Goodbye, Bosco. - Page 3

Reliya, your 1yr old?!?! I am *SO* sorry...how awful. Can't really find anything else to say and I know from experience it won't help anyway. Horrible.

Yes, the one year old. I brought him inside, he was all tail wags and energy. I took an hour nap, and I found him on his side in his urine, foaming at the mouth and struggling. My only truck was hit the day before (most likely totaled), so I had to wait for my mom to get to my house to get him to the vet. The surgery was successful, apparently his stomach corrected itself beforehand, but he never woke up from the anesthesia. I keep thinking that if I got him there sooner, he'd still be here. I spent all my money on his surgery, too, so I'm having a tough time. Not just mentally, but monetarily as well.

 

I edited this so it makes sense. My phone auto corrected some things wrong.

 

 

If his stomach corrected itself, what was the surgery for? Did he have torsion long enough that intestine had to be removed due to becoming necrotic? Torsion is bad enough at any age, but you just do not expect to lose a 1yr old to it. How devastating.

Reliya....so very sorry for your loss.

Reliya, I am heartbroken for you...please, please, do not torture yourself in the belief that getting him to the vet sooner would have made for a different outcome. From what you've described, I suspect things would have been no different even if you had been standing in the vet's office when the entire episode began; this doesn't seem to be a time-related loss, but rather just one of those awful, tragic things that happen sometimes to living creatures of all species.

Unfortunately, when there is a bloat and torsion situation, even if the condition is reversed immediately there are still things that have been set in motion which can take the dog from us--the twisting of the stomach causes strain on the walls of several of the major blood vessels, and at least temporarily cuts off the circulation in those vessels, which can result in blood which was prevented from circulating during that time pooling and then clotting somewhere else in the body. When the blockage is removed and the blood begins to circulate again, such clotting may then break free and lodge in the heart or a lung, and the dog can be lost on the operating table, or as even several days after surviving the surgery. Bloating also affects the heart rhythm and blood pressure, and once it disturbs those it can be difficult to get those functions back to normal and have them remain so...in some cases, dogs have been lost to the arrhythmia as much as a week after the bloating event.

I know none of this makes it any easier to try and cope with; bad enough that your sweet, fluffy fellow was taken from you this way, and you spared no expense trying to save him, on top of your only means of transportation getting totaled out...I imagine you are inconsolable beyond words at this point. I wish there were something that any one of us could say or do to ease the heartache; knowing that others have and maybe are right now standing in the same shadow does help a little, though, as you're finding out.

You gave Bosco a great life, and he wanted for nothing...and he knew he was the light of your eyes. Dogs live in the immediate moment, and he never knew anything but love from the moment you stepped into his life. That's something to be proud of, and something to wrap around you like a blanket as you grieve for him--and he deserves to be grieved for.

Don't let anyone tell you, 'it was just a dog'--people who say that have no soul, and you should avoid them as much as possible. Bosco was your dog, and he will always be your dog. We're all manifestations of energy, and energy is eternal; it doesn't disappear, it merely changes forms.

The vet said that the stomach was twisted at the time of the xray because the xray showed gas had escaped into his chest and they thought it twisted and ruptured, but once he was opened up, they said it had corrected itself. There was a small hole in his stomach. The vet said that he looked better than what he expected and everything went well, so I went home. By the time I arrived home, he'd already passed away.

You know, I didn't want to say anything much because there really isn't anything anyone can say, BUT hexe's post is so well-written...geez she is good. So good.

The only good that came of losing my horse to a blood clot days after a very successful surgery was that I realized I could stop feeling guilty and second-guessing what happened with Caleb. Torsion is a nasty, nasty beast that robs young, healthy, vibrant animals for no reason we can ascertain. Again, I am soooo sorry you were robbed of Bosco so young.

Thank you, Hexe and Jenni. I'm getting better. It's just so hard to lose your friend, especially when it's so abrupt. It's difficult, but I keep telling myself that I need to continue to go about my life normally. Bosco and I will see each other again one day. I've also got to be strong for my family. My siblings are taking the loss badly because they're still children, so cheering them up helps with my grief. My poor sister stayed with me at the vet and got the news he'd be fine, so she's been crying all day at school over his loss.

Awww, that is hard for a kid. So hard to rationalize. I remember mine was so shocked when the horse died because he didn't know anything young could die- rough realization for little ones.

They know that I'll be there for them. Thankfully, the young ones are resilient because they don't fully understand, but my sister needs TLC.