This is also about bad breeding. It's about dogs having bad hearts w/ valves that don't work. This doesn't show up until 10 years of age; it's genetic and is not a normal consequence of aging. Animals w/ bad hearts and epilepsy shouldn't be bred until 10 years of age to check for problems and then if they do have them they shouldn't be bred at all.
My beloved dog Daisy died May 23, 2005. We lived together, just the two of us. She was 11 years old, and the most beautiful tall beagle I've ever seen. I am so lost without her right now. I still cry every day. I come home from work to an empty house and don't know what to do with myself. I always took her for a walk after work, and I don't know what to do now that I don't have my Daisy to walk in the woods with.
Daisy had mitral valve insufficiency. It all started w/ a heart murmur that we monitored for a while. In October X-rays showed a normal sized heart and a mild-moderate murmur. Six months later, I take her out in the morning, and she collapses. I rush her to the vet, and X-rays show an enlarged heart. The murmur is worse. We make an appointment w/ a cardiologist, and he does a sonogram. So we put her on medication. The following week, her mild epileptic tremors turn into grand mal seizures. So we took her to the neurologist and they put her on a seizure watch. I visited her in the critical care unit after they gave her some phenobarbitol, and she was like a new dog. She did a somersault in the vet's arms when he took her out, and she was so happy, alert, and youthful. She gave me so many kisses - I visited her for a half hour. When we put her back in the cage, she stood on her hind legs, put her forarms around my neck, and hugged my tightly. In all my years w/ dogs, I have never had a dog hug me. When I turned to go, she hung her head. I explained to her that we had to find out what was wrong w/ her, and that I would be back soon after the spinal tap. The spinal tap came back negative. I took her home Friday night. Saturday I went to work from 3-11 p.m. and then went to the store. I got home and took her out. The next day I stayed home w/ her all day. We took 2 walks. It's funny, but she got to see everyone she knew that day. Sunday late afternoon I noticed her respirations getting fast and some bloating. I called the vet, and they said those were side effects of the phenobarbitol and another drug. Sunday night, she started panting, and it looked as though she was bloated even more. I called the doctor again, and he said that her EKG looked fine and that I should watch her. Finally at about midnight, I was giving her her meds and her gums where whitish blue and sticky. I called the vet a third time. They said she needed oxygen. So I put her in the car and sped over to the vet. They said she was in complete heart failure and that we may have to wait until the next day for the cardiologist. Then they said that she might not make it through the night. Then they said she doesn't have much time left and that they recommended euthanasia. I nearly fell out of my chair. She had been making improvement on her meds from the cardiologist, her spinal tap was negative, and now she was dying. So I had to put her to sleep. Daisy waited for me to get back there, and she spent some time w/ me while I cried and told her that I loved her. Then she turned away from the oxygen, started to gasp, lost some consciousness, and the vet lifted her up and gave the injection. Her inner eyelids were blue, and her eyes had no focus. I was in shock. I couldn't understand that she was gone. Then I collapsed and couldn't stop crying. She was gone at about 1:30 a.m. I left at 5:00 a.m. after the sun came up. I am very upset w/ the doctor for not warning me about what could happen and the symptoms that I should've been watching for. I am upset that this whole thing was a fire drill late at night. They should have told me what could've been happening so that our last goodbye wasn't like an episode from ER. I was so traumatized at seeing my dog die this dramatically that I had sharp pain in stomach that made me double over. I deeply regret not being prepared for this at all by the doctors. If anyone out there is a vet tech or knows about this, please enlighten me. Now that the shock of her death has worn off, the reality of her absence is setting in and I am more depressed than ever. I don't want to come home to an empty apartment. I don't want to walk alone. I watch other people walking their dogs, and I realize I'm not one of them anymore. I fight back tears at work. I want answers about what the afterlife of animals is like. I find only temporary comfort. What I had w/ my dog took 10 years to build; even a new dog couldn't give me what I had w/ her. How do I get through this? Does the pain ever end? I don't think I can stop crying. Say a prayer for Daisy and I if you can...thanks.