We lost our little Teddy today...!

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robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
It is with a heavy heart that I share this news with you all...!

Teddy my little mate went from being asleep on the top of my pillow (above my head) at 9:15am this morning to certainly and most unexpectedly start to scream in agony, we were at the vet within 1 hour and for 2 hour's vets could not stabilise him or make him settle a little, the screams were horrific and was decided to stop the animal suffering by only one way possible "Euthanasia" Merissa and I we spend the last minutes holding our much loved pet until no more sounds could be heard.

This is the first time that I/we were put in this type of situation, something that I have dreaded all my life, those of you that have been through this experience understand the hole I feel in my chest and I'm sure Merissa feel no different, after all, Teddy and Zac have been our only companions for about 13 years, we spend 24/7 with them, and where ever we go, they would go.

Unfortunately, while we were dealing with Teddy's issue at the vet, Zac that was in the car (as normal) became also unable to move his rear legs and unable to reach the large water container, the day was about 30C and the can in the shade with windows open but being unable to drink he collapsed when I tried to get him out into the cool clinic, get got heatstroke and I couldn't lift him off the ground, I then call for help and a bunch of vets and nurses came outside to assist, me lifted him and took him straight to the emergency room where he stayed for most of the afternoon.

After some waiting and by now Teddy was taken away to be cremated we were trying to deal with the large bill from Teddy and all of a certain we had our only left pet Zac in the emergency room. The thought of losing both our beloved pets on the same day was as cruel as was shocking.

After some hours, Zac recovered from the heatstroke but he hardly could stand up. Zac hurt his back last year and he was never the same animal again, I have been noticing him tripping over and having difficulty to run around, last weekend we had made the decision to try to make an appointment with the vet to see if there is anything that can be done to help him, Zac will be 14 years old next October, is he a shorthair german Pointer.

The events of today, and the huge bill, as a result, is also telling us that this Friday when the vet is going to see Zac, there will be a bunch of tests, x-ray's and whatever else they can think of building up another huge bill but something is telling me that today, may also be the beginning of the end for Zac, if is going to paralyse his rear legs at his age, we may endup losing Zac also and that though is tough to deal with at the moment so I can say that today, Monday the 18 March 2019 has been a very "difficult" day for both me and Merissa, we only hope that I'm wrong about Zac's future and we can enjoy him a little longer, there is a little hope...!

I apologise for being so long with my sad news and feeling the need to talk a little and share our pain with a few friends we got and most are IAP members, sorry...!

Cheers
George
 

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mark james

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Sep 6, 2012
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Medina, Ohio
Jorge and Merissa. I am so sorry to read this. I remember what I felt in 2017 when I went through this. While the emotions are less intense, the bonding with our "furry family" members is very special. My thoughts are with you both and Zac.
 

Sataro

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Mar 15, 2009
Messages
3,096
Location
Mexia, TX
So sorry to hear about your loss. When I first started to read your post, I was holding my little dog in my lap. Could not get past the first paragraph. I had to shut my browser down. Did come back to it later to finish reading your post. This is always a sad time in our lives when we have to go through this. Time will heal but the memories will always be there.
 

magpens

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Canada
George, sincere condolences to you and Merissa, at this time of Teddy's passing.

I well know the pain you are going through.
 

elkhorn

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Apr 22, 2013
Messages
1,199
Location
Utah
George and Merissa, my condolences on your loss of Teddy. I lost my best buddy of 15 years a few months ago and it is deeply felt. Maybe the pictures posted will help in a small way. Zac will be in our prayers for a full recovery.
 

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penmaker1967

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Jul 8, 2010
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biscoe nc
sorry for your loss George it is rough losing a pet they are just like family members I lost my skipper last oct he was 17 years old but I know he is in a better place and so is your teddy
 

Herb G

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Joined
Nov 13, 2015
Messages
1,461
Location
Southern Maryland
George, it's hard. I've lost a lot of pets over the last 51 years.
Ask the vet for a bereavement rate & they will usually deduct a great amount for your loss.
 

Woodchipper

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Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
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Location
Cleveland, TN
Sorry for your loss. Had a puppy adopt us several years ago. Had him put down as he was having seizures every hour the last few days. Couldn't control himself and had an empty look in his eyes after the seizures.
 

Dr_N

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Jan 19, 2018
Messages
212
Location
St. Charles, MO
So sorry for your loss George. We lost our two pups a couple years ago within months of each other. Like losing a family member [emoji26]
 

SteveG

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Dec 21, 2009
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Location
Eugene, Oregon 97404
I am sorry George and Merissa. I have been where you are. This is one of the toughest things to deal with in life. It would be good to focus on all the great companionship you shared over the years with Teddy, instead of the loss that just happened. (I know you cannot put that out of your mind, of course.)
 

Sly Dog

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Nov 16, 2018
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Location
Boise, Idaho
I still work up a little water thinking about the boys I've lost over the years, but I wouldn't have traded a day with them for anything.

Sorry for your loss.

Russ
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Hi,

Merissa and I, we would like to express our most sincere thank you for all your condolences and positive thoughts about the loss of our 2 old friends and companions of 12 years.

Those that love pets know how attached we get to them and vice versa, when you don't leave the house and spend 24/7 with the animals, we create habits and routines that are hard to ignore, those are the moments where our suffering/pain/sadness hits us hard but life goes on and we will focus on the good times we had with them, a little later we sure.

One other thing that I would like to clarify is on a comment from one of our members about the situation where Vets clinics will give you a considerable discount based on a certain type of request (I forgot what it was called).

If that is valid in the USA, good for you as up here (Australia) regardless of who you are and unless you have good pet insurance, the hip prices are set and that is what you are required to pay on the day and before leaving the clinic, period.

I can tell you a good example of how it works up here, from a Vet clinic that we have been customers since we moved to SA 13 years ago and spent many thousands of dollars with them, the clinic has changed owners about 6 years ago and the dynamics of the clinic have completely changed, they have a bunch of people working in there, more than double of the people working there before so, is not hard to see why they try to suck every dollar they can from you by pushing you to buy this buy that, do this test and the other and something else just in case (as they say), before I get into what happened the day Teddy has passed away, this has been a cause for lots of arguments between me and them and this is why.

Zac, when 3 years old, he broke his right leg tendon and we were advised to give him an injection every 3 months for the Arthritis as they said he would start to develop it after the surgery so and for all these years we would buy 3 syringes at the time filled with the right medication, we/I would give him one every 3 months.

More recently and after all these years doing the same, they decided that they wouldn't give us the medication anymore and that every time Zac was due to another dose, they forced us to make an appointment to see one of the vets, drive there for them to give them the injection.

I would be fairly OK we had to drive there and pay a small fee to have one of the nurses to give him the injection that was costing about $40.00 each and maybe $10.00 or so for the nurse time but now, that was not what they wanted, they wanted us to make the appointment with the vet, that would give them the excuse of charging a minimum of $80.00 plus the injection.

Now, was no need to see a VET, the animal only needed his regular shot that I could give/administrate to him so, when Zac became order and he needed his shot once every month, you can image how I started to feel.

Some of you may say, why didn't change Vets, my answer is simple, first, this clinic knew everything about Zac and Teddy and secondly, a couple of "old" vets that had a clinic at they home residences (old style) have all been bought by the same people that own the 2 clinics (not far apart, 8 miles, next town) we have been using so, they all worked under the same administration/rules and principles, all very young people that want to get rich fast, regardless...!

So, needing to see a Vet was a big issue so when Teddy passed away Zac collapsed in the car due to not be able to reach the water container (his rear legs failed) after waiting hours for them to let us take Zac home, they presented us a bill for the amounts I mentioned previously $1,250.60 but we didn't have all that money with us, we had about $500 in our credit card and some cash at home from some order I had from November to January, wasn't a lot but was shavings we hoped would help us throughout the year.

The problem was, we didn't have the cash with us and even though I explained that I would be able to pay the rest of the bill the following, they didn't care, it had to be paid there and then. Having to deal with all this after what we had been exposed all day was certainly unfair and unnecessary, I was going to do something maybe stupid but then Merissa reminded me that we could ring a couple of friends we have and they may help us, we only needed someone to pay the rest of the bill on the phone/online and I would return that amount in cash the next day to them or make a deposit into their bank accounts.

As annoyed as I was with the clinic and the situation in general and the fact that I had to bother this friend, we were lucky that they were home (after 5:00pm -work) and they did the payment by credit card over the phone so after that, we could leave...!:mad:

Cammon, seriously...?:mad::mad::mad:

Little did I know that we had to deal will these people the very next morning when Zac had to be put to sleep, this time we had some cash with us as the credit card was empty anyway so, we were presented with another bill for $585.00 for Zac, there were no tests of any kind, the Vet saw Zac, confirmed his leg was broken and that we had no other choice than put him to sleep also, he came back with the paperwork and an injection that he injected on Zac's broken leg, he said that it would take all the pains away he then come back with the fatal injections to finish the job, 580 bucks for 20 minutes of his time, bloody hell...!:mad:

Some people asked us, are we going to get a puppy/dog..? the answer was, we don't know...!
We always had at least 1 dog and we miss that interaction very much, we know can we can love a pet and look after them, as good as the best, we have plenty of time for them and we spoil them rotten, what we get from them is irreplaceable by anything else we know BUT, Vet bills/costs is weighing heavily on our minds, when we think about getting at least another pet, we may try a cat even though we are more dog people, we don't know, living all alone in the house, is not easy for us.

I apologise for the long post, some of you may be wondering what is our state of mind at this moment, well friends, this has been it...!

Cheers
George
 
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