Happy (?) New Year

I had this whole post almost ready to roll to start the New Year. It was about how we shouldn't make any resolutions other than to resolve to not make resolutions. It was HILARIOUS. Trust me, it might have been my finest work.

Then something happened on New Years Day that made me not post it, but reflect on incident and change my post all together. Our beloved Airedale Abbie died. Suddenly and without warning she died. Honestly, I still am a little confused about the whole thing. I keep thinking that I am going to wake up and she'll be lying there on the couch, just like she always was in the morning.

Let me give a little back story about Abbie. Abbie was a rescue Airedale. She was given to the pound by some fools that got an Airedale and didn't like that she was digging in the yard and they couldn't have a fence either. Um, duh. Airedales dig. That's what they do. And I would think you would find out if you can have a fence in your neighborhood before you get a dog, but whatever. We ended up with her. She was sick with kennel cough and malnourished. A pathetic sight to say the least.

But, we nursed her back to health in a big, BIG way. She ended up being an 80 lb. + Airedale, and not overweight, just a HUGE dog. And turning out to be an awesome dog too. She was great with kids, acting much like the Darling's dog Nana. She would talk to me when she wanted something, with a big, deep "woof". She was a little dog aggressive, getting in fights occasionally with our other Airedale, Pip, and always winning since she was so big and strong.


A few weeks ago, she injured her right rear paw. I noticed a few days ago that her inside toe on that paw was swollen, so we made an appointment at the vet. In we go for a quick procedure to get her all fixed up. Turns out it was an abscessed toe, so she must have got a thorn or sliver or glass or some other foreign object in it. She was checked out, the toe was cleaned out and we were sent on our way with some medication, an antibiotic and a pain killer.

The next day, New Year's Eve, we gave her the medication as prescribed. Then early the next morning, my wife wakes up to her whining/yelping. She thinks Abbie needs to go out. Soon I hear a scream to come to the living room, something is wrong with her. I go out to find her dead. That quick. We immediately call the vet as I try for a minute to give her CPR. It made no difference, she was gone.


After taking her to the vet for cremation, she was also given an "autopsy" or whatever they call it for dogs. Basically they're saying it was an adverse reaction to the pain killing medication. Not acceptable and not cool. We were given no warning at all about this medication. After an online search, we find out that there are a lot of people that have had similar issues with this medication.


I'll come back later this week with a better (not depressing) post. For my mental health, I need to.