Modern Dog Blog

Poor little Hazel has been in and out of the hospital all week. They get her sedated enough to rest, get her breathing better, and then she comes home and deteriorates. I brought her home on Wednesday evening, after spending yet another night and day at the hospital, and she was doing ok. Not great, but ok. Fairly calm, and while not breathing great, at least her tiny chest wasn’t heaving. The dedicated doctors that work with Pug Rescue had decided to try Hazel on an inhaler, specially fitted with a little mask. One to two “puffs” twice a day. It seemed to work really well in the hospital, so we were hopeful that it would provide her with some comfort at home.

She slept well Wednesday night, but by yesterday morning she was sounding pretty bad again. If you’ve ever heard a pug really pant, you’ll know that when they get going they can sound pretty bad. I tried her inhaler, which sadly, didn’t seem to help much, and she hated it, so that was no fun. She got her nose drops, and her meds, but still spent most of yesterday panting. I did get her to take a nap, but she couldn’t even stop panting long enough last night to lay on my lap and get cuddles.

Last night I could hear her breathing fairly heavily, but she didn’t seem distressed, and she did manage to sleep, so I let her be. This morning though, she was much worse, panting with her ribs really heaving with the effort. A happy little pug, she gets worked up so quickly, and that makes it worse. She really seemed to be struggling, so back to the hospital we went.

After conferring with Suzi and the doctors who had worked so hard to make Hazel comfortable, we all decided that the kindest thing to do was to let her go. Even after the swelling from surgery was down, Hazel has been breathing like this all of her life, which has caused irreparable damage to her larynx. So our options were to keep her heavily sedated so she could breathe, which is no way for a perky little dog to live; do a tracheotomy, which she likely wouldn’t survive; or euthanize her.

It was very, very difficult, and my heart hurts, but I feel that euthanizing her was the kindest thing. We tried every trick in the book, short of more surgeries that her little body just couldn’t take, and the poor girl was still just gasping for air and exhausted by the effort. Today, even heavily sedated, she was still wheezing and unable to draw a full breath. I couldn’t do that to her anymore.

I am saddest that someone let her be this way for so long. A simple surgery as a pup would have fixed this and saved her many years of misery. We think perhaps she was a younger dog, but that her body was just so worn out from never having enough oxygen and the constant fight for breath. I am sad that someone out there abandoned this little dog. That, to them, she wasn’t worth the effort.

She was absolutely worth the effort to us. I held her and cuddled her and told her how many people loved her. I covered her face with kisses and told her she was a good dog. That she was worth the effort. I told her to look for my beloved Redwood and Rowan on the other side, that they would look out for her until I come to get them.

Rest easy Hazel. Goodbye little friend.

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Please consider making a donation in Hazel’s honor to Pug Rescue of San Diego. The money will go to help pay her vet bills, and the many, many vet bills incurred helping all of our senior dogs. They are worth it.

Posted on July 31st, 2009 by michelle
Filed under: Foster dogs, My dogs, The Naked Part