rbuch
October 9th, 2005, 10:19 PM
Last Friday my 10-year-old lab-shepherd mix, Hogan, began showing signs of a cold -- a few sneezes and general low energy. A few hours later she refused her dinner, and soon thereafter began vomiting. By bedtime her lethargy and unsure gait began to worry us. Early the next morning, on my way to check on Hogan, I found my 15-year-old terrier mix, Phoebe -- who was fine when we went to bed -- now lying on her side at the water dish in the same sickly, immovable state as Hogan. To make matters worse -- and more mysterious -- Phoebe, who'd had Cushing's for a year and a small cherry eye in the corner of her left eye for the last six months, now had an enormous prolapsed duct in her good eye, almost covering the entire eye. And, Hogan was worse.
I rushed Hogan to the vet, where she was hospitalized in isolation. Then I took Phoebe in. It was obvious to the vet that Phoebe would not make it. She was euthanized. I went home and waited to hear about Hogan. Despite IV treatment, Hogan's condition worsened through the night and at 11:00 the following morning the vet called to say Hogan had acute pancreatitis -- renal failure, extreme hyperglycemia and liver failure. The only organ doing OK was her lungs. With Hogan's prognosis as bleak as Phoebe's, she was put down an hour later.
We (including the vet) are clueless as to what caused this. If it was poison, it certainly wasn't the standard warfarin rodenticide, judging by her clear lungs. I scoured the backyard for anything unusual and found nothing. The only other dog they come in contact with is our backdoor neighbor's collie (through a chain-link fence). They hadn't even been out for a walk in a month. The only thing remotely unusual I can think of is this: the evening before Hogan became symptomatic (Thursday), I had run out of their usual food -- half dry (Pedigree), half moist (Von's brand) -- so I split a can of moist food (Pedigree, not their usual Von's), with two-thirds going to Hogan and one-third to Phoebe -- no dry food. I remember Hogan left a little in her dish, but was acting fine. Incidentally, I had done this a number of times through the years.
Needless to say, we are heartsick from losing two wonderful members of our family and would very much like to know what took them from us. And, the fact that we have other mammals living in the same house (cats and us) makes this mystery even more troubling. If there is any light you might be able to shed on this, it would be deeply appreciated. Any similar story, any idea -- anything.
Thank you very much,
Russ Buchanan mgontv@aol.com
I rushed Hogan to the vet, where she was hospitalized in isolation. Then I took Phoebe in. It was obvious to the vet that Phoebe would not make it. She was euthanized. I went home and waited to hear about Hogan. Despite IV treatment, Hogan's condition worsened through the night and at 11:00 the following morning the vet called to say Hogan had acute pancreatitis -- renal failure, extreme hyperglycemia and liver failure. The only organ doing OK was her lungs. With Hogan's prognosis as bleak as Phoebe's, she was put down an hour later.
We (including the vet) are clueless as to what caused this. If it was poison, it certainly wasn't the standard warfarin rodenticide, judging by her clear lungs. I scoured the backyard for anything unusual and found nothing. The only other dog they come in contact with is our backdoor neighbor's collie (through a chain-link fence). They hadn't even been out for a walk in a month. The only thing remotely unusual I can think of is this: the evening before Hogan became symptomatic (Thursday), I had run out of their usual food -- half dry (Pedigree), half moist (Von's brand) -- so I split a can of moist food (Pedigree, not their usual Von's), with two-thirds going to Hogan and one-third to Phoebe -- no dry food. I remember Hogan left a little in her dish, but was acting fine. Incidentally, I had done this a number of times through the years.
Needless to say, we are heartsick from losing two wonderful members of our family and would very much like to know what took them from us. And, the fact that we have other mammals living in the same house (cats and us) makes this mystery even more troubling. If there is any light you might be able to shed on this, it would be deeply appreciated. Any similar story, any idea -- anything.
Thank you very much,
Russ Buchanan mgontv@aol.com