Both my young dogs died. Is it my fault?

Post date: 2018-12-14 04:13:28
Views: 232
I have only had two dogs in my life, both died soon after I got them and both were young. Why did this happen, is it my fault, and how do I learn to accept it?

About a year ago I got my first dog ever, a retired racing greyhound. He was 5 years old and an absolute angel- a perfectly behaved gentleman. After we had him 3 months we took him to the vet as he was limping. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. We made the last few weeks if his life very happy ones with plenty of steak and treats and days out. When he was clearly suffering at the end we got the vet to come to our house to have him put to sleep.

A few short months later we got another dog, a 19 month old rescue greyhound whose owner was retiring from racing. This dog was a handful, very active and anxious. We got her a wonderful dog walker to take her out for off-lead runs in the country every day when we were both working (3 days a week). The other days we were home with her all day every day and took her for lots of walks, to the park, etc. We got her housebroken (finally!) using treats and positive reinforcement. The one issue we struggled to solve was her barking and whining in the middle of the night wakingus and the neighbours up.

As a last ditch solution we bought a collar that made a noise when she would bark - NOT a shock collar just a noise and if she kept barking it would vibrate. She hated it but we only put it on her for 3 nights and she learned not to bark at night anymore.

Then the following week when I got home on the Tuesday I found my dog on the floor in severe pain. She was flailing around panicking and unable to get up. The dog walker confirmed shed been dropped off 3 hours ago absolutely fine. I rang the vet immediately and persuaded them to come and pick her up (I had no way of transporting her as my husband was away with the car). It took them 30 minutes to arrive during which time I comforted her and told her I loved her.

They kept her overnight and I insisted they gave her as much medicine for the pain as they could. The next day we transferred her to the specialist neurology vet at the local university. She said our dog was paraplegic and would probably not survive surgery and the prognosis was very poor. She didn't know what it was but she thought a spinal cord injury or possibly bladder? We chose to end her suffering as she was clearly still in a lot of pain and had her put to sleep.

The second dog is the hardest to accept because we don't know what happened and why? There was nothing for her to fall from, we had a baby gate on the stairs. We don't really have a diagnosis. And how could this have happened again - the loss of two young dogs in less than a year?

We have decided not to get another dog. But I am struggling to process my grief and feelings of guilt. It would help me to hear from more experienced dog owners- have you heard of anyone else losing two young dogs in less than a year? What could I have done differently? Thank you.
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