loosing Molly

We all had to learn an absolutely wretched lesson this past week. We had to give Molly up to the veterinarian that fell in love with her when I brought her in after a long weekend of literally keeping her alive. She fell ill on Friday. She did not wake us to potty Thursday night so at 6am on Friday I gave her some peanut butter, she ate it and I found comfort in her appetite. She was lethargic, and sad so I called my mom and we agreed that she probably had worms. Levi picked up 2 de-worming kits and sure enough she started to throw up 6-8" worms within a few hours. She was sick all day with worms from both ends. On Saturday she perked up quite a bit. Played a little with Toby and we thought she was going to be fine. Sunday she took a huge turn for the worse. She wouldn't eat or drink and she was vomiting clear fluid constantly. She only had 2 bouts of diarrhea, one in the house that I have had to use bleach on. The other outside. I kept her alive with gatorade/water syringing every hour, I was up all night from Sunday into Monday. I kept her in my bed so I wouldn't have to be up and down (I had back surgery 2 weeks ago; that is another post). I knew she was in bad shape so I took her to a low-cost vet at 9am Monday. He was sure she had an intestinal obstruction and I went to another vet to see if they did emergency surgery, our only option ended up being having to go to the most expensive vet in the state. They took her back and talked to me about her history. I had been forcing liquid and rubbing her gums w/ pure maple syrup to keep her glucose up. Finally the tech came and got me, but could not look at me. I knew it had to be bad. Molly has parvo. Her snap test was navy blue, the most positive her vet had ever seen. She gave us options. Take her home and nurse her but it would be a bloody process (NO WAY, my poor kids...uh-uh). Put her down. Pay for treatment ($2k at least). Release her to be adopted and hope someone would volunteer to pay for her treatment. I chose the last option. It was the best given the circumstances. It was hard. I bawled all day. I was a mess. The vet that evaluated her fell in love with her and told me that she was the one who adopted her (even though she wasn't supposed to tell me anything) and she may call with an update and let me know how Molly did. I don't really want to know if she died so I take no news as good news unless I hear otherwise.

Now Toby girl. Unfortunately she had not been vaccinated for Parvo since she was in the pound before we got her. I took her for shots in April but they only gave her Rabies. I did not know, honest to goodness, about puppy and older dog vaccinations. I have had to learn a VERY hard lesson. Toby isn't allowed in the back yard unless she is peeing and she has to come right back in. Molly only used one part of the yard to poop and pee and it is the opposite of what Toby uses so I watch her carefully and call her right back inside. I am watching her like a hawk to make sure she does not get sick, if she does she will go straight to the animal hospital. She hasn't been drinking much but that is the only thing different with her and it is consistent with the changes around her: no Molly, me being a nervous wreck, and her not having the exercise and free time in the backyard that she has had her whole life. I am adding more water to her food and Levi is picking up some chicken broth. I got her to drink this morning and gave her wet food mixed with a LOT of water and she ate it all. She isn't lethargic or in any other way showing signs of illness. She had a booster (parvo and a bunch of other diseases vaccine) on Monday. She goes the 25th for another booster (and at that point she can go back outside b/c her first vacc. will be effective), she will go 2 weeks after that for another booster because we want to be extra cautious. She isn't out of the woods but every day she doesn't get sick is good. The vet said if she doesn't show signs within 7-10 days of exposure she probably isn't going to get sick and that since she is older she has almost surely been exposed to parvo in her lifetime and has some immunity already. It has been 6 days since Molly got sick and she was contagious at least 3 days before that so we are almost there. This experience has sucked.

Telling the kids about Molly was just awful. Vance took it the hardest, they all cried all afternoon on Monday. They have come around and realized that we had to do it and that it was the best chance for Molly to live. She had unlimited treatment available by being given up and it was what was best for HER, not for us. We will get another dog in a year or so. Parvo can remain in the environment for a very long time. It can be in dirt for 8 years!!! Before we get another dog they have to have 3 rounds of vaccines for parvo before they come home, each 2 weeks apart. We can never get another bitty baby puppy again, it has to be a bit older and have full vaccines. I have bleached the house as much as I can using a spray bottle of bleach water, and we soaked all the bowls/feeding mat, etc in bleach. The spot where Molly had diarrhea in the house I poured the bleach water on it. I had to throw away all my bedding, Toby sleeps with me and it was just too much of a risk. Molly used quite a few towels to throw up in and I had to throw out 10 towels, too. I'll replace the linens eventually, it was that or risk Toby and it wasn't worth it. If she didn't sleep here it would be a different situation, but she does.

Vaccinate and de-worm your dogs! The vet said that right now they are seeing 5-7 dogs a DAY with Parvo. It is a horrible disease, just awful. I will never skip vaccinating again. It's cheap compared to treatment for these diseases that the vaccine protects them from. Giving up Molly was hard but we only had her for 3 weeks. Toby has been our baby and family member for over 2 years; loosing her and knowing it could be prevented would be absolutely awful. I would feel SO guilty. She is fine, so far, but this has been awful. Learn from our lesson. Molly came from a BAD breeder. If she had had all of her shots and been dewormed she would have been fine. My mom took her to the vet one week exactly before she fell ill, it was a shot clinic and the dog next to her had black gook out of its eyes, that dog probably got Molly sick. Or it could have been from another dog that was in that environment, it was the only place she could have picked it up. If she had already had shots before my mom got her she would have been protected. Unfortunately the breeder lied. She was never dewormed, or she would not have had a HUGE load. It is a sad but important lesson. I really want another dog for the kids, either a golden or lab but not right now and not anytime soon. We need to heal and figure out how to fix the backyard. I am thinking about having 8" of new dirt put down, that would help. Over the whole yard but I'm not sure how much it would cost, or putting down sod. I need to ask the vet which would be best. We will miss Molly, but I find comfort knowing I did what was best for her, and what was best for Toby. Molly would have needed to be quarantined for another month, and doing that with 2 dogs? No thanks.

Keep Toby in your thoughts. If she falls ill she will be treated immediately and aggressively.