SnickersDoodle Bear is now an Angel
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 18th, 2021
I know I haven’t posted much on here. Everything was pretty much status quo from the time we got back from vacation. Everyone was adjusting to Chief (our new puppy) I probably forgot to post that I don’t remember. Stupid Covid was still wrecking havoc with the world. We were doing great here. A few bumps in the road you know puppy swallowing a kids toy having to go to ER vet but minor thing. Just made to throw up and on our way we went. That is until Christmas time…..
Who knew that 2 weeks before Christmas Snickers would healthy and happy and playing. A week before she wasn’t feeling very well so took her to the vet. We ran blood tests etc. Found out that her platelet counts were a little low on a Monday.. We retested Wednesday before Christmas they were lower and she was put on Prednisone. I was told to watch her for lethargy, pale gums etc.. Christmas Eve day I get up and get ready to work (changed jobs so I am working from home at least until April I am hoping it can be forever again). Snickers just didn’t seem right so I checked her gums. They were pale. I called our vets they said take her to the ER clinic if she needed a transfusion they couldn’t do it at our clinic. So I told my boss it was an emergency and needed to leave. ( I had only been there 3 weeks).
Snickers was admitted and tests were run. She missed Christmas at home but I made sure to go see her. She wouldn’t eat for them so I took chicken and some turkey and went over to see her. They found a small mass on her spleen but had her stabilized so I got to bring her home the day after Christmas.
The Dr. told me to call my vet and get the splenectomy done as soon as I could. So Monday I called. They fit her in and Monday night she came home. She was doing well. I called 48 hours later and gave the update she was doing great. The receptionist called back and said Dr. T wanted to check her blood counts on Saturday. So we took her in. Platelet counts rebounded and were doing great although now red cell count had gone down some. He wasn’t too concerned. I voiced my concern that it looked like she might have a little fluid on her abdomen. He said he felt around and she seemed to be ok. We went home.
Sunday she slept a lot. I just figured recovery from surgery /pain meds it didn’t hurt. Monday she wouldn’t hardly move and she looked bloated up. I called. They got us in after I got off work. She had a hard time getting into the car and she never had that issue before. And she was really lethargic. They took her in on a gurney. She had a liter plus of fluid on her. They only took the liter off and gave us another med because her red cell counts dropped a little again. They were thinking possible Autoimmune disease. We went home and tried to get her to eat no she wouldn’t eat anything. We went to bed. Around 1:30 am Jazz woke me up not feeling well ( I am not sure if she knew or not). I ended up rushing Snickers back to the ER vet. I was in tears. I just wanted them to save my girl. They ran more tests still no answers. By 9:45 am the new Dr. that came on had evaluated Snickers she is the one who found the mass called me and said Snickers was still no better and her blood pressure was dropping. I once again left work this time to let my girl go.
This is so hard. I wasn’t expecting this. I know the grief journey well as I lost Bosch in March 2019, Simba in Feb 2020 and now on Jan 5, 2021 I lost Snickers. My girl who helped me heal my heart after losing Sassy. I am crying as I write this and I know this is long but I have to do this to help myself.
I do highly recommend our pet insurance healthy paws. They do a direct pay to the clinics without them I probably would have had to make the decision on Christmas Eve. They paid the 90% that I am paying premiums for directly to the ER clinic and I just paid 10%. They paid pretty much all of her surgery and again for her admittance the last time.
The place I had Snickers cremated at was called Paws to Angels. They do home hospice, home euthanasia, pre planning grief counseling type and private Cremations. We had a viewing of her and they gave me a heart 1/2 of it was mine and it said “My” and Snickers part said “Angel” it stayed with her during her whole journey. I got her 1/2 back after her cremation which it went through with her. I miss my girl.
Poems that I got from Paws to Angels
Fur clipping poem. I read this and cried as I was looking at the clippings of each spot.
Who knew at 7 years and 4 months I would be making her memorial video and saying good bye. Sassy was 7 years and 1 month. They both have met now and I hope love each other because they both have a big piece of my heart.