Community Chat

[doxiefamily]

My daughter and I live together and are both dog lovers. This has been one of the worst weeks in all of my 65 years. Our beautiful, super-smart, loving, robust, energetic 6-year old dachshund died. Until July 3, he had never been sick, but he started vomiting. We thought he probably ate something and would be over it. He soon refused food and water, and while not vomiting, got sicker. We immediately took him to the vet who did labs and x-rayed him to be sure there was no blockage. She said she thought it was gastrointestinal and started him on Flagyl (?) antibiotic. His temp was very high, 105. She started IV fluids, and every day for 1 week we took him to the clinic during the day for fluids and observation, but brought him home at night where he was more comfortable. Slowly, very slowly, he began to get better on special recovery food and water actually spoon-fed 3-4 times a day. No dog has ever had better, more attentive 24/7 nursing care. He began to recover, and we would say he was 90%-95% back to normal. He was gladly eating and drinking, and back to being in charge of us, the house, and our other dogs. He was playing, running, energetic, and bright-eyed. Then Monday night, we were in our usual mode watching TV. He was playing with his "baby." He stood up, and coughed a terrible, horrible cough. He stumbled, fell, coughed 2x more, and essentially died. He was dead in less than 5 minutes. We rushed him to the emergency vet center, but it was too late. Barney left, and we haven't stopped crying. He was the energy, the life-blood, the heart of our home. He protected us, he loved his life and his family. It is impossible to describe the loss, the vacant, empty feeling. Nothing is the same. He was so much to us, and our other dogs. They still look stunned and shocked. I've talked to the vet and she still says gastrointestinal, but what happened? He was almost back to normal and suddenly died. I can't help but think she treated his symptoms but didn't look for the cause of the problem.

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this? Maybe if we knew "why" it would be easier to accept....