Last night, DH got home to find only two of our dogs at the sliding glass door (they are outside when we are not home). He said he had commotion at our house when he was getting mail a the mailbox, but figured they were just excited to hear the car. Casey, our oldest/alpha dog, was in the back corner moping around Kenzie, my baby girl (old as well and alpha in her own world), was on the the side of the house laying down and clearly injured. He checked out he dogs, Casey was fine, but Kenzie was hurt bad and labored breathing. He rushed in to call me (on my way home as well). When he went back out, Kenzie was walking, but clearly very loopy/disoriented. He scooped her up and rushed her to the emergency vet. I met him there.
A quick background...We have 4 dogs. Casey is alpha to two of them and Kenzie is in her own pack. She isn't interested in other dogs/cats, etc. She's a HUGE mama's girl...has to sit by the tub while I shower, sleep next to my side of the bed, has to lay on my feet when I sit on couch, etc. I rescue Kenz from a high kill shelter ~7 year ago, when she was about 3 or 4 yrs old and she has been attached to my hip since. Kenzie has health issues (retinal dysplasia, a progressive eye disorder which lead to her being nearly blind over time, and on steroids for polymyositis, an auto-immune disorder). Not to mention, she has anxiety and gets worked up easily. A high-maintenance dog, but a sweetheart and my little shadow. If a dog was doing something wrong, Kenzie would whine and get us to show us what they did (dug a hole, escaped, etc). When Casey gets hyper and plays too rough by Kenz's standards, Kenzie would go bark in Casey's face as if to tell her to calm down. On occasion, Casey would snap back and go back to what she was doing.
Well, yesterday, we can only assume that it went a bit too far. Kenzie had bite marks all over and had damage to her throat area, hence the labored breathing. We could only assume it was damage to the trachia, but the vet said that she was in shock and needed to be stabilized first before they could do surgery (which would be required). The vet said we were looking at $2000 minimum in emergency surgery, not to mention folllow-up care for her which would be long and that's if she made it through the night. The prognosis wasn't good and given her age, health, etc, DH and I, along with a call to my mom and a thorough discussion with the vet, decided to put her down.
I talked her and pet her until she quickly passed.
I miss my Kenz so much! We want to be mad at Casey, but we know that Casey was just being a dog and responding to Kenzie's neurotic tendencies. Casey has never been dog aggressive (she is 10 yrs old as well), but Kenzie would push her buttons....Casey likes to do what she wants and Kenzie wants Casey to calm down and follow the rules. DH feels that if he had gotten home a few minutes sooner it wouldn't have happened.
I don't want him to blame himself...he didn't do it. We won't put Casey down since she was not attacking Kenzie for sport...we do realize that Kenzie was antagonistic in her own way from the anxiety and getting so upset if Casey was being too excited. Casey is now moping around and looking for Kenzie.
I miss my Kenzie so much!
RIP Kenzie
A quick background...We have 4 dogs. Casey is alpha to two of them and Kenzie is in her own pack. She isn't interested in other dogs/cats, etc. She's a HUGE mama's girl...has to sit by the tub while I shower, sleep next to my side of the bed, has to lay on my feet when I sit on couch, etc. I rescue Kenz from a high kill shelter ~7 year ago, when she was about 3 or 4 yrs old and she has been attached to my hip since. Kenzie has health issues (retinal dysplasia, a progressive eye disorder which lead to her being nearly blind over time, and on steroids for polymyositis, an auto-immune disorder). Not to mention, she has anxiety and gets worked up easily. A high-maintenance dog, but a sweetheart and my little shadow. If a dog was doing something wrong, Kenzie would whine and get us to show us what they did (dug a hole, escaped, etc). When Casey gets hyper and plays too rough by Kenz's standards, Kenzie would go bark in Casey's face as if to tell her to calm down. On occasion, Casey would snap back and go back to what she was doing.
Well, yesterday, we can only assume that it went a bit too far. Kenzie had bite marks all over and had damage to her throat area, hence the labored breathing. We could only assume it was damage to the trachia, but the vet said that she was in shock and needed to be stabilized first before they could do surgery (which would be required). The vet said we were looking at $2000 minimum in emergency surgery, not to mention folllow-up care for her which would be long and that's if she made it through the night. The prognosis wasn't good and given her age, health, etc, DH and I, along with a call to my mom and a thorough discussion with the vet, decided to put her down.
I miss my Kenz so much! We want to be mad at Casey, but we know that Casey was just being a dog and responding to Kenzie's neurotic tendencies. Casey has never been dog aggressive (she is 10 yrs old as well), but Kenzie would push her buttons....Casey likes to do what she wants and Kenzie wants Casey to calm down and follow the rules. DH feels that if he had gotten home a few minutes sooner it wouldn't have happened.
I miss my Kenzie so much!
RIP Kenzie
