dickstarr

Last night, my wife and I noticed our 5yr old Sharpei behaving strangely. He started trembling, and gagging. After about 20 mins of standing outside in the snow with him, he still couldn't throw up. I took him back inside, and that's when he started getting bloated. We looked up his symptoms online and they suggested we take him to an emergency clinic immediately or he could die.

We got him in the car at 9:45pm and drove 20 mins to the animal hospital. We had X-rays done and it turned out that his stomach had gotten twisted up somehow. The doctor told us that we had 2 options and only a matter of hours. 1: We could have immediate surgery that runs 3-5 thousand dollars and only has a 30%chance of survival, or option 2: Put him to sleep. In a matter of hours, he went from playful to dead. We feel like someone sucker-punched us. Last night was surreal for us, and they even still charged us $230.

My wife and I made a decision years ago that we didn't want children, so this dog was our child. He's on special food that we have to order from the vet, we give him allergy shots once a month (from his dermatologist), he has special soaps and lotions for his folds...he was everything to us. He was honestly the most loving and well behaved dog I've ever had. I haven't cried like this since I was a kid, and getting rid of his bed, bowls, and toys today was really difficult. Not to mention that we're still dog-sitting for my in-laws. Now their Sharpei is depressed and doesn't want to do anything.

We're having him cremated and returned to us in a few days. I should be better then.

RIP Brock.