Life with the Allens: Goodbye Sweet Baby Girl

The unthinkable happened. Sweet baby Neely passed away a couple of nights ago. "She is now playing with Alex in heaven" says Miller. We had only had her for 3 days, but we already loved her so much. She was probably one of the most adorable things I had ever seen. It is crazy how quick you form a bond with a dog.

We brought her home on Saturday and for two days everything was absolutely perfect. She was a happy, playful little puppy. She would come running (puppy stumbling) every time we called her. She did not seem to miss her litter mates at all. She was already great at walking on a leash and was doing so well pottying outside. Tuesday morning she was her normal self and at 9:00 a.m. I had her first scheduled vet visit for a check up and second round of vaccinations. I took her to the Banfield Vet (Petsmart Vet) on Shepherd. The vet said that she was a perfectly happy, healthy puppy with a great personality - so confident and relaxed. They gave her a Parvo vaccination, a Bordatella vaccination and a gel dewormer up the nose that they give all puppies. I took her home and then left for work. Blake came home for lunch said she was a little sluggish, but that she ate fine and seemed to be normal otherwise. His thought was that she was tired from the big morning she had and left to go back to work around 1:00 p.m.

I wasn't able to get home from work until 5:45 p.m., and when I went to get her there was vomit and diarrhea in her kennel. I called the vet immediately and they said that they close at 7, but that we should try to bring her in. Blake got home at 6:00 p.m., we hopped in the car and drove up there. By this time she had already vomited a couple more times at the house and then a couple of times when I was holding her in the car. She was also shaking pretty bad. The vet thought that she had a reaction to the vaccinations and gave her some benedryl and medicine to ease her stomach for free and sent her home because they were closing. They told us to look for signs she was getting worse and to take her to the ER if any of those things happened. They also offered for us to bring her back the next morning and they would watch her all day to give us some peace of mind. They said they would do that for free. We were home from the vet for about an hour and she had vomited probably 8 or so more times so we went to the ER around 8:00 p.m.

The vet at Gulf Coast Animal Emergency Clinic said that he didn't think it was a reaction to the shots because the medicine they had given her didn't help. He thought it was a gastroenteritis, gave her the first dose of antibiotics with more for us to take home, more medicine to ease her stomach, and gave her a fluid injection so she didn't get so dehydrated. I was shocked that they didn't keep her overnight considering she was so weak and constantly throwing up. $500 later, they sent us home at 10:15 p.m.

Blake decided to sleep on the couch right next to her kennel in case she threw up any more. She was moaning, crying, and acted like she just felt horrible. It was so sad. We felt so helpless because we couldn't do anything else for her. We said that in the morning we would take her back to the vet if she didn't feel any better. Blake fell asleep at about 2:00 a.m. and when his alarm woke him up at 6:00 a.m. he knew it wasn't good because she hadn't made a noise. He checked and she had passed away.

I didn't go to work yesterday because I was so upset. I spent most of the day crying. What in the world happened?! She was a healthy little puppy and then 12 hours later she was deathly ill? Did we do something wrong? Did she eat something poisonous? Did the vet do something wrong? We had so many questions. It was hard not to blame ourselves. We just felt so responsible because we were in charge of taking care of her and raising her.

We took her body to Banfield right when they opened at 7:00 a.m., and asked them to do a necropsy (an autopsy on animals) to see if we could get some answers. We almost took her to the vet we take Jack to/the vet my parents have used for 25 years/the vet we would have used if not for going to Banfield to have them do it for an unbiased opinion, but Banfield had been treating her so we thought they should do it. The vet did the necropsy, for free, and said that her stomach and intestines were filled with a pus like substance and it looked like she had a severe bacterial infection of the gastrointestinal tract. Ultimately, he said that she threw so much of this stuff up that some got in her lungs. When I asked how she could have gotten this infection, he said really from anywhere. Great answer, doc. At least it gave us a little peace of mind that she didn't swallow or eat anything she shouldn't have.

Here is what we have a severe problem with.

1. She was 100% healthy before she went to the vet, and 10 hours later was deathly ill.
2. The vet comped EVERYTHING they did for us including the medication and necropsy, and offered to watch her for 12 hours for free. They had the practice manager get involved as well and do some serious PR damage control. Why would they pay for everything if they thought they didn't do anything wrong?

There is really nothing to do, I mean we aren't going to sue, but we will always wonder how this happened/what really happened. I know that we did the everything in our power to help her, she just couldn't be helped. Her immune system couldn't handle it. We are going to get her ashes and bury her in my mom's backyard next to Moby, my dog growing up, Bo, my cat when I was little, and Max, the cat I got for Christmas in elementary school. What a sad, sad day.

Sweet Miller made us this card the morning she passed away. Such a thoughtful little guy. It's on our fridge!