Dear Friend,
my Sheltie died suddenly today. She threw up more water during the night so I called and got a 1:00 appt with my vet. She thought she had pancreatitis even though the blood work did not confirm it. She didn't do an X-ray. She said that my dog was severely dehydrated so she injected water under her skin for it to be absorbed slowly by her body. And she gave her a strong anti-nausea pill. She said she would sleep a lot from the pill. We brought her home and laid her on her bed in the den. She watched me while I mopped up her watery vomit which was everywhere. I had only covered it up with paper towels earlier ... I just couldn't deal with it at the time. I wasn't being super-solicitous because I thought she was just sick and that the dehydration was the most significant part of her problem and the skin injections would help with that, the anti-nausea med, would stop the vomiting, and the vet was having me change her diet to a lower fat one that wouldn't aggravate her pancreas. She said we could offer her food later in the evening, and could offer her water after a couple of hours, but that if she didn't take anything it was okay, because that would let her pancreas rest. After mopping everything and cleaning the mop and bucket, I was worn out and my torn up arm was hurting badly. So I went and laid down until my husband got home. We were supposed to go out to eat with our daughter and to a movie, but we decided we didn't want to be away from her that long. So we went to a burger place where I can eat in a nearby village (about ten minutes away) and then I ran into a grocery store very quickly for some things we needed for breakfast. We came back home and ... I'm a little confused, because I think I looked at my dog and she seemed to be panting. It was time to offer her water, so I went to get a plastic dish with some, but when I walked up to her, my daughter and I both realized that her eyes were glazed and her mouth seemed frozen. Had I imagined the panting, or did she die right then? She was laying on her bed and had not vomited or had diarrhea or anythingl. I picked her up and sat her in my lap and some gas gurgled up out of her mouth that smelled really bad. I desperately hoped the medicine had put her in a coma so I persuaded my husband to drive us to an emergency vet clinic. They told me that she was dead, but that there was a twist in her gut and they could hear the trapped air. Hat is supposed to be very painful, and the one time I had an intestine swell shut from a reaction, it was awful!! But she never seemed to be in pain. She just acted like she was sick and didn't feel well at all. The ER vet asked me if the vet x-rayed her and seemed dismayed when I told her that she had not. So I feel like she dropped the ball and failed to recognize what was happening and didn't do the simple test that would have told her. Or, the other possibility is that she died from the anti-nausea med, there have been some reports of that. Or, she could have died of shock, hypovolemic shock, where there is not a enough blood plasma. The vet said that her blood was very thick and dark when she took,some. So,it seems like she should have out her on an IV of saline or something.
I've been really badly torn up over losing her. She was probably the most beautiful sheltie you would have ever seen.
It hurts so bad. My daughter is using anger at the vet right now to offset her grief. I doubt that that will last her very long. I'm old enough to not be mad because I realize that people make mistakes in spite of their best intentions.
It's hard to put a pet you love into the cold ground, even if you do wrap her up in a blanket. At least it's not raining.
That's all for now.
Lisa
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