What a horrible night last night. Bonnie, our 13-year old German Shepherd, came into our bedroom around 1.30am and I thought she wanted to go outside to poop, so woke Philip and he went and let her out.

He came back to say she was acting oddly and her stomach was extremely tight and it was obviously troubling her. He jumped on the computer to see what it might be and the thing that came up was bloat. It said it was a very dangerous condition – where the dog’s stomach suddenly turns and twists for no apparent reason – and the dog has to been taken to the vet immediately.

Thank God we have a 24-hour vet close by to where we live. Philip called them and they told him to come down right away – he had to carry Bonnie to the car as she couldn’t walk properly.

Anyway, about 1/2 hour later he came back holding her collar and I realised that she wasn’t coming back. Apparently the vet confirmed that she did have bloat and, being such an old dog, surgery was not an option so they had to put her down.

I haven’t been able to stop crying. She was such a gentle, good-natured dog and it’s going to be so hard to fill her shoes.

We got her when she was 2 years old and she fitted into the family immediately. She chased our cats up the trees outside but never chased the ferrets. She allowed them to clamber all over her (like the photo below, with Muis cuddling up to her) and even in her old age she never got stroppy with them, even putting up with the boys stealing her food from under her nose.

These days she was pretty much totally deaf, her eyes were cloudy and the poor thing was as arthritic as I am but she seemed to be happy and so to lose her so suddenly has come as a real shock.

Now we have to think about introducing a new dog to the ferrets, especially to the boys (who can be very naughty at times). I’m not sure how that will go but obviously we’ll have to look for a dog with a very placid temperament and one who is good with small children and other animals. I hope it won’t be a hard ask …!

I believe Bonnie is playing at the Bridge with all our ferrets and cats and I look forward to the day when we will all meet up again.

 

RIP my sweet, kind, old puppy :(  

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