Those who follow us on social media and subscribe to our site via email already know that our long-term foster dog Forest got adopted, returned a month later, and required immediate behavioral euthanasia on July 7, 2023. As a dog attack survivor in late 2021 and a lifelong dog lover, you can imagine the avalanche of emotions about his death. Let’s look at such decisions because they’re more common than you might imagine.
Right around the time our Old Man, Ginko, died in January 2016, I was working on an article for a veterinary trade magazine about the growing field of pet hospice. Not the easiest thing to be talking to people and writing about dying dogs when your own dog is dying. Among the many things I learned about palliative and hospice care for pets, I found out about “emergency kits” many hospice veterinarians provide. Such a kit may have prevented the deep regrets I have about Lilly’s last day. Here’s how.
Because Lilly developed vaccine-induced meningoencephalomyelitis / meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) after getting a rabies vaccine, she can NEVER get another vaccine. Period. Here is why that’s a big deal.
Today begins another 5-part series of posts about Lilly’s dangerous adverse vaccine reaction to a rabies vaccine earlier this year. Lilly continues to recover from meningoencephalomyelitis / meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord). So, has all this made me anti-vaccine?
Seriously, I’m a weepy disaster most days from stress and fatigue, but I swear my fellow bloggers and dog friends are wearing me down with sad tales.Empathy is my strong suit and perhaps my biggest weakness.
