Maggie - Page 1

A childhood friend just lost her sweet female Maggie. I still can not believe how terribly sad this situation is. This must be heartbreaking for her and her family. I still can not believe that the authorities can just come to your house and take your dogs, Scary to think.... 


http://katietalkscarolina.com/maggie-deserved-a-longer-life/

RIP Maggie.  : (

What a horrible ordeal. I wish I never read the story. My heart breaks for your friend Ruger.
Tell her Please do not blame herself, the fault lies at the animal control people.
Most of them people REALLY do not have the best interest of the animals in their hearts.
The Philadelphia SPCA allowed my sisters dogs to suffer immensely while my sister was fighting for her own life.
That story really broke my heart.

Ruger, I'm sorry for your friend's sorrow, and for this poor dog's loss of her life. 

This is one of the reasons it's vitally important to be SURE one's dog's rabies vaccination is ALWAYS current.  Had the two dogs been current on their shots, they would likely have been permitted to do a home quarantine, and the whole anesthesia/spay situation would not have arisen.  While I do feel badly for your friend, she did, in fact, fail Maggie--had that accidental bite been to someone other than your friend or someone in her the family, there's a good chance that Maggie would have been euthanized immediately because she wasn't current...

Anesthesia deaths aren't very common these days, but they do still happen; sometimes, it's an underlying disease that wasn't yet showing clinical signs to the point where the owner had noticed them, while sometimes there's no clear reason--the dog simply has a fatal reaction to the anesthetic agents. It's always a shock to everyone involved--the owners, the veterinarians, the technicians and the office staff, none of them see these sad events coming. 

I hope that Maggie's death, though not directly the result of her overdue rabies vaccination, helps serve as a reminder that these animals rely on US to keep them safe, and part of the responsibility is to ensure the animals are in compliance with whatever laws exist that can be used against them.

Sadly, Ruger, when it comes to lapsed rabies vax, the authorities don't--and really, CAN'T--cut anyone any slack if there's been a bite, even when the bite is accidental or justified.  The public health end of the issue locks that up tight--despite the one or two cases in humans where the patient DID recover, the norm is still death [and an awful one at that].

I can't help but wonder, too, if it's possible that Maggie was heartworm +, since both she and the other dog had expired rabies vax, which suggests they hadn't been seen by their vet in a few years, and most vets don't renew HW scripts more than every other year without a negative test... Were she positive, that would have played a significant role in the anesthesia risk. :(

Poor Maggie...she looks like she was a very loving, very fun dog to have around, too.

Hex, I think the whole ordeal was completely unjustified..///

The authorities ought to find better things to do then to snatch family pets away from their owners because of an over due rabies renewal. 

The "rabies law"concern" does not impress me one bit... I think the powers that be could use some common sense and discretion when applying these laws. This was a healthy family pet with no signs of illness that lived in a new city suburb development.,,,Yeah I know anything is possible ~~a rabid racoon could be stalking the neighborhood and bit the dog ~~and rules are rules, but the rules still suck and where not appplied well in this situation,,,

When I think of the money and time the "authorities" spent on removing these family pets from their home it makes me angry. Those resources could have been put to much better use at the animal shelter caring for unloved dogs with "real" medical issues. JMO..

Very sad. BTW, the authorities don't care. They do what they want even when there are laws that clearly allow things. Wouldn't Maggie still have been protected against rabies or is it the second the shot is due that the protection is gone? What a joke.

I really feel for this family what a shame and a sham.

I feel badly for this family, and for this dog, too.

The problem is simple, however.  Yes, the dog probably would still have been protected against rabies.

Probably.

But rabies is a fatal disease. Public health officials simply cannot risk that this dog is the ONE dog that was not able to generate a durable immune response from her prior vaccinations, AND she was also exposed to aerosolized saliva from a bat that had gotten into the house without her owners finding it before it crawled off into a crevice and died, and thus the dog became infected.  That's simply not a risk any public health official is going to take. It's a risk that many of us will say we WANT them to take, to err on the side of the law of averages, because we all feel badly that this poor dog lost her life as a result of a simple mistake on her owner's part--a mistake that any of us may make, may have made in the past, even.  But I guarantee that the public outcry for the heads of the PHO who DOES make such an allowance, and it leads to people being unnecessarily exposed to rabies and having to undergo treatment, or worse yet, dying of the disease, will be far, far more outraged and yes, rabid, than anything that will arise over Maggie's death.

And keep in mind, too, that the dog wasn't euthanized by Animal Control, wasn't euthanized by anyone, actually--this unfortunate death could have just as easily happened on the operating table of Maggie's usual vet, during an elective surgery like this spay, or during an emergency surgery to stitch her up if Maggie had sustained some serious bite wounds during her scrap with her housemate.

There were a lot of ways this dog's death could have been avoided, and several of those ways were entirely under the control of Maggie's owner.  Again. I do feel badly for the family, for the dog, and for everyone involved...because if you think for a minute that the animal control staff and the vet's staff don't feel awful about Maggie dying, you're wrong--a nice, happy dog always wins hearts of all but the most black-hearted of people, and if any one of them could have done one thing differently that would have prevented this loss, they would have gladly done so.  But ultimately, the die was cast when the dogs' rabies vaccinations were overlooked.  The minute that happens, we put our dogs lives in peril, because they're DOGS, and the possibility that they might bite someone--or even just be ACCUSED of biting someone--exists every second of the day.

It is a tragedy, of that there is no doubt, and I, too, wish it hadn't happened. I also wish the English Setter that fell through the ice and drowned after she bolted from her owners to chase a squirrel had been found before she drowned in that icy water. I wish a lot of things, but it changes none of it.

I can tell you that it is unlikely Ruger's friend is going to ever be able to change the laws surrounding dog bites and expired rabies vaccinations, because of the public health tie-in. She can try, but she's going to be sorely disappointed, and the effort isn't going to bring her any peace.

Better she put her efforts toward getting her community to sponser annual rabies vaccination clinics, using some of the monies collected for pet licensing, so people don't find themselves forgetting to schedule their dog for a booster, and those who find themselves out of work and can't afford the cost of a full vet visit can at least have their animals protected against both the disease AND being impounded in bizarre situations such as the one which Maggie became ensnared.  THAT campaign would probably succeed, and it would be a fitting memorial to Maggie.

Scare tactics..

The fleas and ticks on the average yard squirrel are a much more likely cause for public concern. I am a medical professional as well Hex, and I know the hype that the medical field can stir up when people don't comply with their "holy regime" of vaccination. screening. ect,,ect..

Maggie's death was proceeded by 10 days a quarantine in a strange, stressful environment; estranged from her owners,,,That 's the tragedy!!...It makes my heart ache actually..I am not suggesting the vet staff was negligent in their practice during the spay procedure..On the other hand I know this family had the financial ability to do an autopsy and I wish they had as it might have been telling...

No matter what spin is put on this topic my mind is made up. The system that caused Maggie and her family this tragedy was NOT motivated strictly by public safety issues~~Give me a brake~~...This was about compliance with laws and ordinances that are rigid and thoughtless... Some of the current standards/ordinances are practicing under research that is faulty at best and many times is agenda motivated...~$$

.I had a stray cat bite me while fighting with my resident cat...My veterinarian told me to be very careful about infection and said " it happens to us all the time",,~~FWIW my vet comes from a medical Dr. family~~,This cat was a stray with no history!!,,The veterinarian practice is young and progressive. However, they do not motivate their public/clients with scare tactics!..Practicing with the rare 1% in mind is not good practice IMO..The stray has been part of our family for 5 years now. No quarantine, no drama,,  ...There is too much controversy around the subject of rabies vaccinations duration/strength``  too much to warrant taking a beloved family pet away from its owners under Maggie's specific circumstances~~..

The system failed this family and this dog,,I don't know what Katie will decide to do. I doubt she is up to changing the world and it's bogus laws ~~I think she is grieving personally and consoling her kids...It is easy to say the blame lies with an expired rabies vacc, but that would be extremely naive IMO,,,
Hex I rarely disagree with you, but I do here...:) I am hoping not to make a practice of it..lol..