Never hesitate to take your dog to the vet.

[labrys 0]

About 2 weeks ago my dog started to act a little odd. Instead of sleeping with me as usual she took to sleeping in her crate at night. She does that a lot more often when it's warm out, but it's not usual for her to make that choice when it's cool at night. Then I noticed that she was losing weight fast. That's good for her in general because she's overweight, but it accelerated too much for comfort. The day the weight loss registered with me I noticed that she was looking right through me when I talked to her. That night I picked her up and put her in bed with me thinking that I would take her to a vet the next day. I woke up about 4am to find her sound asleep where I put her in a large, wet puddle. All of this happened in little more than a week.

I took her to the vet and it turns out that she is severley diabetic. She's in need of 2 insulin shots a day and is almost completely blind now. If I had noticed and acted on what was happening sooner, I might have been able to save her from some of the vision loss. Please don't make the stupid mistakes I made if your dog starts acting this way.

Owned by Remi #?

[MikeJD 0]

Sorry to hear about this, and thanks for the good advice. Don't beat yourself up, though - animal behaviour can be pretty quirky, and it's easy to make the mistake of just waiting to see if they'll get over stuff.

I lost both of my cats to illness earlier this year, within a few days of each other. Afterwards I was asking myself whether the alarm bells should have rung earlier for me. You never know whether it would have made any difference, but it's natural to feel guilty.

You obviously love your dog, and it's not your fault she became ill. She needs you more than ever - take good care of her!

[Jewels 0]

I second that. Animals tend to hide it when they're not feeling well and it is easy for things to progress before you realize that you're at the stage where it's time for a trip to the vet. You were paying attention; you just didn't realize what was going on. Good veterinary care is essential, but you can't second-guess what you thought was happening.

TPM Sister #102

[labrys 0]

Thanks to both of you for being positive. I do love the girl and hope that one person might read this and act faster than I did though.

Owned by Remi #?

[tigra 0]

Honestly, you really should stop beating yourself up. You did notice and got her to the vet. Her condition is diagnosed and you're well on your way to getting it under control. You did OK!

[Rookie120 0]

Thats a tough one. I am such a dog lover. My little pooch was my wifes. It as a 2 for 1 package but she's my baby. She cost me a lot of cash this year. First I noticed she was runnin into things like she was losing her eyesight. She was. The doc put her on some steroids and stuff and she is fine now. Then I felt a big lump on her side. I thought it was cancer so back to the doc we go. They operate and remove the lump and sent it ou. Come to find out it was just hair folicles that were clogged and infected. Thanks, that will be $1,200. She's my little pooch so it's all good.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

[Conundrum 1]

Wow, that sucks. Don't put the blame on yourself, though - it's not like you were neglecting the dog and you knew something was wrong. You just didn't know.