The Daisy Tragedy
Oct. 27th, 2009 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
columellaThis morning I ran over one of our dogs. I am completely perplexed at how it happened. She was 16 years old and seldom moved off the cushion in her kennel. How she managed to be out on the front driveway at 6:45am is a complete mystery. :(
I backed up to leave for work, I felt a thump about halfway down the driveway and immediately stopped and then heard what sounded like a scream. I jumped out and she was behind the car - I picked her up and brought her in (Guy had run out) - she was pretty unresponsive, her eyes were twitching and that was about it. Checked and our vet opens at 7am, so took there (after calling in to work) and found out they don't have a doctor there until 8am so they sent me to the emergency vet on Belcher. On the way there she arched back, then her legs started twitching. She never made a sound past the scream. By the time I got there, the vet said he heart beat was intermitent and she passed shortly after. The vet was very nice, and said she believed Daisy was pretty much gone from the time it happened, it took about 45 minutes for her body to figure it out, mostly electrical impulse. She was a tough little dog!
She had been fading out slowly. Her eyes were milky from cateracts, she didn't hear most things and would sit and bark to herself (Guy said she was singing) and when she walked her back legs kind of went sideways. She would actually go outside about once a week - you could get her to the backdoor where she would look at the about 1 inch drop and turn around and leave. We used puppy pads for her in the house. She spent about 90% of her time on her big fluffy pillow in her kennel, even being fed there.
So how did she end up on the front driveway? And half way down it, in the dark? I am completely at a loss to figure it out. And now she is gone. In a shoebox (she was only 8 lbs, smaller than some of the cats) and will be buried in the back yard with the gerbils and turtle.
I backed up to leave for work, I felt a thump about halfway down the driveway and immediately stopped and then heard what sounded like a scream. I jumped out and she was behind the car - I picked her up and brought her in (Guy had run out) - she was pretty unresponsive, her eyes were twitching and that was about it. Checked and our vet opens at 7am, so took there (after calling in to work) and found out they don't have a doctor there until 8am so they sent me to the emergency vet on Belcher. On the way there she arched back, then her legs started twitching. She never made a sound past the scream. By the time I got there, the vet said he heart beat was intermitent and she passed shortly after. The vet was very nice, and said she believed Daisy was pretty much gone from the time it happened, it took about 45 minutes for her body to figure it out, mostly electrical impulse. She was a tough little dog!
She had been fading out slowly. Her eyes were milky from cateracts, she didn't hear most things and would sit and bark to herself (Guy said she was singing) and when she walked her back legs kind of went sideways. She would actually go outside about once a week - you could get her to the backdoor where she would look at the about 1 inch drop and turn around and leave. We used puppy pads for her in the house. She spent about 90% of her time on her big fluffy pillow in her kennel, even being fed there.
So how did she end up on the front driveway? And half way down it, in the dark? I am completely at a loss to figure it out. And now she is gone. In a shoebox (she was only 8 lbs, smaller than some of the cats) and will be buried in the back yard with the gerbils and turtle.
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Date: 2009-10-27 08:39 pm (UTC)Wow!
Date: 2009-10-27 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 09:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 09:54 pm (UTC):::hugs:::
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Date: 2009-10-27 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 10:11 pm (UTC)That is one of my fears, that Eric or I will run over one of our dogs. He barrels down the drive with Tripod barking joyfully, leading the way. Then Kisses will body slam Tripod, and we are afraid they will end up under the car,...
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Date: 2009-10-28 12:20 am (UTC)(Oddly enough, Mahie very nearly pulled this same thing last week -- I was backing into the driveway and out of the corner of my eye saw her walk into the backing zone.)
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Date: 2009-10-28 01:33 am (UTC)(I expect it's little consolation, but... since she was fading so it may be possible she was out there because she knew it was close to her "time." I've seen neighbor's elderly dogs that were in bad shape take off from home, apparently looking for a place they could pass on. Might be a deep-seated dog instinct - you wouldn't want to die in the middle of the pack's den because your remains would foul it for them, after all.)
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Date: 2009-10-28 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 02:01 am (UTC)