. Based on the data, we suggest that recurrent contact with animal coronaviruses may lead to immunization. This effect was confirmed by the experimental studies. The investigation conducted by Lu and colleagues, showed that the nucleocapsid protein derived from CrCoV and expressed in E. coli displayed antigenic cross-reactivity with antisera against human coronaviruses

That said, the article doesn't refer to the homology with other species coronaviruses, so who knows?

I can’t remember that last time I had a cold & my OH said he doesn’t remember me ever having one since knowing me +20 years. I do however remember the 2 times I’ve had the flu, once when I was a teenager and then again in 2003. I’ve also had numerous URI infections as well several bouts of Bronchitis throughout my life, related to allergies & asthma.

I'd be the same, I have only had the flu twice, first time I ever called in sick to work was due to a bad flu and at one point I was so bad I thought I had pneumonia. Second time was the swine flu in 2010.

Anyway, I like to think those of us with pets & probably those in livestock farming, will always fare better in situations like this.

I have actually had conversations with extended family about their farming lifestyle - recollections of newborn lambs in to warm up at the kitchen fire when they were kids. Their father is a typical old school, rugged hardy man. Is never sick, works the farm, does some building work also and still finds time to train GAA teams in the local club. Their very close cousins who live beside and interact every day - they all caught Covid over Christmas, it swept through every member of their family but didn't get into the farm.