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Originally Posted by michelemiller
we're giving our furbaby away today....and that is just no life for a dog. no matter what. so we have to let him go.
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for some reason, i thought i was the only one going through this. i gave my dog away yesterday (tuesday)! this has been the most horrible experience, so i totally understand.
my collie, gabriel, was 2 1/2 years old. i've been considering finding him a better home for a while, but i wanted to see if we could make it work. the problem was: he's 85 pounds of energy, wants to play all the time, and needs AT THE VERY LEAST a 30min walk a day. since i had alice, i haven't been able to walk him every day, depending on the weather. i can't take her out when it's cold/windy. so gabriel has been getting more and more frustrated. and my dh is not a dog person, made it clear that this would be my dog, not his.
anyway, this all came to a head this past weekend. gabriel started showing signs of illness on thursday, was throwing up by saturday. he had eaten part of a hard plastic milk crate that we keep his toys in. he's always chewed on it, so i didn't think he would be harmed. boy, was i wrong. he had bloody diarhea by saturday afternoon, and i called the emergency vet sunday morning. they said to bring him in right away.
unfortunately, dh left that morning to go on a week-long business trip, so i had to call my friend to come with me to bring the baby and moral support (i can't put the dog and baby in the saturn together, because he would step all over her in the back seat).
luckily, gabriel didn't need surgery, but they kept him sunday night and all day monday. they gave him iv liquids and barium to see if he had any intestinal blockage. i brought him home monday night. i felt so guilty. if only i had taken the crate away...if only i had been able to walk him every day...if only i could have played with him more...if only...
i called the collie rescue people monday morning, and they were quick to respond. probably a good thing, because i might have changed my mind, too. i had panic attacks all day monday and that night, worried whether i was doing the right thing. i was able to talk to dh about it a little bit, and he supported my decision.
it has not been easy. but i know that when he starts feeling better, and he is placed in a home with a fenced-in yard and maybe another dog and some big kids to play with, he will be so much happier. i just hope he isn't homesick.
believe me, i sympathize. i think of all the dogs wasting away in quiet houses while their owners go about their lives, oblivious to the suffering of their canine companions. it's not right. if giving our animals away improves the quality of their lives, then so be it.
feel free to email me if you want to talk more.
perseph_3@yahoo.com
