Thank you from the depths of my heart for your free printed Dog News [newspaper]. I'm not computer literate nor do I own one and the local library is three miles one way and not wheelchair accessible and only open limited hours per week.
It was Volume 3, Issue 10 October 2008 that I managed to find in some business. I'm sorry to say I don't remember which business it was, but it was surely a small business.
I brought the paper home as I had an older dog who was 12 and on Rimadyl for about 6 months for arthritis when one leg stopped working. I was told by the vet about a year earlier the hips were going to go as it's common in Shepherds. What I didn't know was the Rimadyl was effective in covering up lots of other pain and issues I wasn't aware of. I am totally at fault as I couldn't lift the 100 pound dog by myself to get her back to the vet for another exam after the leg went out. She stopped walking completely in January 2009, and was bedridden so to speak.
I did the best I could with doggie diapers (which stink and don't work well), bed chucks (which are cheaper by the box than doggie pads and are the same thing) and an air mattress on the floor which was her bed.
I never did read the Downeast Dog News until March of 2009 and the article on the front page "Canine Critical Care" was what caught my eye. Four years previous to this I had an extremely botched up euthanasia experience. The dog fought and struggled to live for about 5 minutes or more. It was horrible, his hips had gone but his heart and love and devotion to me kept him alive and I had to watch as he struggled so hard to live and I was "executing" him and I'm crying now as the memory.
So when this 12-year-old went down I was praying she would "go in her sleep." But she didn't and she wasn't, and she had such love and devotion and that she suffered so bad and I didn't know it until I found maggots. She was being eaten alive and I didn't know it. I called the Brewer Emergency Vet Care [Eastern Maine Emergency Veterinary Clinic] and they were so compassionate, so humane and the end was quick, very quick and she's in peace and no more pain. And when I brought her body home I buried part of my heart in that hole.
I'm so sorry I made her suffer so long. I blame the really bad previous euthanasia on my male that made me so terrified to end this beautiful female's misery.
Thank you.
Editor's note: This unsigned, hand-written letter was received in the mail by Downeast Dog News. Related resources posted by editor:
- Canine Critical Care Downeast Dog News, October 2008
- Emergency Veterinary Clinics
- Downeast Dog News newspaper
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