Saturday, May 14, 2011

Haley


We lost our dog Haley very unexpectedly on Thursday May 12. Tuesday night, when Paul went to put her in her kennel for bed, she was drooling and anxious, not wanting to go in her kennel. While it isn't normal, it also wasn't unheard of. She would sometimes get worked up about something outside and not want to come in.
Wednesday morning, she was standing up in her kennel, which is unusual, she normally would be lying down and not get up until we let her out. When Paul let her out, she was drenched in drool and wandered around in circles as if she was confused or something. I went over to pet her and she jumped, as if she was shocked that I went to touch her. We left the back door open and she eventually decided to go outside and was pacing the yard and acting confused.
Paul made an appointment and took her into the vet at 11:30. Her temperature was high, 106 and they wanted to keep her until the evening. However, they also said that she might need to be hospitalized over night and if that was needed, we would have to take her to another facility as they aren't equipped to handle overnighters. We decided that we would just go ahead and take her to a facility that could take her overnight as she didn't seem to be getting any better.
After Paul got her to the animal hospital and they took her back, she had a seizure. They gave her antiseizure and valium and had to stay overnight. We called to check on her and they said she was sleeping and hadn't had any more seizures. We were concerned, but cautiously optimistic.
Thursday morning, Paul went to pick her up at 8:00 as scheduled. She had been up and walking around and the vet said all of her vitals were good, all of the initial bloodwork tests came back good. He prescribed her antiseizure meds and was ready to send her home. Then she went to sleep and didn't want to wake up.
They decided to keep her for a couple of more hours and Paul went to run an errand. Within 20 minutes, the vet called and told him he needed to come back. He called me at work and I arranged for a sub and left. Haley was gone before either of us could make it back. Fortunately, Paul was able to spend time with her that morning, but we never expected we would have to say goodbye so soon.
They don't know what happened. They vet thinks Valley Fever spores may have gotten into her brain as the problem was obviously neurological, but we are still waiting for those test results. He said if those tests are negative, it is probably a brain tumor. I think maybe she was bitten by a black widow as we have them all over. She also had no symptoms of anything until Tuesday night and they came on so suddenly. Paul also said she was nipping at an area on her side. I don't think I've ever heard a cough from her, she was the healthiest dog ever!

Needless to say, we are heartbroken. We adopted Haley from the Arizona Animal Welfare League in the Spring of 2004. We wanted another dog and knew that we wanted to rescue a dog from a shelter, but we also knew that we wanted to stay away from breeds that were known for aggression. The shelters are overrun with pit bulls. Many of them seem like very nice dogs, but we couldn't risk it with the kids. We finally found the skinny black and white pointer that seemed perfect. We had to run home to get Princess to do a doggy introduction, but when we got back, another family was meeting her yard. We stuck around and the other family wasn't able to take her because they had a cat (Haley was not a fan of the felines!). We were able to get the 32 pound black and white pointer.
AAWL had rescued her from the pound where she was on the euthanasia list because she was deemed "reactive" in their temperment tests. Nothing could be further from the truth. Haley was great! She loved kids more than just about anything and was a wonderful companion for the boys. She never showed any aggression whatsoever towards us. She did get into an occassional tiff with Princess when Princess would try to eat her food, but that was it. She loved to be outside and would patrol the yard when we were out to make sure it was safe. She was a counter surfer and would quickly grab any food within reach whenever she could, but she very rarely did anything wrong.

We loved Haley very much and I'm certain we will never find another dog like her. While I'm glad she didn't suffer for too long, her time with us was much shorter than we thought it would be. We love you, Haley girl!

1 comment:

Janna Renee said...

So sorry for your loss :( I know losing a pup is like losing a member of the family. I can tell she must have been very loved, though!