Pet Loss
Hi Ladies! Can I just vent for a minute? My kiddos are older now and have their own stuff going on. Yesterday, I unexpectedly lost our 12 year old terrier and I’m not trying to be dramatic, but I feel almost traumatized by the ordeal and I’m struggling with it a lot more than I expected.
He was a pretty healthy dog; both parents lived to 15 & 16 (I owned them as well and they passed of old age) and his siblings are all alive and thriving (with other families from his litter and 1 litter from the year prior). He had a good diet and exercised daily. He also was diagnosed with epilepsy a few years ago, but it was very mild and really was only triggered if he got SUPER excited.
Yesterday, started like a normal day, got up at the normal time, did our normal routine, but he had an accident in the night which was out of character for him, but I didn’t think much of it as he’s getting old or maybe he tried to wake me and I didn’t hear him. A few hours later he vomited a little, but was still drinking water and acting like his normal self. 3 or 4 hours later he had a 5 second seizure and threw up shortly after. At that point I called our vet for a consult and she didn’t seem very concerned since he was still drinking and acting normally, so we made an appointment for a check up in a few days just in case.
Around 6pm he started acting lethargic, which again I didn’t think much of since he was already sick, so I thought it was likely he needed to rest his body anyhow. Around 8:30pm he started breathing heavily and I got worried and called the vet again and they advised us to go to the emergency vet. I got my keys, and readied the car and when I picked him up to take him to the car just before 9pm, he was making a weird noise and was very limp. When we got to the vet about 15 minutes away he was barely breathing.
They advised due to his age and condition on arrival, unless we were prepared to pay a $1300 deposit to get started on diagnostics, there wasn’t much they could do other than stabilize him and make him comfortable.
We couldn’t afford that and the doctor said he wasn’t able yo breath on his own. So we had to make the tough decision to put him down 😭
I’ve never experienced anything like this with one of my animals and having it escalate so quickly for seemingly no reason. I’m so mad, sad, feeling like I didn’t do enough and overall, heartbroken 💔
I don’t know what I’m looking for here, but thank you for listening!
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Sending you love, I wouldn’t say you’re dramatic at all.. dogs are part of the family and he’s been in your family for 12 years ❤️❤️
I'm so sorry the loss of a pet is the loss of family! It's very tough! I'm so sorry! Prayers for you!
The only drawback of dogs is that they don’t live long enough 💖
You aren't being dramatic at all. Our pets become such a big part of our lives so it's no wonder that your loss has impacted you in this way. Don't forget we had lockdowns not all that long ago and were spending more time than ever with our furry companions. Be kind to yourself during this period of grief, and it is just that you are grieving. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone to talk to. You have just lost a huge part of your life so it is only to be expected that the next little while might be a bit hard.
You may find this page from the RSPCA website useful:
https://rspcavic.org/learn/grieving-for-a-lost-pet/
So incredibly sorry for your loss ❤
Just wanted to say that you did everything a good dog mom should do - you were keeping an eye on his symptoms and checking in with his vet, and following their advice! So please try not to blame yourself ❤
It sounds like things just spiralled really quickly from things that started off looking like just a minor thing, so you and your vet handled it like anyone would. It's just awful luck that it went that way.
Sending you and your family love ❤
I have been a vet tech since Nov. 2005. Unfortunately with pets they cannot speak to tell us what is going on & they are very good at hiding things until sometimes it is too late as you probably realized yesterday… This is the traumatizing part as it happened so fast & you felt like wtf happened? Which is why veterinarians have to rely on diagnostic testing to find out what is wrong & will start with what they think is most logical based on what you as the pet owners have said or noticed so every little detail matters. So I always have told owners please tell me everything & don’t leave anything out even if you think it is silly, I would rather have too much info then not enough ya know.
Aside from all that you are valid in how you feel, our pets are our fur babies & part of the family also so it sucks to lose them & they never live long enough..
My honest thoughts based on what you mentioned in your post is that he had a tumor, inside his chest or somewhere close by that either ruptured causing internal bleeding to cause the sudden lethargy & the labored breathing as well or his age could have caught up with him. It is hard to know for sure without diagnostic testing.. After 8 years old we consider them geriatric so if you think about that he was definitely older, 15 is a very good age for them to get to and not that common to make it to it still does not make it easier when we lose them 💕
Please feel free to let me know if you want to talk anything I can maybe help you with to help you feel at ease I am here…
I went down the rabbit hole the other night when I couldn’t sleep and everything seems to fit the symptoms of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis; what are your thoughts on that?
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