Our beloved Toby went to dogie heaven on Saturday. He was exactly 6 months old. Who knew you could fall in love with a dog so much so fast. My heart is in a million little pieces just thinking about how much I miss him.
Toby was sick ever since we got him. He got a tape worm 2 weeks after he came home with us and things just went downhill from there. He got giardia after that and was never able to shake it. Over the past 6 weeks or so, he started losing weight and not acting like his happy self. We initially thought it was just another bout of giardia, but it was much worse.
He was supposed to have "little boy" surgery on Tuesday. We took him to the vet early in the morning and had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to have the surgery, since he obviously wasn't feeling well. The vet called us later that morning to tell us that he was in pretty bad shape and was septic. His white cell count was 600 (normal is 7,000 to 10,000) and he had zero infection fighting cells.We spent the next 5 days trying everything we could to nurse him back to health. He spent a few days with the vet but came home with us at night. We had to give him subcutaneous IV fluids, antibiotic shots, and try to get him to eat. He was just skin and bones. I took off work on Thursday to take care of him so Jon could get some work done and I'm so glad I did.
On Friday, I knew he still wasn't feeling better. Jon took him to the vet and he stayed all day getting IV antibiotics. His white cell count had improved to a measly 900. I met Jon at the vet with my mom and we told the vet we just wanted to take him home.
We spent his last night letting him eat peanut butter toast and sleep with us under the covers. It was a very sleepless night and we thought he would pass several times. In the morning, my family came over to take him to the vet with us. He rallied a bit and at a whole piece of peanut butter toast and walked around before we left. His increase in energy and eating gave us a bit of hope, so we had his blood drawn again. His white cell count was only 1,300, even after strong antibiotics. His leukocytes were also misshapen and immature.
It was then that we knew it was time to let him go. With my family surrounding us and Jon and I holding him, he went to sleep and was finally not suffering.
Jon and I are taking it pretty hard. We cry a lot. It just baffles me how much we love and miss him. Though he was just a dog, he was our family member. We love him so much and miss him terribly. Please pray for us for healing, especially for Jon.
Our beloved Toby went to dogie heaven on Saturday. He was exactly 6 months old. Who knew you could fall in love with a dog so much so fast. My heart is in a million little pieces just thinking about how much I miss him.
Toby was sick ever since we got him. He got a tape worm 2 weeks after he came home with us and things just went downhill from there. He got giardia after that and was never able to shake it. Over the past 6 weeks or so, he started losing weight and not acting like his happy self. We initially thought it was just another bout of giardia, but it was much worse.
He was supposed to have "little boy" surgery on Tuesday. We took him to the vet early in the morning and had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to have the surgery, since he obviously wasn't feeling well. The vet called us later that morning to tell us that he was in pretty bad shape and was septic. His white cell count was 600 (normal is 7,000 to 10,000) and he had zero infection fighting cells.We spent the next 5 days trying everything we could to nurse him back to health. He spent a few days with the vet but came home with us at night. We had to give him subcutaneous IV fluids, antibiotic shots, and try to get him to eat. He was just skin and bones. I took off work on Thursday to take care of him so Jon could get some work done and I'm so glad I did.
On Friday, I knew he still wasn't feeling better. Jon took him to the vet and he stayed all day getting IV antibiotics. His white cell count had improved to a measly 900. I met Jon at the vet with my mom and we told the vet we just wanted to take him home.
We spent his last night letting him eat peanut butter toast and sleep with us under the covers. It was a very sleepless night and we thought he would pass several times. In the morning, my family came over to take him to the vet with us. He rallied a bit and at a whole piece of peanut butter toast and walked around before we left. His increase in energy and eating gave us a bit of hope, so we had his blood drawn again. His white cell count was only 1,300, even after strong antibiotics. His leukocytes were also misshapen and immature.
It was then that we knew it was time to let him go. With my family surrounding us and Jon and I holding him, he went to sleep and was finally not suffering.
Jon and I are taking it pretty hard. We cry a lot. It just baffles me how much we love and miss him. Though he was just a dog, he was our family member. We love him so much and miss him terribly. Please pray for us for healing, especially for Jon.
Cuteness, however, does not make up for extreme sickness. We are praying that Toby will one day be healthy. We'll let you know when that day comes because we are waiting for it with baited breath. About 2 weeks after Toby came home with us, he got a case of Tape Worms. How did we know it was Tape Worms? Use your imagination. Then, he got a nasty case of Giardia, which we are still fighting. At the tail end of his Giardia sickness, we had to go to a wedding in PA and had to board him. And of course, when we picked him up from the kennel, he had a sinus infection. So now we're dealing with green doggy snot.