My dog died a year ago today.

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My dog Penny was my best friend! I had her for 14 yrs, she was a Miniature Schnauzer. I love her and miss her every single day, but I get depressed when I think of what happened so I try to not to dwell on it.

It's my fault that she died too. Last year I thought she was acting weird so I asked my mom to take her to the vet and they did some blood work and gave her 2 prescriptions; Prednisone (which she's taken before) and Methocarbamol. The next morning my mom gave her the pill as directed.d Penny was really messed up after that, couldn't walk around, panting, and doing this weird bark I've never heard her do before. We called the vets office and told them "this pill you prescribed my dog is killing her! " Apparently our vet wasn't there, and they said just to come back in and they would give us more medication, that was out of the question and completely ridiculous if you ask me.

After that she started dying, she was laying in her dog bed, and I was petting her, bawling my eyes out. It was the worst thing I have ever seen, I obviously won't describe it. It's so hard to think about, but every time I try and say it out loud I can't.

Well the next day we called the vet and told them they had killed our dog. Our vet was there this time, she said she that the Methocarbomal must have gave her a blood clot in her lung and that she was sorry! They sent us a generic card in the mail as if that makes up for anything. On top of that her blood work came back, there was nothing wrong with her, and they still made us pay them 500$.

Thanks for listening.

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@BarbieQPickle,

Damn

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@BarbieQPickle,

Death is an illusion.
She only MOLTED.

David

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Many years ago I had a cat that came limping home. I brought him to the vet asap. They ran some tests and insisted the cat simply had a twisted leg and should be fine in a week or so. The cat died that night.

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@BarbieQPickle,

I'm sorry, BarbieQ, I can see it would be tough to even think about. I hope you can get to mourn her in a less painful way with time.

My loved dog didn't have such a dreadful ending, but I was a mess before and after it for a while. Now that more than two years have gone by, I get a kick out of mentioning him once in a while, and rotate his photo as an avatar with other avatars here at a2k. At this point, seeing his photo is only a feel good thing for me, a kind of peace.

No advice but to treasure the good stuff.

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@NickFun,

Similar story, but a better ending. I had a cat flown from Illinois to Oklahoma. When she arrived, her hind legs wouldn't support her. Vet checked her over and said she looked pretty healthy. I had to get her to try to walk, so he could see her hind legs dragging behind her. Fortunately, she recovered on her own.

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@BarbieQPickle,

I am sorry for your loss. As long as you feel in your heart that you treated Penny in the past as you wish you had today, you did a good thing and should be proud of the care you gave her.

It has been 19 years ago that my cocker spaniel Shiney died in my arms, 11 years since I had to put my first Kuvasz, Aja put down due to a crippling stroke and four years since Aja'a sister Kodi died of old age.

I miss them all dearly and sometimes think that I can see them out of the corner of my eye. They were better dogs than I am a human being.

Quote:

A Tribute To The Dog
By George Graham Vest

The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only be may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.

1 Reply

@kuvasz,

Love and good wishes to you, Barbie, and some poetry (by Lord Byron) in memory of your darling Penny:

Quote:

When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe
And storied urns record who rest below:
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been:
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth--
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth:
While Man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive Heaven.
Oh Man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on--it honours none you wish to mourn:
To mark a Friend's remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one,--and here he lies.

Newstead Abbey, October 30, 1808.

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@BarbieQPickle,

Sue them.

You still have time and you will only be able to collect for the "property" value of a dog, but you will make your point.

Chances are you won't find a lawyer who will take your case, but unless your dog somehow produced an income for you, you're only looking at a recovery of $1,000 max, and therefore you may be able to sue them in Small Claims Court and you don't need a lawyer there.

My dog suffered from kidney disease and towards the end I was injecting a med bag of glucose under his skin every night. Our vet told us that to keep him calm when I stuck the needle in his skin I should feed him grapes. He would like them and they were filled with the water he needed. So I fed him grapes and injected him, and within two months or so we had to put him down.

The Vet was wonderful and sent us a beautiful sympathy card.

Not too long afterwards, I learned that grapes are fatal poison for dogs. By feeding him grapes every night I shortened his life!

He was truly sick and wasn't going to get better, but by giving him grapes we hastened his death.

This realization still kills me, but he's gone. I think of him often and I miss him but before we die, a fair number of our loved ones will. Nothing is gained by dwelling on it.

In all likelihood, a healthy Logan would be dead from old age by now. I missed a few years with him, but the same thing could have happened if he darted into
traffic.

These are the things that happen in life. You live with them.

2 Replies

@Finn dAbuzz,

Did u complain to the vet?
or at least tell him to stop that Rx ?

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn - I only recently learned that grapes are toxic to dogs (and a whole lot of other foods as well). Grapes, though, contain an unknown toxin that affect dogs' kidneys, so I can't figure out for the life of me why the vet would suggest them.

Barbie - so sorry for the loss of your beloved pet. I know it's so painful...they become such integral parts of our lives...you must have been absolutely devastated.

ETA: We don't feed our dog anything but dry dog food...and every once in a while a steak bone or one of those big bones from the butcher.

1 Reply

@Irishk,

Irishk wrote:

ETA: We don't feed our dog anything but dry dog food...
and every once in a while a steak bone or one of those big bones from the butcher.

My aunt got some bones for her dog from the butcher.
She made the mistake of telling him that the bones were for her dog, instead of "soup bones."
She said that since the butcher thought thay were "only" for a dog, he gave her some bones that proved to be unhealthy,
with disastrous effects on the dog 's health.

The moral of the story is:
don 't tell the butcher that the bones are for a dog.

David

1 Reply

@BarbieQPickle,

I'm so sorry, Barb.

Every now and then I still think of Jake's death (he was a Mastiff mix, died over 10 years ago), and it can still sadden me. Sometimes that vision comes in dreams. But I can also talk about him with love and humor; I was mentioning him to someone recently, about how the dog would eat almost any form of people food (so of course chocolate, etc. had to be kept out of reach) except for bananas. Oh God, not bananas! Mom, what are ya eatin'? I'm sure he'd've said something like that if he could talk -- he was probably thinking it every time I had cereal.

I know the hurt, and I know the feelings of wondering if there was anything you could have done. I do, I know.

But there's going to be a day when you can tell your equivalent of the banana story, and it doesn't make you cry, it only makes you laugh and smile to yourself.

I hope that day is soon for you.

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I've selected "Reply to All" and I have NO idea if that was the correct thing to do.
My Sam just turned 6 (black n white border collie X) and he is my life. I know that one day he will have to leave me but until that day comes I love him as much as I can, trying to make up for when he won't be with me anymore. Whenever that day comes I thought I might have to get another dog, a puppy just like what Sam looked like when I first set eyes on him as a puppy, to relieve the pain of grief, but then I realised I am not getting any younger, so the idea of getting another dog may not be such a good idea after all. If I were to kick the bucket before Sam, what would happen to him? He would fret something awful and not understand or comprehend where I was. Who would look after him, and understand him? So now I realise he needs to go before me, and I must not get another dog afterwards. To save him the anguish of missing me, I have to suffer his loss. I just need to live a little bit longer than him. I've come to an understanding about love and grief... the more pain we suffer at the loss of a loved one, is, to me, evidence of how much we loved them. It's like a balancing act. If we don't love, then we don't suffer grief. The more we love the more we grieve. There are probably some people in the world not prepared to suffer the horrific pain of grief, so they choose not to love. To me it is the price we pay for loving. If I was younger I'd get another dog, I think. Meantime, love like there is no tomorrow.

1 Reply

@drillersmum,

Welcome to a2k, drillersmum...

and reply to all is just fine to use. If you are wanting to reply to a poster's specific post, then click on the reply button in that post. When your reply does show up, you'll see the name of the poster you replied to at the top in light blue. You or others can click on that to find their post, as sometimes the one you are replying to can be pages back. Complicating matters, sometimes a lot of us just reply to the last poster automatically/by mistake, thus bringing lots of confusion.

If you want to reply to, say, a single sentence in someone's long post, you can click on the quote button in that post, then delete the parts of the post you aren't referring to (leaving the quote words at the beginning and end).

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@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Did u complain to the vet?
or at least tell him to stop that Rx ?

I only learned of the toxicity of grapes (for dogs) within the last year or so. Logan died about seven years ago. I figure she has learned her mistake by now and beats herself up more than I could.

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@BarbieQPickle,

Barbie... you can't blame yourself. You took Penny to the vet and relied on the recommended 'expert' treatment. Still, I know it's hard. I just lost my dog to complications from prednisone. After only four months on this 'wonder drug' he developed an ulcer that ruptured, filling his body cavity and killing him in less than two hours. He was five. And to learn that something as simple as a daily spoonful of Pepto-Bismol may have prevented the ulcer has been more than I can bear. Like you, I feel it's my fault for giving him the medication. It's hard to reconcile when something given to heal your pet ends up killing him. As my friends have told me, time will heal my broken heart. Or at least make it hurt less. Thank you for you post. In honoring and remembering Penny, you also remind everyone about the importance of researching the medications we give our companions, having a meaningful dialogue with our vets regarding the treatment plan and, if meds must be prescribed, a thorough discussion on ways to counteract any side effects. I'm living proof that's it's easier said than done, but I hope that as you grieve for Penny you find ways to celebrate a long life together and try not to blame yourself.

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Even my doggie, Diana died on 16th May, she was beautiful, she lived for 10 years, her kidneys failed, liver failed. I loved her a lot, I am crying, the pain is unbearable.

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@amieth,

There isn't much one can say to lessen the heartache of losing a beloved pet. The only comfort I can offer is that the pain will recede with time and you'll lose that lost and overwhelmed feeling that brings on the tears. The sadness you're feeling is part of the grieving process, but happy memories of the good times you shared are also in your future. My heartfelt condolences for your loss.

1 Reply

@amieth,

amieth wrote:

Even my doggie, Diana died on 16th May, she was beautiful, she lived for 10 years, her kidneys failed, liver failed.
I loved her a lot, I am crying, the pain is unbearable.

People who have returned from death have said that having to
get back into their human bodies is like being put back in jail.

David

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My dog died a year ago today.

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