Friday, December 28, 2007

Dear Sweet Eddie...

Heavy hearts today as I've just learned about the tragic passing of my dear friend Jenn's beloved Eddie. Please keep the family and Eddie in your thoughts and prayers, as he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge yesterday. I hope Jenn doesn't mind, but I wanted to copy and paste part of her email here for all my fellow doggy parents to read and keep in mind. This is very, very scary... and so tragic.

Jenn's own words, edited for blog...

On Christmas night around 9:00, I gave him a 'special treat' and within 45 minutes he was acting weird & sick. We chalked it up to him just getting a tummy ache from it and it not agreeing with him. Turns out, it caused massive bloat and then his stomach twisted, otherwise known as "canine torsion'. He was completely fine until I gave him that and then boom! a sick dog he was. At 6:30 am he made this moan and we knew it had to be more than stomach upset. Off to the vet we went. They did xrays and found that his stomach had 'turned' but not twisted, and said we got there just in the nick if time. They drained his stomach and all this gunk came out including chunks of the treat--which by the way was supposedly 100%natural, digestible, wholesome etc.. and it was from Trader Joes, made in the USA. The vet said we were not totally out of the woods, but thought he would be ok, he just needed to be observed for 24 hours because once a dog has bloat, their stomachs can twist. So....off to the emergency clinic in we went. They took him in and did more xrays, and found that on the ride there his stomach did in fact twist. Our options came down to emergency surgery with only a 5% chance of success and most likely a re-occurrence of torsion again, along with a long rehabilitation and other problems associated with it. So, we did the most painful thing and had to put him to sleep. Oh my God....it seriously was one of the worst days of my life. Big breed dogs are particularly prone to this. Some signs are lethargy, lots of drool, or laying with front paws drawn inward. There are many things that can cause it and our vet seems to think that there was something in this treat. He also said that since the symptoms mimic just stomach upset most often dogs will die right in their homes because owners are unaware. scary. Also, you might want to feel your dog's abdomen and belly area now, so that if anything like this happens you'll be able to notice any bloat for comparison. Heres a link so you can read about it-- if I had only know about this bloat stuff before.

Also, for those interested in what the treat was, Jenn said it was a beef stick, NOT rawhide. A 100% natural, digestible treat that was twisted and kind of looked like a pigs ear does. They contacted Trader Joes and the maker of the treat. Trader Joes in Tynsgsboro, MA said they went out and pulled them from the shelf, so hopefully the manager really did pull them.

My heart aches for Jenn and her family... and for dear sweet Eddie. He will surely be missed, but I can only take comfort in hoping that he found his sweet little sister Shanie waiting for him when he crossed the Rainbow Bridge...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

How terrible! My heart goes out to Jenn and her family. I am so sorry to hear of the loss of Eddie. I can only imagine how she feels. All she wanted to do was give her dog a treat and this is what happened? I hope that Trader Joes and the manufacturer look into this. I am sure it is not an isolated incident.

Dianne said...

Tragic. From a special treat, no less. How sad. You do the very best you can for your babies, and something like this happens. So awful. [[[Hugs]]] to Jenn.

Sonya said...

Oh what a terrible thing to have happened. I will keep Jenn and her family in my thoughts and prayers.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh... Tears... Bloat can be THAT simple. Bassets are prone to it too, and the emergency vet tried to convince us (pre-arrival)that Fred suffered from it. I am sick and sad for her, and I hope that Trader Joes and the manufacturer are taking this VERY seriously.

Laurin said...

what a sad thing to happen, and at this time of the year. we have had to deal with this so many times too with our pets - but I have to think it's worth the time we get to spend with our babies, no matter how painful it is. can't imagine life without animals in it. hugs to you and to Jenn.

Anonymous said...

Im very sorry to hear this! My heart goes out to Jenn.

Natalie Rush said...

That is so sad. I hope that Jenn and her family are ok. I'm so sorry to hear of her loss.

Anonymous said...

Nichole, Thanks so much for posting about my love bug Eddie. We are missing him terribly and I hope your post will enlighten and alert dog owners on the danger of bloat. Perry was very touched that you wrote about our Ed.
Thanks for the sweet e-mails too..
xo Jenn

Anonymous said...

Nichole, Thanks so much for posting about my love bug Eddie. We are missing him terribly and I hope your post will enlighten and alert dog owners on the danger of bloat. Perry was very touched that you wrote about our Ed.
Thanks for the sweet e-mails too..
xo Jenn

Criquette said...

Nichole, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's loss, especially from giving him a treat. Lots of hugs to her and to you for making us aware of this potential problem.

Kris said...

I send my love and regrets to Jenn and her family. But thanks so much for posting about that information. I'd never heard about bloat and it's thrown me into protection mode for my dog. So, really, thanks for the link. Hopefully a lot more people will become aware of bloat.

O2SeeNIN said...

This is really really sad. Ugh. Bloat is really a scary thing. I am familiar with it in my guinea pigs.. I had a scare with one of them recently (bloat can be common and fatal in pigs)...I did a baseline feel on my all my pigs after that..after reading this, now I am going to take the advice and baseline a feel on Echo's stomach. I've been feeding him all kinds of natural treats too..seems like the right thing to do...??no junk from China..ugh. Thoughts are with your friend Jenn.

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