When my wife and I married in 2013, she came with two daughters and two Yorkies. Fermi, the male, was 14 years old. He was going blind and didn't hear well but was a nice dog. Tessi, the female was 3. Fermi continued to age and a fall led to the discovery that his spinal column was being pinched which, when aggrevated by the fall, led to paralysis of his back legs. We didn't know if he would make it. He had a heart murmur so surgery was out so we put him on steroids and prayed. He made it through that but continued to get worse and worse. His back legs barely worked and he was loosing strength in his front legs. He fell over a lot and had to lay down to eat. He barked or wimpered about all the time he was awake. Petting comforted him but it wasn't much of a life. So we took him to the vet and got the expected answer, there was nothing they could do other than possibly make him more comfortable. We didn't think that was fair to Fermi so he is no longer with us.
What we did not expect in the episode was Tessi's reaction. They had been together the whole time my wife had Tessi which was all but 8 months of her life. So for 4+years she and Fermi were together. But they weren't really buddies and Fermi's near constant barking upset Tessi. We didn't realize it but her trachea was collapsing sometimes when she got excited. The coughing that caused lasted only a few seconds and wasn't significant. But when Fermi was not here, she had a very bad reaction. Fermi's passing was a week ago on Friday. Tessi wasn't bad until we went to work Monday. Monday night she still wasn't bad but was worse Tuesday night. We thought she had something caught in her throat and would clear it. We'd also started her on a different dogfood to get her weight down and it had big pieces. We went to work Wednesday agreeing she had to go to the vet if she wasn't OK Wednesday night. My wife came home early to check her and she was in distress. She spent Wednesday night in the doggie emergency room. She had to have oxygen and a tranquilizer. But she came home Thursday and we were able to arrange to work half days from home, alternating so one of us would be here. I had her settled down Friday morning but my wife was late leaving work and I had a call I had to be in for and she was on her own for less than an hour Friday. She relapsed pretty bad. So we were back at the vets Saturday morning after a sleepless night. We finally got them to give us some tranquilizers and Tessi got a shot. She settled down completely and breathes normally now unless she gets excited. We are going to stay with her at least a few more days but we're hoping she's turned the corner.
Long post and nothing woodworking about it but maybe somebody with a dog will like it. We found it interesting that the first thing the vets did was to tranquilize her but the were reluctant to let us have that ability. I think they think we will give it to her improperly and kill her. But lack of that ability was killing her. The other thing we didn't appreciate was the doggie emergency room. There is only one in the area and they have the ability to put a stent into doggies with Tessi's condition. But it is a difficult operation, about 25% of the dogs die as a direct result, and it only buys them 2-3 years. And it helps but does not eliminate the condition. But the emergency room wanted us to sign up for the surgery right away. All the on-line things and our vet say drugs first. The emergency room was reluctant to release her and wanted to assume responsibility for her care. We are going to avoid them as much as possible in the future. We are concerned they care more about their bottom line than our dog.
But we are very happy Tessi is better. Hopefully she will be better for years but we know it is highly unlikely she will live as long as Fermi. But for now she is recovering and we are optimistic we can get her over the transition of Fermis's death. We haven't given her any tranquilizer but are happy to have it in case she has another episode of uncontrollable coughing.
What we did not expect in the episode was Tessi's reaction. They had been together the whole time my wife had Tessi which was all but 8 months of her life. So for 4+years she and Fermi were together. But they weren't really buddies and Fermi's near constant barking upset Tessi. We didn't realize it but her trachea was collapsing sometimes when she got excited. The coughing that caused lasted only a few seconds and wasn't significant. But when Fermi was not here, she had a very bad reaction. Fermi's passing was a week ago on Friday. Tessi wasn't bad until we went to work Monday. Monday night she still wasn't bad but was worse Tuesday night. We thought she had something caught in her throat and would clear it. We'd also started her on a different dogfood to get her weight down and it had big pieces. We went to work Wednesday agreeing she had to go to the vet if she wasn't OK Wednesday night. My wife came home early to check her and she was in distress. She spent Wednesday night in the doggie emergency room. She had to have oxygen and a tranquilizer. But she came home Thursday and we were able to arrange to work half days from home, alternating so one of us would be here. I had her settled down Friday morning but my wife was late leaving work and I had a call I had to be in for and she was on her own for less than an hour Friday. She relapsed pretty bad. So we were back at the vets Saturday morning after a sleepless night. We finally got them to give us some tranquilizers and Tessi got a shot. She settled down completely and breathes normally now unless she gets excited. We are going to stay with her at least a few more days but we're hoping she's turned the corner.
Long post and nothing woodworking about it but maybe somebody with a dog will like it. We found it interesting that the first thing the vets did was to tranquilize her but the were reluctant to let us have that ability. I think they think we will give it to her improperly and kill her. But lack of that ability was killing her. The other thing we didn't appreciate was the doggie emergency room. There is only one in the area and they have the ability to put a stent into doggies with Tessi's condition. But it is a difficult operation, about 25% of the dogs die as a direct result, and it only buys them 2-3 years. And it helps but does not eliminate the condition. But the emergency room wanted us to sign up for the surgery right away. All the on-line things and our vet say drugs first. The emergency room was reluctant to release her and wanted to assume responsibility for her care. We are going to avoid them as much as possible in the future. We are concerned they care more about their bottom line than our dog.
But we are very happy Tessi is better. Hopefully she will be better for years but we know it is highly unlikely she will live as long as Fermi. But for now she is recovering and we are optimistic we can get her over the transition of Fermis's death. We haven't given her any tranquilizer but are happy to have it in case she has another episode of uncontrollable coughing.
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