Lucky098
Feb 16, 2010, 04:08 PM
I Feel so horrible... Two of our rescue dogs died within a week of each other.
The first one was Angel. Sweet Angel... She was 8 years old and was dumped in a kill shelter after her original owners spoke with my mom about releasing her to our rescue. We saved her life... We brought her here, she adjusted slowly to the rescue dog life, but was doing OK. She lost weight -- We thought it was due to stress. She ate, he eliminated, she drank, she was bouncy, happy... She continued to lose weight.. We fed her 8 cups of food twice a day.. She ate it all. We were thinking she had cancer. We're a small rescue, privately owned and run.. There isn't a lot of money if there isn't a lot of dogs being adopted. We had her on a "please help this dog" list and we were getting donations to help her. Finally got some money for her, and made the appt. The next morning she was dead in her crate. We thought it was cancer.. She kept looking at her feet.. We gave her pain meds, it seemed to help some.. But it was apparent her feet hurt her. Her last day, she was very wobbly.. Almost drunk. She kept falling. My heart was breaking... I feel so bad that we lost Angel..
Two days ago, our lovely Lacey passed away. Same symptoms. My mom called the vet on Friday and asked if we could bring her in and they hold a check. They told us no. They told us that they need to be paid up front... My mom was furious. We've been going to this vet clinic for years. We've been giving them good business... And they turned a life away. So we watched Lacey all weekend long. She seemed to be holding her own. Had an appt set for Monday morning... But it was already too late. Lacey had rapid weightloss as well. But her personality and energy levels never changed. She ate everything we gave her.. She even escaped from our dog runs :) She dug holes and was as obnoxious as ever... And then within 5 days, she was gone. Her mate, Luke, he is completely heart broken. I know he's looking for her, and can't understand why he can't see her anymore... I feel so horrible!!
Because both dogs died within a week apart, the first thing that went through our minds was some huge, horrible virus. We had a necropsy done on Lacey... She had the same symptoms as Angel... Wobbly, disoriented, emaciated, and had sore feet. Tests came back... Lacey died from phenomina. He said it was extremely advanced... her lungs were toast. She had a systematic infection.. The infection was everywhere.. Her brain, her joints, lungs, heart.. everywhere. The vets assured us that this wasn't infectious... They also said that this phenomina has probably been with her for quite some time. I asked if this could have been preventable.. If maybe the dogs got too cold. They vet asked how we house them... Explained that the dogs are in a garage, in separate crates, bedded down with pine shavings. The vet assured us, we are doing the right thing with these dogs.. He said that what we're doing isn't the cause of this phenomina... But I just feel like its our fault. That we could have done something to prevent this.
God, I feel like such a failure! And I am so incredibly sad. I liked Lacey... I always sang that song "Angel" by Shaggy every time I handled Angel.
... And what makes this worse... neither one of these dogs had people wanting them. They left this world as a toss-away.
I'm almost in tears right now... So I'm going to end this thread... :(
The first one was Angel. Sweet Angel... She was 8 years old and was dumped in a kill shelter after her original owners spoke with my mom about releasing her to our rescue. We saved her life... We brought her here, she adjusted slowly to the rescue dog life, but was doing OK. She lost weight -- We thought it was due to stress. She ate, he eliminated, she drank, she was bouncy, happy... She continued to lose weight.. We fed her 8 cups of food twice a day.. She ate it all. We were thinking she had cancer. We're a small rescue, privately owned and run.. There isn't a lot of money if there isn't a lot of dogs being adopted. We had her on a "please help this dog" list and we were getting donations to help her. Finally got some money for her, and made the appt. The next morning she was dead in her crate. We thought it was cancer.. She kept looking at her feet.. We gave her pain meds, it seemed to help some.. But it was apparent her feet hurt her. Her last day, she was very wobbly.. Almost drunk. She kept falling. My heart was breaking... I feel so bad that we lost Angel..
Two days ago, our lovely Lacey passed away. Same symptoms. My mom called the vet on Friday and asked if we could bring her in and they hold a check. They told us no. They told us that they need to be paid up front... My mom was furious. We've been going to this vet clinic for years. We've been giving them good business... And they turned a life away. So we watched Lacey all weekend long. She seemed to be holding her own. Had an appt set for Monday morning... But it was already too late. Lacey had rapid weightloss as well. But her personality and energy levels never changed. She ate everything we gave her.. She even escaped from our dog runs :) She dug holes and was as obnoxious as ever... And then within 5 days, she was gone. Her mate, Luke, he is completely heart broken. I know he's looking for her, and can't understand why he can't see her anymore... I feel so horrible!!
Because both dogs died within a week apart, the first thing that went through our minds was some huge, horrible virus. We had a necropsy done on Lacey... She had the same symptoms as Angel... Wobbly, disoriented, emaciated, and had sore feet. Tests came back... Lacey died from phenomina. He said it was extremely advanced... her lungs were toast. She had a systematic infection.. The infection was everywhere.. Her brain, her joints, lungs, heart.. everywhere. The vets assured us that this wasn't infectious... They also said that this phenomina has probably been with her for quite some time. I asked if this could have been preventable.. If maybe the dogs got too cold. They vet asked how we house them... Explained that the dogs are in a garage, in separate crates, bedded down with pine shavings. The vet assured us, we are doing the right thing with these dogs.. He said that what we're doing isn't the cause of this phenomina... But I just feel like its our fault. That we could have done something to prevent this.
God, I feel like such a failure! And I am so incredibly sad. I liked Lacey... I always sang that song "Angel" by Shaggy every time I handled Angel.
... And what makes this worse... neither one of these dogs had people wanting them. They left this world as a toss-away.
I'm almost in tears right now... So I'm going to end this thread... :(