Have you ever wanted to try to help your pet but couldn't?

Discussion in 'Dog Chat' started by dashboardc33, Oct 31, 2012.

  1. dashboardc33

    dashboardc33 Well-Known Member

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    Over the summer I had one of the worst experiences with my dog. She had stepped on a metal clip that attaches to my daughter's carseat. It got hooked around her food and we could not get it off with our own hands. She was in so much pain as she was crying and would not put any pressure at all on her back foot. Of course, we were camping at the time and had no way to get it off. We had to wait until the morning and go get a metal clippers at a hardware store. As much as we tried to get it off with our hands, we couldn't. We had to hold her down and clip it off with the metal clippers and it finally worked. She was in a lot of pain the entire weekend, but eventually she healed up just fine without a vet. I felt so bad for her. :(
     
    dashboardc33, Oct 31, 2012
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  2. dashboardc33

    pafjlh Well-Known Member

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    I have been there, with my beloved pet Rocky. Toward the end of his life he had bad leg issues, and one weekend we discovered that his back legs were no longer supporting him. Its important to emphasize it was a weekend because we couldn't get him to a vet because none were open, so we spent the weekend listening to him in agony in the back yard. We tried to help him in what way we could but there was very little that could be done. On Monday I finally got in touch with a vet who informed me that the Humane Society had an EMT service that works seven days a week. I didn't know this at the time, or I would of called them for help before this. So, I just want to tell all of you that such a service does exist so you won't have to go through what my family did, with having our dog suffer when it turns out there was help out there, that we weren't aware of.
     
    pafjlh, Oct 31, 2012
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  3. dashboardc33

    dashboardc33 Well-Known Member

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    Oh, it is so terrible isn't it? I had no idea that the Humane Society has a EMT service that is available everyday. This is very useful information for us all in case we are ever in that situation where we need to find a vet ASAP. I wonder if this is the case in all states and locations?
     
    dashboardc33, Oct 31, 2012
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  4. dashboardc33

    Victor Leigh Well-Known Member

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    The closest I have been to such a situation was when Benjamin got an ingrown toenail. In normal circumstances, he wouldn't let me touch his paws. Somehow he picked up this phobia from his previous owner. Anyway, after seeing him limp for a few days, I had to do something about it. So I wrapped a thick cloth around my arm, caught hold of his sore paw and used a dog nail-clipper to cut off the ingrown nail. It healed in just a few days.
     
    Victor Leigh, Nov 1, 2012
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  5. dashboardc33

    Melody Well-Known Member

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    I had one incident with Misha that almost proved deadly. My Dad was in his final days. He had been in the hospital for a week, and then, needed emergency surgery. I was not well the day of surgery and stayed home with family calling me with updates.

    About 11 am, I noticed Misha's cheek was a little swollen. She was 1 year old at the time. I did not think much of it. I figured she had bumped into the table or something. A couple of hours later, I noticed her other cheek was swollen. This was strange. But, she didn't seem bothered by it, so I didn't really think about it. I had a lot on my mind!

    She had dinner and went to her nap. Around 7pm, I got the word that my Dad was out of surgery. I was relieved about him (though he eventually died 4 days later) and worried about Misha. Her face was swollen at this point. I don't drive, so I was stuck at home while everyone was at the hospital. I called the emergency vet and they gave me information on what to look for if her situation changed. I knew by this point she was having an allergic reaction. I didn't have transportation and I did not have Benadryl or anything like it to give her. All I could do was watch her.

    Misha woke up again around 9pm. She was much worse. She was swollen from head to tail and she was itching all over. At this point, I knew she needed to get to emergency fast. I hated to do it, but I called my sister. She and her husband drove me to the emergency clinic. After spending all day worrying about my Dad, we were at the clinic another 2 hours.

    They found a bump just under Misha's collar. She had been bitten by a spider and she was allergic to it. They told me that if we had waited much longer she might not have survived it because the reaction was so severe. She was much better the next day, though dopey from the medications. Other people have told me their dogs have had allergic reactions to bites. In most cases their dog was fine on their own the next day. Not Misha.

    Since then, she has had an allergic reaction to a wasp bite as well. Now, I keep Benadryl on hand just in case. I don't ever want to go through that again!
     
    Melody, Nov 5, 2012
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  6. dashboardc33

    OhioTom76 Well-Known Member

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    Yes, towards the end of my coonhounds life, she would sometimes collapse to the floor and be struggling to breathe and start foaming at the mouth. Every time this happened, we thought this was it and she was passing. It really freaked me out because no matter how much I tried to be prepared for that day, I felt helpless when it was happening. She had heart problems and towards the end, this started happening more frequently. She just had this frightened look in her eyes like she didn't understand what was happening.
     
    OhioTom76, Nov 5, 2012
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  7. dashboardc33

    Victor Leigh Well-Known Member

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    It's not easy to be with your beloved pet to the very end. It's really heart-wrenching to see it still struggle to live even to the last breath. Some people think that it's better to put it to sleep. I rather think that the beloved pet would very much prefer to be with us to the last breath, naturally.
     
    Victor Leigh, Nov 6, 2012
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  8. dashboardc33

    haopee Well-Known Member

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    That is scary. I'm not sure if this helps but aside from Benadryl, you could also feed her lots of sugar because it will help in lessening the allergic reaction.

    I used to be allergic to all types of seafood so I would have Celestamine ( an antihistamine) in my wallet all the time. However, whenever I don't have any, I would buy a bottle of coke or eat ice cream or chocolates or candies just to lessen the reaction (especially since my throat often gets constricted and my mouth and neck will itch like hell). Good thing you were able to bring her to the vet.

    Mine would be when one of my first dogs died. Her name was Twitch and she was special because she was the descendant of our very very first dog. She was heaving and having a hard time breathing. We didn't know what to do. Veterinary clinics were closed and it was late at night. I told myself that we were going to take her there first thing in the morning. We had no choice but to hear her heaving for her breath. After an hour of endless heavy breathing, she collapsed and blood flowed out her mouth like water. My partner didn't even allow me to go see her because he was concerned how I'd react

    Later I found out that she had the Parvo virus. This was the first time I heard of it. And from then on, I always made sure that every pup that goes our way gets vaccinated. Unfortunately, Shark followed her because I made the stupidest decision. Believing in what the vet said that Shark would not catch the virus since he was no longer a puppy.
     
    haopee, Nov 7, 2012
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  9. dashboardc33

    Victor Leigh Well-Known Member

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    Yes, Parvo is really a killer. And it can kill so unexpectedly. Vaccination can help but it's not a guaranteed protection against Parvo. I can still remember the day I lost two Persian kittens and a Chinchilla kitten all in one day, although all of them had been vaccinated.
     
    Victor Leigh, Nov 7, 2012
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  10. dashboardc33

    Jessi Well-Known Member

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    There have actually been several times. For example:

    We had a puppy that got his head stuck in a peanut butter jar. We cut off the end so he didn't suffocate, but it was quite a while before we could actually get the ring off around his neck.

    Our current dog was sick a couple years ago and couldn't even walk or stay standing. There was absolutely nothing to be done and he did get better on his own, but we tried everything in the meantime.
     
    Jessi, Nov 7, 2012
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  11. dashboardc33

    pafjlh Well-Known Member

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    Its definitely something you should look into and find out about. I know it could of saved my family a whole lot of grief along with poor Rocky had we known about this service. But as I said so many of us don't know such a service is provided, and its important information. I wish the Humane Society would advertise this service to communities so people would know its out there for them to use.
     
    pafjlh, Nov 7, 2012
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