Friday, October 27, 2006

Tough Day

Yesterday was a bad, strange day.

We had to put our sweet 6 yr old Dachsund, Mollie, to sleep. It was sudden and surprising how sick she became and the vet could do nothing for her.

Turns out it was most likely pancreatitis. Very common in female, middle-age dogs her size. She could've had the disease for a long time and it just came in small spells. But this one was big enough to do too much damage too quickly. By the time my mother-in-law rushed Mollie to the vet, she was in shock and her temperature was so low, it didn't even register on the thermometer.

We got Mollie and Zeus when they were just 8 weeks old. Being first time breed buyers, we didn't do our research enough and ended up with two very sick puppies. Both nearly died from a kennel bacteria. We worked hard to nurse them back to health and for years both were very healthy, happy little dogs.

You may recall, this time last year, we had to rush Zeus into surgery for two ruptured discs in his lower back. He had a less than 50% chance of regaining use of his back legs. Mollie cared for him as he recovered. She loved on him and snuggled all day and night with him. Remarkably, he can not only walk using his back legs, he can run and even work up a couple of leg scratches with his left hind leg. He's an amazing little boy who's back to hunting squirrels and threatening neighbors on a daily basis.

We'll miss Mollie a great deal. She was spunky, stubborn, sweet and loving. I'm not sure what happens with a dog's spirit, if anything at all, but at least she no longer suffers and she was dearly loved by us and her brother.

7 comments:

Kelly said...

Sad, and so sorry...

M said...

I'm sorry about your dog. :( We had to put our cat to sleep 2 years ago and it was so tough. He had cancer.
Looking down through your blog--- holy cow. It isn't possible for you to look any prettier in that hospital bed. I looked like I just got run over by a truck!!

Michelle said...

My sister and I have always been firm believers in the movie that All Dogs go to Heaven. I'm sorry for your loss.

Amanda said...

poor mollie, and zeus too, being left here without her.

sorry sweetie - i know that is tough. hugs!

BagOfNothing.com said...

i'm so sorry to hear of your loss. my furchildren feel like real children, i know i'm going to take it hard when the day comes.

hang in there zeus.

RockerMom said...

I'm so sorry, Jenn. I'm a cat owner and cat/dog lover so I can only imagine how sad you are. (((HUGS)))

tallulah said...

I am so, so sorry. Having had to put our dog down recently, I know how sad it can be.
Big hugs from me to you.