Category Archives: Family

While I try to be completely honest all the time on here, there are some things that I can’t share right away.

While I did a recap of my Christmas, you might have noticed that there was no mention of our new puppy Chaucer.

We picked up Chaucer on Sunday. He seemed absolutely perfect. The only thing was his neutering site was a little infected (he had licked at it and the incision opened up). We were told that he would be fine and that the incision was re-glued. When we brought him home, he was a wonderfully squirmy puppy. He did everything a puppy should do. He ate like a pig, cried when we put him in the kennel or “gated community”, and just wanted to be loved on and cuddled.

Monday was pretty much the same as Sunday. He did all the usual puppy things. We worked on training with him and was so pleased to see that he already knew some of his commands and was even very close to being potty trained. We showed him off to lots of our neighbors and friends that day.

Tuesday morning things changed. Chaucer vomited and refused to eat. He also seemed very lethargic. We rushed him to the vet that my family has used for decades and the vet didn’t seem too concerned. This vet wasn’t the usual vet that our dogs have seen, but she was the only one there so we saw her. The vet said that he might just have a stomach bug and that would explain the vomiting and refusing to eat. His blood sugar was extremely low so they gave him fluids and glucose to perk him up. He didn’t perk up right away, but we were told to give things time. We were also given medicine to help with the nausea and the infection at the neutering site (which didn’t really seem that big of a deal to the vet).

All day Tuesday we fed him baby food and water (what the vet told us to do). We fed him every 90 minutes. He was still going to the bathroom so we figured we were doing what he needed. In the evening he started to perk up so we thought maybe he was getting better.

Then early on Christmas morning, my parents heard Chaucer making noise in this kennel. They thought he needed to go out to potty, so they got him and took him outside. He was having  grand mal seizure. Thinking it was related to the blood sugar issue, my parents fed him maple syrup. They woke me up to tell me that they were rushing Chaucer to the emergency vet. While my mom was driving, Chaucer had another seizure and died in my dad’s arms.

When my parents took his body to the vet yesterday so he could be buried, the vet believed that he had sepsis due to the infection from being neutered. There was nothing else we could have done to save him. The infection was there when we got him and it was probably too far along. His little body couldn’t fight it.

We are all so devastated that this happened. We spent a lot of Christmas in total shock. It almost didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel like we ever had Chaucer.

I wish I could write an obituary for him like I did for Dante, but sadly we were just getting to know Chaucer when he died.

What I can tell you is that Chaucer was such a sweet dog. He was loving and greeted pretty much everyone we introduced him to with a kiss. He was also unbelievably smart. For only being 8 weeks old, he already knew commands and how to listen. And he picked up where in the backyard to go potty on his first day home.

Chaucer had his whole life ahead of him, and I know that he would have been an amazing dog. There’s no doubt in my mind about it.

My parents aren’t sure when they’ll get another dog now. They do want to add a dog to the family, but this hit them so hard that they are being very cautious. They want to make sure that the next dog is as healthy as can be.

Some people have asked me if they can do anything for Dante’s memory. If you would like to do something in honor of Dante and now Chaucer, you can donate to Pound Puppy Rescues. They are the organization that rescued Chaucer and all his puppy siblings from a dog hoarder. They foster all the dogs in homes so they don’t have to go to shelters. I know that any donations made there will go to make sure that all dogs find wonderful forever homes.

And hopefully soon, my family will find our forever dog.

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