I apologize in advance if this post rambles on, but I just need to write.
Last Sunday, we lost our three year old papillon, Safari. Saf had never been the healthiest dog, and had narrowly escaped death on a couple other occasions, so it has been extremely hard on us that he didn’t pull through this time. From the beginning, Safari suffered from gastro intestinal issues, as well as decreased kidney functions. He spent a lot of time at the vet when he was a puppy, to which my wife really nursed him back to health. He was never really able to keep weight on him, a problem that perplexed the vets. This made him exceptionally fragile.
Saf was particularly special to my wife. Some might say he was overly attached to her, heck, even she would say he was overly attached to her, but she loved every minute of it. My wife has a neurological condition that gives her debilitating migraines, and Safari was able to see the coming hours before she felt it. If he thought she was getting sick, he would begin licking her face. He did this with amazing accuracy, so much so that she used it as an early indicator to take a migraine bill to stave off the impending headache. Using the same level of intuition, he would alert me if there were problems. I recall one evening where my wife had passed out in the bathroom, and Safari began barking and would not stop. I went to check on them, and sure enough, my wife was barely conscious.
It wasn’t always fun and games with him, he certainly knew how to get into trouble! He could jump straight up onto the counter. He didn’t need a chair or anything, just right up. From the counter, he could get onto the refrigerator or any other high surface you could imagine. Needless to say, nothing in our house was safe. He even learned to open the bread box! We always joked that he was very considerate when he would get into the bread, chewing only a small hole in one side and pulling out just the pieces he wanted to eat, leaving the rest of the loaf intact.
Unfortunately because of this absurd ability to get into anything, he often got into much worse trouble. One day we came home to find that he opened the drawer we kept the left over fast food condiments. He ate probably half a dozen packets of soy sauce, maple syrup packets from McDonalds, Fire Sauce from Taco Bell, ketchup, etc. That was not a fun mess to clean up!
More recently he gave us a big scare, right before our wedding this past February. After my wife's bridal shower, she didn’t realize that someone had put a bag of Hershey Kisses in one of her gift bags. Being the trouble maker he was, he found it and ripped into the bag. By the time we found him after work, hours later, he was barely conscious. We rushed him to the emergency vet. They weren’t sure if he would make it. He couldn’t register a temperature. They had to cut into a main artery to take blood samples, the vet described his blood as "sludge". They had to give him his IV through that same artery. He spent several days in an incubator, on an IV. The vet was great, and let us see him every day, he even sent us pictures of him on our wedding day. Trust me, that is not the kind of stress you want to deal with during a wedding; but, as always, the little guy pulled through.
After the chocolate incident, Saf didn’t seem like himself. You could tell that something had happened to him from the chocolate incident. I actually felt kind of guilty that we brought him back from the brink. He had a dead look in his eyes. He still did the same things he always did, and was still a great dog, but he just didn’t have the same brimming look. He looked almost pessimistic, if that is even possible for a dog. He really struggled from then, he looked extremely sickly, and was completely unable to hold any weight. The vet essentially said that he was just unable to extract the nutrients from his food very efficiently anymore. Still, he carried on and we did our best to make sure he remained healthy, and wouldn’t get into anymore life threatening trouble.
The last week we had with him was amazing. Out of nowhere that happy look returned to his face. He no longer looked so dull and pessimistic, he looked just like himself. He was perky and alive again. While we could have never anticipated the fate that was to come, we were really blessed to have him back for that week.
Last weekend he opened a cabinet, something he had surprisingly never done before. He and his brother (another 3 year old papillon, named Mozilla) ate every dog treat we had in the cabinet! Thankfully, we just kept the dog food and treats in there. They didn’t even touch the rest of the food, just the treats. Naturally, they got a little sick. Several hours later we gave them a little bit of water and a little bit of kibble. They both seemed to hold it down fine. We went to bed on Friday night thinking they were perfectly fine. Saturday we woke up to a sea of vomit and diarrhea. We tried to give them some water to rehydrate them, and Mozilla kept it down. Safari was vomiting up the water, not a good sign, but definitely not anything life threatening. We cleaned the mess, which took hours, and tried again. Once again, Safari couldn’t keep water down, much less food.
We sent Mozilla home with my mother-in-law. We called the emergency vet and explained what happened. We went over the list of things they got into. The vet stopped us when we mentioned that he had gotten into a package of about 20 Greenies. Something I wish I had known, Greenies are notorious for causing blockages, especially when not chewed well or eaten fast, both of those things are characteristic of Safari when he would get into things he knew he wasn’t supposed to be into. The vet had us pat his abdomen to see if he reacted as if he was in some discomfort, and he did. Thankfully he wasn’t acting like he was in a constant state of discomfort, so they decided he didn’t need to be brought in. The vet instructed us to fast him (from both food and water) until the next day, then try getting him to drink some water, juice, etc. The Greenies would break down, and we wouldn’t need to pay for an expensive surgery or emergency vet visit, something we were very thankful of after spending well over $1500 in vet bills earlier in the year. He just had to make it until Monday, when the regular vet could examine him and put him on fluids, if necessary, while we waited for his body to naturally clear the blockage. The vet said it could take three to four days for his body to break it down, but after that, he would be fine.
I stayed up with him Saturday night, hoping that my wife would get enough sleep to be able to go to work on Sunday. Sunday, he was able to drink very small amounts at a time. We gave him apple juice at the recommendation of the vet, since it would give him some nutrients in addition to rehydrating him. I ran out for some quick errands, and my wife sent me a picture of him. He looked like he was doing even better! I came home and took over so she could get ready for work. After a half hour or, he seemed to be getting lethargic. He wasn’t responsive. I panicked and told my wife to grab her things, we needed to go to the emergency vet. Unfortunately, it was too late. As she left the room to grab her purse and keys, he began having a seizure. After that, he never woke back up.
Its tragic losing a pet, but this has been especially hard on us, my wife especially. Safari was such a good dog. He was so helpful, and was a miracle at helping my wife when she needed it the most. He was her coping mechanism, whether it was her having a rough day at work, not feeling well with a migraine, or even comforting her after the death of her grandmother. Whatever it was, he was there in a way that Mozilla, or even myself, couldn't be.
It’s such a stupid thing. He didn't eat anything that wasn't meant for him. Nothing poisonous to his body, certainly nothing like his chocolate incident. He went from bad to worse so quickly, I feel guilty. If I had spent the money, he could have been under the vets care, and they could have probably done something. Instead, out of nowhere, following the vets instructions, I had to sit and watch my wife's best friend die in my lap. It’s such a horrifying thing, and I’m not sure I will ever get the image of him out of my head.
My wife isn’t okay. She doesn’t know how to handle this. She has asked to go out and look at other dogs a few times, and I have obliged. I actually think it might be good for her, if nothing else it could distract her from the pain of the loss. Of course, nothing can replace him. Friends like that come along once in a lifetime, so I understand her feeling that every dog is flawed in comparison. I’m hopeful that she will move on eventually, but I know it will take a while.
Here are some pictures of Saf, who was probably one of the goofiest looking papillons I have ever seen.
Saf greeting my wife when we came to visit him at the vet the morning of our wedding.
Hanging out on a towel in the kitchen (see his oversized ears?)
Even in his final hours, he just wanted to cuddle next to my wife
Always getting into things (literally)
Submitted September 29, 2014 at 07:20PM by say592 http://ift.tt/1qO53NL papillon
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