[VENT] Asshole owners who abandon their dogsDog Talks

Sorry for the long pissed off post to come but needed to get this out before I explode. Appreciate any kind thoughts, words, prayers, all the good stuff.

Context: I had submitted an application to my local SPCA awhile back so when I finally got the call of a dog that could potentially match me, I was thrilled. I adopted a 7 year old mixed breed about a month ago that had been dumped at the SPCA. I was also told she was recently spayed by the SPCA. From the looks of it, she may have had some litters in the past. She's overweight and had developed cataracts in one eye but otherwise, is a good-natured, loving, overall perfect dog in my eyes. The SPCA did not mention any further medical worries I should look out for.

After I brought her home, I did everything possible to make sure she never had to experience something as traumatic as being abandoned again, especially at her age, by spending maximum time with her, buying her all of the best stuff and even cooking her fave meals sometimes (she liked some boiled chicken and vege mixed in w her wet food). Absolute picky eating princess but hey, I committed and I'm determined to give her a great rest of her life.

Anyway, fast forward a week or two later, she starts eating smaller and smaller amounts of her food. She was still eating so I attributed it to her pickiness so tried to switch up her meals and see if I could find something she liked more. Plus, I had a vet visit coming up at the SPCA so I could ask some follow up questions then. I even texted the lady who introduced her to me at the center to make sure I didn't miss any GI issues etc.

Vet visit came. He said all seems well. Gave her some deworming meds and her next vaccine shot. I was quite alarmed though that it seems she had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time but when I voiced this concern, we agreed it could be all the new exercise I introduced. We go for proper walks twice a day and her food quality improved as well so seems legit.

A week after that, she starts vomiting. Red flag. I voiced this to the same lady mentioned above and she said we should monitor here and maybe give some probiotics. Totally possible she had eaten some funky stuff on our walks. Fair.

Then, her appetite is completely gone. I tried more brands of dog food. Cooked more meals. Nothing. Zero food and lots of water. But she had no other symptoms. She's energetic, coat is shiny and still the cutest thing in the world. I didn't feel good by now as you can imagine especially since the loss of appetite is followed with more vomiting. So I called the vet to come check her out at home.

Vet shared my concerns but she wonders if it was just a bacterial infection of some sort since again, she seems completely normal so far except the two symptoms above. She prescribes some meds and supplements, and I agreed to keep monitoring her.

2 days later, I'm really freaking out now. She hasn't eaten (STILL) but I see she's less excited for walks and still vomiting. I take her to the clinic to run some tests and everyone at the clinic fell in love with her because she really is the sweetest. Results come back and her kidney parameters are through the roof. The new vet suspect she may have had chronic kidney issues because the numbers are really sky high here. I felt devastated on her behalf. I have some medical background and I know this isn't something that just goes away. I'm beating myself up wondering how long she's been suffering in silence since she's the type to do that. After agreeing on a new course of treatment, we warded her for the weekend and the new vet will update me on Monday to see if I can pick her up and start another new treatment/diet course. As I walk away from her, she gave me these sad eyes and fam, when I say my heart was absolutely crushed, I mean it. I promised that she would never feel abandoned again but here I was, walking away when she was in pain and when she needed me most.

After processing all of this, I am just so angry that I created a Reddit account for the sole purpose of needing to let all of these emotions out and tbh this subreddit had help me a lot when I first adopted her. I've talked to friends about this too but I am honestly still so pissed off. I'm mad at the old owner for leaving her behind and not bothering to give her regular checkups. He/she/they couldn't be bothered to leave a note like, "btw she has kidney issues so make sure she gets special food" when they dumped her if they knew? She could've been put on a diet earlier on so she wouldn't suffer and be able to extend years to her life. I'm mad at the SPCA for not running a basic blood test and letting me know she had these issues (which I also find really sus since they had to guess her age and she had gotten spayed by them, is it not common to run this sort of test beforehand?), not because I would've changed my mind (I know what I was signing up for when I adopted an older dog) but again, I could've prevented her from having a hell of a week of vomiting and not eating and being put on unnecessary meds. Also sidenote, I updated the SPCA chick about my dog's latest condition since she gave me this sob story of how much she loved her and it broke her heart that I'm taking the dog home when I first came to adopt my dog, and she read my message without replying(SO MUCH FOR LOVING HER). Kinda mad at her other vets too for not taking my concerns more seriously. I get they can only do so much but still at her age, wished they were a bit more proactive here. I recognize I'm just mad right now and want to find people to blame but yeah.

I cried all day because I do love her and am so worried about what comes next. If the treatment doesn't improve her condition, what next? Anyone has any experience w this? Do I have weeks or months or years with her? Would she suffer more as time goes by? Everyone is telling me that I shouldn't think of the worst and be positive and I wish I could but I'm sure some of you can relate w how strongly we feel about our dog babies and I'm feeling really lost right now.

Anyway, thanks for reading my super long post and wish you a better day than mine. You deserve to be happy, friend. Stay safe, stay healthy.

Submitted November 07, 2020 at 01:27PM by aaf_bn https://ift.tt/38mrSt0