I lost my 9 year old Finley today and it all happened in the space of a week.  He had a large mass that was cancerous although that is not what he died from.  The prognosis was not good but we believe it was vet error.  We were just not ready.  He brought love and joy to everyone.  We will never forget you.

Having put one down last fall, I know the feeling. It's just not fair that their lives are so short and we love them so much.

I'm sorry ... no matter how it works, it hurts ...

I am so sorry for you loss - so sudden someone's hard to take in. Hugs to you and yours.

Thank you both. I have not been here much but I know from the very beginning that both of you have been here. What's really hard for me is it did not have to happen this soon. Five years ago Finley had a bulla which is a tiny hole in his lung. It was surgically repaired but they mentioned to us that it could happen again. So for the next 4 plus years he has been great but about a month ago his eating habbits changed. Still eating but something was off. Then I noticed he was panting a lot so I started to worry about a bulla. Four years ago with his bulla he had a cough and was spitting up a clear fluid and that was not going on this time but I wanted to be sure. I bring him to the ER vet which is now curbside, rude and impersonal. They need an xray and then need it to be read so I wait in my car for 6 hours and they finally call me in to speak with the vet. There is NO air in his chest at all but there is a large mass and its large and most likely cancer. They need more tests to find out if it can removed. On tuesday I leave him there all day and they do a CT scan and they poke him with a needle to get a sample of the mass. We now talk to a different vet who shows us the CT photos and says it maybe able to be removed but the sample they took needs to be sent out of state. Take him home for a few days and wait until we get results. We get home and he panting far worse than ever and now he is coughing and spitting up that clear fluid again like last time. Next day Wednesday I bring him back and they need an xray again. Another 5 hours in the car and this time they did not need to send it out they could see his chest was full of air. So no air sunday just a mass but now a chest full of air after the CT scan and then the needle stick. For the next two days my buddy suffered there. Removing air, a chest tube and then there was nothing we could do except put him through a surgery he may not survive. So the last vet we saw on his very last day when we had to put him down talked to us for a long time. He said he could say for sure that they did not cause the air leak when they did the needle sample. I know they did. No air or coughing on Sunday, just a mass and then after the test the lungs are leaking air into his chest. So what they did was take the last few weeks we could have spent with him at home and they made him suffer for 3 day with procedures that were painful.

On wednesday after his xray the staff girl comes out to my car and says the xrays are back and the vet will call you in a minute. I said, what? Call me? I'm 20 feet from your door. I don't want a phone call I want face to face. And she had an attitude about it and I would not stand for it. And she said, if you are unhappy with our care you can take your dog somewhere else. This was not a vet or a tech but a staff person who brings pets in from cars. Finley was in bad condition and I'm 20 feet from the room and you want to call me? I let her have it and I did get to see the vet face to face.

We gave Finley nothing but the best of care in everyway and it breaks my heart to now it had to end like this. Yes he had cancer but he probably had a few weeks left where we could have prepared for it and had it done in the comfort of his own home instead of all the stress that they caused us.

It may seem like im venting but im not really posting this to vent. Im posting it so maybe someone else may not experience this like we did. Things are not normal right now in the US. From going grocery shopping to seeing a Dr. to having your car worked on. Things are not normal. People seem over worked and stressed and over the top rude. Thanks for listening.

Whether you're here everyday or just once in a while, you're part of the forum. And when someone has to put their friend to sleep, we all hurt 'cause we've all been in your shoes.

I'm not going to try to be an apologist for the vet or staff and I'll agree that life in the US is becoming weirder by the month. There aren't enough people in the professions (whichever profession) and those who are there are overworked and stressed and that doesn't make it any easier on anyone. Did they do something that hastened his death, I'd like to hope that they would be professional enough to know and acknowledge it if they did. But some aren't and in the end, you'll never really know.

Even though you don't want to be in this place, at this time - you are and there's nothing you can do. It's going to be a hard few months (I'm still grieving ...) but it will get better. You'll start to remember the good times you and he had and the end will begin to fade - it'll never go away but maybe it'll gradually hurt less over time.

You have my sincerest sympathy. Take time for you and remember those good times.

aljones wrote:

Whether you're here everyday or just once in a while, you're part of the forum.  And when someone has to put their friend to sleep, we all hurt 'cause we've all been in your shoes.

I'm not going to try to be an apologist for the vet or staff and I'll agree that life in the US is becoming weirder by the month.  There aren't enough people in the professions (whichever profession) and those who are there are overworked and stressed and that doesn't make it any easier on anyone.  Did they do something that hastened his death, I'd like to hope that they would be professional enough to know and acknowledge it if they did.  But some aren't and in the end, you'll never really know.

Even though you don't want to be in this place, at this time - you are and there's nothing you can do.  It's going to be a hard few months (I'm still grieving ...) but it will get better.  You'll start to remember the good times you and he had and the end will begin to fade - it'll never go away but maybe it'll gradually hurt less over time.

You have my sincerest sympathy.  Take time for you and remember those good times.

Thank you Al. The words are very comforting to me.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I wouldn't use that vet moving forward with any other pets. That's uncalled for behavior. In the last fleeting moments of an animals life they should be more focused on comfort of animal and owner regardless of their ability to make change for the outcome. As someone who went through cancer with a dog at that age just a couple years ago it's a nasty thing to deal with and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. While you can dope them up on pain meds it never really cuts through completely and instead of 3 days of pain it can be 3 or more months of it. While the whole situation is upsetting for you, the swiftness of it may have actually been a good thing compared to what he would have faced dragging through his days with cancer.

I am so sorry for your sudden loss of Finley and for how it happened. that experience was the last thing you should have had to deal with while losing your best friend.
I would write some reviews and post them online. might help some others avoid what you went through.
when the time came for Sierra we had a person come to the house and i hope i can have that option with all my pets in the future.

Hugs to you. may better memories fill your heart in time.

Sorry for your loss.

The pack here sends gentle woooos,

I am so sorry about Finley.
When they go before their time, it's especially painful.
My Bodhi was 12 when he died last September, and I am still not over it.

I am so sorry to hear that. Sending prayers

So sorry for your loss and heartbreak. I will pray for you your family and your pup. Wishing u healing and strength and anything that will support you.