had to say goodbye to my beloved companion
By Erin88
@Erin88 (348)
United States
May 9, 2009 2:28pm CST
I had to put my 7-year-old dachshund to sleep on Thursday. She was paralyzed and could not control the back part of her body. We are unsure whether she injured herself when she went out in our yard, or if it was a genetic condition. Our vet told us it is more common among dachshunds, but said that it usually happens to ones that are overweight. The vet didn't think it was right to keep her alive in that state. I know it was probably the right decision, but I miss her so much. Has anyone else lost a pet and had a difficult time grieving? Do you have any suggestions that will make it easier?
2 responses
@Ozarkgirl (774)
• United States
9 May 09
I am so sorry to hear this and wish I would have known about this because I have some news that you are not going to like to hear.
I have a 9 year old dachshund, and a little over a year ago she also became paralized, and when I took her to the vet I was told to either take her to the University where they can do the corrective surgery for her that cost $3500.00 or put her down.
Well you see when I was in college I worked as a Vet Tech, and the Vet I worked for had a dog that was paralized from being hit by a car. The vet saved his dog and the vet I worked for is the one that built and pattened the dog wheel chair.
I told my husband this and he looked the design up on the net, and he built her one, and we gave her a baby aspirin to her every 4-6 hours to keep her pain free, placed her on a heating pad, and then put her in the tub to do water therapy, and my husband (who was an occupational therapist in the army) massaged her muscles and to re-setimulate her nerves.
Over the next 4 months she slowly started moving her toes, feet, and then legs. So after 4 months she got back full mobility and was pain free. I took her back the to jerk that told me to put her down if I could not afford the surgery, and showed her how my dog healed, and she took xrays and say how everything had healed.
Not many vets know you can do this, and therefore they suggest putting them down if you can not afford the surgery. I have decdied to write an article about this and put it on my Blog to try to help others and spread this knowledge.
I am so sorry to hear about your loss, I am a BIG animal lover, we currently have 5 dogs....lol. I will pray that your loss and heart heels. God Bless!!
@countrygal57 (69)
• United States
27 Dec 09
Erin, I am so sorry for your loss. We lost our Pomeranian, more than a year ago, she was 9 years old and had a heart attack. We still miss her. We now have a one year old Dachshund, Molly and love her so much!
Ozarkgirl, Posting your experience on your blog will surely help many others who have or may have a Dachshund who may become injured. Dachshunds, seem to be very prone to back injures, they have no fear of climbing and jumping off furniture, porches, etc. Our Dachshund is always scaring us, we are so afraid she will climb on something when we are not home and hurt herself. Your blog article will benefit many Dachshund owners.
@megumiart (3771)
• United States
9 May 09
My dog wasn't a dachshund, but I had to put him down too, just last week.
He was in a lot of pain and I didn't want to make him suffer anymore.
I love him very, very dearly and it's very hard for me to go on.
My gramdma gave me a stuffed animal that looked just like him the first Christmas after we adopted him. I still have that stuffed animal, and I put my dog's ID tags on it's collar, and sleep with it every night.
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