Thread: Just sharing a story about my poor little boy...7 month old, 82 pound German Shepherd

Update on Uri?

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I've visited this. First of all, URI IS GREAT!!!! He wasn't so great about a month ago though, I knew for sure I was going to lose him. I will explain, but must warn you that continuing will bring a whole load emotions if you are a dog lover...

About a month and a half ago, I was at work and on my way to get on another train...a couple hours away from home about 10 pm. While I am in the taxi vehicle, we are allowed to turn our phones on and my wife calls me just a boo-hoo-ing. Once I get her gathered up enough to talk, I find out that my female GSD (Kyra) was dead on the back porch. Man, the breath was knocked out of me. Kyra was only 7 years old & as healthy as could be. So here I am, in a van with two other co-workers (taxi driver and conductor) trying to hold my composure as I find out my baby girl had just passed. What could I do? I just look out the side window as the tears flow, thinking and wondering what could have happened.

I finish up my run on the train as quick as possible & get home about 6 am, the wife was in bed. I let Uri out front (the dogs stay inside at night) to go and take care of his business and once he is done I have to face reality...I let him back in and walk out on the back door. There is my lifeless baby girl stretched out at the back steps. Only a dog lover who has never had any children can or would understand how devastating something like this is. I break down & just sit there on the concrete with her (it was still below freezing outside) for who knows how long, my wife comes outside. We cry together for a while and I go to the shed to gather up digging tools & dig her grave. Kyra was a big girl & that meant a large grave, ended up being about 4'x5'. I dug until I hit dry & hard clay about waist/belt deep and couldn't go any further. We wrap her in a white sheet and I set her down into the grave. Man, the emotions hit me again and (as they do again as I type this) it takes me a little while to gather myself up enough to set her into the hole as gently as I can & we both cover her.

What had happened to her? She was perfectly healthy. I had looked her over while sitting there with her. I brushed her one last time and had looked at her over well. I couldn't find any signs of foul play. What happened to her? I find out later...

Four days later, on a Saturday morning, I get up and start cooking us a late breakfast. It's not often that I get to cook breakfast for us both. I let Uri out and feed him while I cook breakfast. I cook bacon, eggs, biscuits (canned) & gravy. Rhonda had been up a little bit, we were both looking forward to sharing a morning home cooked meal together. This doesn't happen all that often with my crazy schedule, maybe once or twice a week. I let Uri back in while I am finishing up the gravy. We had really been paying him a lot of attention since he too had lost someone close & he was somewhat co-dependent on Kyra. Uri was acting really antsy, wouldn't stay out of the kitchen, whimpering and whining, getting underfoot. I just thought he was still coping and wanting attention, so I put him outside again. We are serving our meal when I hear a loud whack on the back door and a heck of a ruckus, so I look and there is Uri in a full body seizure. Instantly I know what is happening: POISON

I put the wife on the telephone and we try to call all the local vets (those within 30 minutes), the ones who answer (it's about 1130 am) won't stay open for us and we are explaining we have a dog that has been poisoned & we need help NOW! We get ahold of one almost an hour away, load Uri up in the Suburban, and haul tail. I can't lose another baby is all that is running thru my head. It's raining proverbial "cats & dogs" & here I am pushing the limits of hydroplaning & my truck is full time 4x4. Dr. Meagan is waiting on us as I carry him into the front door and they start looking him over as another, the worse yet, seizure hits him. She immediately shaves his front leg so she can give him some IV sedatives. Dr. Meagan & her assistants are running around like a well-oiled machine, like the way you see ER doctors on TV. They did all kind of tests; none of them show what is going on. After many tests & shots they tell me that he is stable and that he must stay for observation. Dr. Meagan tells me that she will stay with him the rest of the day and a Vet Tech will stay with him overnight. Keep in mind that this is a small town Vet Clinic; this is normally unheard of around here. Dr. Meagan calls me Sunday morning and tells me that Uri is still with us, but they had a rough night. As soon as the IV muscle relaxer would wear off, he would start seizures again, so they had to sedate & intubate him and keep him out, basically in a medical coma. She also told me she knew what the poison was as well, strychnine! Read up on it, that is some bad stuff! As soon as I left him with them they had given him activated charcoal/carbon (can't remember which) to kill whatever was in his stomach & he later regurgitated it...there was the milo seeds.

Uri has made a full physical recovery & I am very thankful to God for that. You wouldn't ever know that he has had a broken back with plates in his back, has no ball on one hip bone, and has been poisoned with one of the most lethal poisons I know of. This fellow has a purpose in life, you can't convince me differently. There has been one ill effect of the poisoning though: It has affected his self-confidence. Anyone who knows GSD's, knows that they are simply not afraid of much anything & Uri is actually skittish now. I think he will get thru it, but only time will tell.

Thanks for listening/reading about our personal saga...

First, sorry for your lost. Second I'm glad Uri is fine. Question is, where the poison came from? Double O

Shooter,
I am so sorry to read of your loss of Kyra, and the scare with Uri. My Mother raised Shepards in Spring, Tx back in the 80's and 90's. She loved those dogs more than me...they were better kids than i was after all! She is no longer with us...heart attack in '10. I always think of her when i hear of Shepards. I also think of all the dogs i had in my life and how lucky i was to have shared in their lives. I wonder as well how they were poisoned? Regardless...I can only imagine how you feel right now.
Those that dont understand the bond between a pet and his person, are missing out on one of life's greatest joys. I say his person because we belong to them as much as they belong to us. I know that everytime i have lost a buddy, I am only comforted by knowing how special that relationship had been. When time passes and I have wondered why i still hurt from losing them, I only have one answer. It is because that relationship was sooooo special. I had become entangled with them, at my very core. If i could have just lept up the next morning as if nothing happened, or lost them without shedding a million tears, then my time with them wouldn't have ultimately been very special...im my opinion. I guess some bounce back quicker than I, to each is own. But for me, the grief was validation of how important my buddy was to me, and I to him.
I dont know what else to say, but I am so sorry. I trust Uri pulls through, keep us posted,and you guys hang in there as best you can. For all i have lost in my life: family, friends, dogs, cats; when i hurt sometime years later, I am comforted by the fact that my relationship with them was special enough to still care, and miss them. It doesnt' make it any easier, but it does prove how special those beings were to me, and hopefully I to them.

Shooter, I'm as glad to hear your boy survived as I'm sad to hear that your girl didn't.

Reading that brought back my loss of the best dog I've ever known and my best friend, my rottweiler Chesty. He was only 5, but he had very literally saved my life once when my apartment complex caught fire at 4 in the morning. He was the best trained and most loving dog I've ever met, and would protect his family no at any cost.

He was let out of the back yard when I was at work, I suspect by the electric meter reader, and was hit by a car and killed. I still don't understand how a person could hit a 135 pound dog, especially one who was used to traffic and knew not to bolt into the street. But that's neither here nor there I suppose.

I carry his tags on my keyring, and I get choked up every time I think about him to this very day.

I understand completely your feeling and your loss, and I share your joy that Uri survived.

Josh

I am sorry to hear about your loss.
It is so darn hard to see them go, each and every time, and in such a manner as she did...
I feel your pain man!

Wonderful to hear that Uri seems to fight his way back though
Sounds a real fighter that Uri!

Scott, I'm truly saddened by your loss, and glad to see Uri is doing well. I understand the pain you're in, and can only offer you my best wishes.

Originally Posted by Double0757

First, sorry for your lost. Second I'm glad Uri is fine. Question is, where the poison came from? Double O

I suspect baited meat. I say this because when Krya died, I had found some small pieces of tin-foil in the back yard. I found it strange, picked them up and put them in the trash. When I had to leave Uri at the vet's, I walked the yard and found tin-foil again. I live in a small town, my house is on one side of the block and we have two lots deep, so we have a city street at our back yard and front.

Originally Posted by IronMonkey2772

Shooter,
I am so sorry to read of your loss of Kyra, and the scare with Uri. My Mother raised Shepards in Spring, Tx back in the 80's and 90's. She loved those dogs more than me...they were better kids than i was after all! She is no longer with us...heart attack in '10. I always think of her when i hear of Shepards. I also think of all the dogs i had in my life and how lucky i was to have shared in their lives. I wonder as well how they were poisoned? Regardless...I can only imagine how you feel right now.
Those that dont understand the bond between a pet and his person, are missing out on one of life's greatest joys. I say his person because we belong to them as much as they belong to us. I know that everytime i have lost a buddy, I am only comforted by knowing how special that relationship had been. When time passes and I have wondered why i still hurt from losing them, I only have one answer. It is because that relationship was sooooo special. I had become entangled with them, at my very core. If i could have just lept up the next morning as if nothing happened, or lost them without shedding a million tears, then my time with them wouldn't have ultimately been very special...im my opinion. I guess some bounce back quicker than I, to each is own. But for me, the grief was validation of how important my buddy was to me, and I to him.
I dont know what else to say, but I am so sorry. I trust Uri pulls through, keep us posted,and you guys hang in there as best you can. For all i have lost in my life: family, friends, dogs, cats; when i hurt sometime years later, I am comforted by the fact that my relationship with them was special enough to still care, and miss them. It doesnt' make it any easier, but it does prove how special those beings were to me, and hopefully I to them.

You truly do understand, it's nice to hear. Thank you for your kind words.

I hate hearing of your mother's passing, my wife just lost hers a couple weeks ago. Sad times...

Originally Posted by maddafinga

I carry his tags on my keyring, and I get choked up every time I think about him to this very day.

I understand completely your feeling and your loss, and I share your joy that Uri survived.

Josh

I too did this, but I must warn you that you could loose them. The aluminum that the rabies tags are made of wear out & you could loose it...I almost did. Considering you too understand that special bond...I wouldn't want to loose those tags any time soon...

I've never had a rotty, but have entertained it a LOT. I will probably get another GSD, more than likely a female.