Being a Pommy Mommy conjures up images of being just that… a mommy. Be it a mommy to human children or to furry children your heart is consistently pushed to the limit. This has been the case for the past 6 weeks. Our little Maggie stopped eating and was lethargic which was very uncharacteristic from one who is usually happy and always hungry for something. My husband and I took notice and waited a couple of days to see if she snapped out of it. She didn’t. So off to the Vet we went.
At first… it was worst than we thought it could be when the Vet came in and said that it looked like she had Pancreatitis. Maggie was very rarely sick and if she was, it wasn’t anything to be alarmed about… an ear infection here, loose stool or upset stomach there… nothing major. Pancreatitis? Really? We feed her the best diet, never table scraps and pay close attention to balancing fat, protein and carb intake. How can she… and how did she get sick was what went through our minds… we were kinda freaking out a bit… which is not normal for us. The Vet told us that it is very common that dogs with Pancreatitis live long and happy lives on a maintenance program of bland food… nothing rich or spicy. She needed to spend 2 days and nights in the hospital to get her body back in balance.
She seemed fine when she came home for the first day… and she was taking her medicine and began getting a little appetite back… she was showing signs of feeling better. The Vet told us to keep giving her the anti-biotics and we would revisit blood work, x-rays and perhaps an ultrasound in two weeks. Two days before her medicine ran out we saw signs of great decline… the usually chipper Maggie was laying on her bed downstairs and not moving, she couldn’t walk up the stairs any more when she would sprint up them. As this Pommy’s Mommy, I knew she wasn’t getting better. We called the Vet on Friday, October 12 and brought her in for a check up… our worst suspicions were true. Instead of Maggie getting better… she was horribly worse.
X-rays that were taken two weeks previous shown muted “white” areas surrounding the pancreas, spleen and stomach which is usually sign of some inflammation… now they were “bright white”… and for such a small dog that should never be. My husband suspected she had Cancer from the first day we walked in to the Vet… and that’s what it looked like in the X-Rays. As Maggie’s Mommy it was impossible to make a decision regarding what to do… there was too much information to digest… so I consulted with Maggie’s Daddy and being that all we saw was suffering in Maggie’s future we asked the Vet to euthanize her… it was as horrible a feeling as I could have imagined. I didn’t want her to go through chemo-therapy that most likely wouldn’t save her and would just torture her before she eventually died.
Being a Pommy Mommy is about giving Rescue and all Pomeranians the best life possible and when it is time for them to leave us we can never be selfish, we must keep our furry babies as pain free and suffering free as possible. I feel we did just that… but it still does not take away the heart ache… it never will. I love Maggie and her sister who has also passed as much as any mother could love her babies… and that’s all we can do.
I didn’t want this to be a morbid or sad post, I just wanted to let you know what has happened in an informational story of why you won’t be seeing any more current photos of my Little Maggie. I thank you all for being so supportive in this time of grieving.
19 comments
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us ,this means so much to me and others who sometimes just dont now how to handle or decide what to do . Stay strong for Maggie! Please give hugs and kisses from Mami Lie and Kong to Sophia and Yoki ,we love you all!
So sorry didn’t check my e-mail address before sending ,this is the corrected one.
I see my first comment with wrong e- mail got lost in cyber!
Thank you for sharing this,we sometimes don’t know how and what to decide to do what is best. I still think like a Dutch ,I remember a Dutch friend of mine who wanted to put her dog,who was very ill, to sleep , but the vet here didn’t want to do that because, it is against his believes!!! Buddhism won’t allow one to take an others life!! this was so unreasonable she had to watch her dog suffer till the end!!! She said if she was still in the Netherlands this wouldn’t have happened. Stay strong for Maggie ! Lots of hugs and kisses to Sophia and Yoki , we love you!
I’m so very sorry for your loss and your heartbreak. God bless you all.
Sorry for your loss. I have a 13 yr old right now and dread that day and eventually it will come. My brother also has a 13 yr old male who had cancer. He opted not to have Chemo but Holistic treatment instead. Currently Nathan is doing great. He takes his herbal remedies and has his acupuncture. When my Lexi does depart I will be so sad and will cherish the happy memories..
Dear Pommy Mommy,
My heart goes out to you. I now have a pack of 5. It took me nearly half a decade after I had to send my first dog, Sambuka, to the Rainbow Bridge. Being selfless is the hardest thing a Mommy has to do and is the most important. May the Higher Powers watch over you and keep you strong…for Maggie will be waiting for you and watching over you and all her past, present, and future brothers and sisters.
All my love,
Mary and the Pittsburgh Pom Squad (Bowzer, Jumbie, Roxie, Truffles, and Micah)
I am so sorry for your loss but what you said is right,I would never want my little one suffer,I have a pom,he is 12yrs,found out that he has conjestive heart failure,it is at the beginning and the dr has him on meds,said he could live a few more yrs like that but no guarentee,I dont want to face the time I have to say good buy,they are the best lttle dogs,
I am soooo sorry to hear about your loss. It made my cry as I thought of my baby, Silke that I lost 7 years ago. It still makes me so sad. You never replace the pom you lost but only another dog can fill the dog shaped hole that is in your heart. My Kissie and Dante’ who I Have mentioned from time to time are my life and my heart and I know some day I will have to make your same decision. I hope I will do so with as much courage and love as you did. The pitiful shame of life is that our puppies just dont live as long as we do. Maybe that is because God already made them perfect and we have so far to go to even be half as good. You take good care and my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Oh Tara, I am so sorry for the loss of Maggie. That is the most difficult decision to make, but you did the right thing. I can remember when I was a senior in high school and my cat of 15 years had to be put to sleep. It’s so heartbreaking. More recently my mother had to put her 13 year old Golden Retriever to sleep. She also had cancer and was starting to suffer. They waited just a little too long and Cosette had a horrible seizure or stroke over the weekend and my parents hard to take turns staying up with her all night trying to keep her calm and laying down until they could get to the vet Monday morning. It was very traumatic for all and just hearing the details from my mom had me crying all day. Cosette was the sweetest Golden and even lived with my husband and I a couple years while my parents were out if the country. To know she had a long weekend of suffering is just too much. It is hard to make that call you and Pommy Daddy did the best thing for your sweet girl. Thank you for taking such good care of your furnbabies and for sharing your story.
Love to you and the fur sisters
Amy
Thank you for sharing. On May 25, 2012 our beloved Pom Willie was having great difficulty breathing. He had been ill for a while & we tried everything that we could. To no avail we let him go to sleep and we were with him. I held his little face and put mine in front of his so I would be the last person he would see as he closed his eyes. My husband & I told him that we loved him. Willie was almost 13 years old. On October 3, 2012 Willie’s son Pumpernickle wasn’t acting right. He was having trouble breathing. He had not been the same since Willie died. We tried all that we could to comfort him. Anyway… my daughter and I took him to the vet where they assessed him. We could etiher do a lot of invasive treatments or we could let him pass comfrotably. My husband was on the freeway trying to get there. Pumpi was in to much distress. He died in my arms peacefully. Apparently, he died from a broken heart. I work in the hospice field… It has only been 2 1/2 weeks since Pumpi passed & almost 5 months since Willie. Thank you for your post, because it helps to know that we helped our little guys to go peacefully. We miss them very much.
OMG, had similar hard decision. But my baby is at peace. Rainbow Bridge is where all our furbabies are. I feel we made the right decision, although it was the hardest ever. Still miss my baby. Think of her everyday and light candles every Monday at 9p.m. Candle lighting ceremony all over the world for our beloved furbabies.
It is never an easy time when you loss a loved on with fur or without. She will be greatly missed. All our prayers with you and your family. Pam, Caesar,and Cleo Delessio
I am so sorry for your loss 🙁 I know all too well what a hard decision you had to make…I just wish you had more time with your precsious Maggie, like I did with my beautiful Misty Girl…I had my sweet girl for 17 years and had to make that awful decision to have her not suffer anymore. I took her to the vet last August just thinking they would tell me her spinning in circles was just a sign of her old age…but when the xrays came back, there were signs of a very large mass pushing her stomach out of place along with some other organs…at first we put her on some meds to help ease her spinning and to make her comfortable but she just kept continuing to decline…I couldn’t make her suffer any longer just for my selfish reasons of not wanting her to leave me. I had to make the decision to put her at peace and this month was the anniversary of her passing. I am still heartbroken over it and can’t believe she is really gone. My thoughts are with you as you go through this very difficult time. 🙁
Im new to this site but so happy to have found it!! Just reading all of the above posts made me cry once again thinking of my beloved Casper who went to wait for me at the rainbow bridge 2yrs ago. It was devastating for me to have him put to sleep but I also knew that he was and had been suffering for awhile because of my selfishness and not wanting to let him go!! I refused to see his failing health. He was my first born, my first baby for almost 17yrs. He was by my side through my divorce looking at me with those adoring eyes filled with such intelligence. He had put up with my conversations with him for years always looking like he was listening. He patiently put up with my two boys trying to terrorize him as soon as they started crawling!! They learned quickly though not to try him.. ha ha ha My heart cried out..How could I possibly let him go!! I kept praying that he would go to sleep and not wake up, that would of been so much easier for me. But he didn’t and my husband finally got me to see how selfish I was being. To this day I still feel guilty when I think back to those last days… Ill never forget waking up that morning knowing that our vet was coming in a few short hours to our house. I am and will forever be grateful to him for making that house call. Casper was able to stay at home where he was comfortable and I was able to hold my baby and make sure he saw his mommy one last time! I still miss my casper, always will. But I learned that we have to know when to do the right thing and when to let go. All of you have done just that!! Thank you all for telling your stories..Melissa
I lost my little one last night,died of conjestive heart failure,he went down hill realy fast,I am really going to miss him,he was such a great pom
I just read this story and I am sitting here with a sad heart as this is exactly what happened yesterday with My mothers Pom Heidi, I love heidi and she was the reason I became a pom mommy.She was a sweet, loving and gentle little soul.I thank you for sharing this story and will share this with my mom as she is feeling like she should have done more.
Someone pls help me. No smart remarks pls. This is serious. Pls call me w information. I think my 17 year old Pom is dying. I’m not ready for this. I had warnings. I’ve taken him to vet many times throughout years and last month. Vet Rx’d flagyl and tramadol. He’s blind and partially deaf. Michigan Snow, his name, is hardly able to walk. He was already snub laying slowly now he’s barely able to stand. In the last few weeks he’s been drinking excessively and urinating everywhere. The last 24hours has hasn’t bothered to move to urinate. He just lies in it. I am an excellent mother so pls no ridiculous comments, just help me pls. I am an RN and accustomed to end of life in humans but this is a different plateau. My number is 9043040365. I am Princess. Pls call to talk to me.
Have you taken your furry baby to the Vet? I’m not really sure why you would think there would be an smart remarks when it seems like you are in dire straits but… O.K. (I just don’t allow that on my blog). Many times urinary track infections can create this behavior but there are so many issues that can cause dogs to urinate without control and listlessness. Hopefully one of our DVM on the site can help. I’ll put this question up on my Facebook Fan Page and see.