I am writing this for two reasons the first being to pay tribute to my Chi named Nee Hi and the second to hopefully bring to small dog owners the devastating effects of a disease called Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE).
13 months ago my wife and I bought a beautiful smooth coat Chihuahua from an excellent breeder in South Australia. When she arrived she was so small and fragile and I immediately bonded with her. She was my lil princess and I named her Nee Hi. As my wife and I loved dogs and had already a show staffy, and two cats, Nee Hi bonded so well with the other animals it was awesome. She ran and lived with the cats, played and slept with them and had her own personal blanket and a crotchet bed where she would sleep.
She had her own mannerism, personality and personal traits that stood out so much she always made me smile. Beside my family she made me proud and she would very occasionally sleep in our bed under the covers at the base of our feet.
We would take our 2 year old son in his pram and Nee would sit beneath the pram on a small platform and she would sit proudly showing herself off to the neighbourhood and its animals.
She would snuggle up to the cats and to the staffy and he was so protective of her. She was perfect.
In June my wife, young son and I went on a holiday as a family our first ever. We left our Chi and staffy with her parents who looked after her so well and also loved dogs so much. She was spoilt so much and always slept inside in the warmth and in an environment fit for a king.
We would ring almost everyday and check to see how they were going and all was well.
On Saturday 14th June I returned home from Adelaide after seeing my sister who is unwell. I walked into the house at 2.00am in the morning and was immediately met by Nee Hi as she ran to my feet excited and running around. I picked her up and hugged her, kissed the top of her head and played for a short time with her. She looked fantastic.
As I was tired I put her into her room and placed her on the crochet blanket and went to bed tired.
The next morning my wife had previously organised to take both Nee and the staffy Rueben to be groomed and pampered. She went to Nee’s room only to discover that there were faeces and blood all over the floor. Immediately she took her to the vet and so went the many tests. Parvo was suspected, threadworm and all other tests to determine what she had. Finally the result came back that her red blood cell count was high. Normally should be 35 and was increasing and currently 63. The time was now 10.30 am.
She had developed a disease called Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis (HGE). This is a nasty disease with no known cause that destroys the intestine. The vet treated her accordingly but as it is a ravaging form of disease from the time the first symptoms show, usually explosive diaharrea with blood in the faeces the treatment is aggressive and must be immediate as the time span from symptoms to death can be between 8 and 10 hours.
At 12.00pm we got a call from the vet and they were intravenously replacing her fluids and reports were she was responding well and had her colour back. I was scared but relieved they had found the problem.
At 1.30 pm my wife received a call and one that will leave me shocked and totally devastated. Nee had passed the cause was shock as a result of the destruction and contamination of her body and the shutdown of her major organs.
I cried and was totally devastated. I drove to the vet and spent some time just holding her, patting her and saying sorry. I was told there was nothing I had done wrong and that small dogs were susceptible to this disease and they knew little about the causes as no one had done much research to determine the actual cause. Its symptoms are similar to Parvo and only would the blood results determine the issue after the similar diseases were eliminated.
So on that day I lost my lil princess. My companion, my friend. I’m still upset and every day I wonder why and have so many unanswered questions. It was like she knew she was dying and she was only waiting for me to get home so she could see me one more time.
I know I will eventually be able to speak of her without the tears and despair but for now I can only wait and allow the healing process to move slowly forward.
Goodbye my lil princess, you touched my soul like no other and I shall look at your collar and name tag everyday on my key ring and think of you. I could not have asked for a better friend and companion. I will always miss you.
Dean
