From: cs911046@cs.yorku.ca (PETER E REISSNER)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Names of your dogs.
Date: 9 Jan 93 02:33:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: yetti.1638
Distribution: world
Organization: York University, Dept. of Computer Science


Hello dog lovers!

I've been reading this news group for almost 2 months since the loss of
my baby (Cocker Spaniel) Kiki.  I'd like to thank all those who sent me
mail offering their support and kind words.  

Kiki was a beautiful black and white female American Cocker Spaniel.
We lost her on November 22.  It seems a little strange, but I felt so 
lonely without her for a while, and I didn't want to believe it happened,
and I always felt that she was somewhere waiting for me, but I didn't
know where she was.  We had her cremated, and we just received her ashes
a couple of days ago.  Now, I feel more comfortable because I know where she 
is now.  She's at home with us.

Kiki was the only dog I ever had, and it wasn't until after we got her at
a pet store that we heard about puppy mills.  I mention this because it may
have something to do with her illness.  We don't know.  Kiki would have
turned 3 this February.  She was the happiest, and healthiest dog!  But she
suddenly fell victim to an auto-immune disorder.  She didn't eat for 3 days,
and her stool wasn't normal.  Well, that wasn't too strange, but by the third
day we knew something was wrong.  We took her to the hospital, and the doctor
said she was very ill.  I could see then that she was quite anemic and
jaundiced.  She put up quite a fight for a week, and it was the one night that
we felt comfortable and didn't worry because she was apparently happy, and
eating well and getting better... We got a phone call the next morning.  We
had lost her.  We think that maybe she had a heart attack from all the drugs
she was on and with her weakened state.  (Dogs have a normal red blood cell
count of 37 to 50 per cent - she had first dropped to 8%)

She went into the hospital on Sunday, had a blood transfusion from a 
Rottweiler named Amber on Monday, and Tuesday was the last day we saw her
alive, although she passed away on the following Sunday.  She got so  excited
when we came to visit that it was suggested we see her as little as possible.
The excitement really tired her out and wasn't good to gaining red blood cells.
I feared having to play God and have to decide to put her down.  We were told
that this type of disease gets stabilized and then she would be okay again.
It might come back, but maybe not.  Well, she was given a 30% chance of making
it, so we held on to that hope.  Anyway, I'm telling you all this to let you
know what I learned.  Dogs have many different blood types, more than humans, 
and they are harder to type.  The blood donor was not matched, but it was the
only one, so it was a chance we took.  The match was not perfect, and Kiki did
reject the blood after a day and a half, but it did give her some extra time,
and in that time she did end up replacing the rejected red blood cells with
her own, if only slowly.  We were given hope!
   What could have caused her immune system to kick in?  We were told it could
be prolonged exposure to different things, like soap or other chemicals.  Noone
really knows.  
The cost was very large (about $200 per day), and it would have been covered
by insurance if we had had it (about $200 per year).  

Anyway, we hope to get a Cocker puppy in February (from a reputable breeder)

Kiki  ... February 15, 1990 - November 22, 1992 


Anyway, what I would really like is that all you dog lovers mail me the names
of your dogs.  I want to compile a list of them, and I'll post it on the news
group.  Please keep the text to a minimum, as I may get alot of responses 
(I hope).  (I don't use this account much, so the mail won't disturb my 
regular mailing address) If the sex of the dog is not obvious by the name,
please tell me if the dog is female or male.

Thanks for reading this.

Peter Reissner
cs911046@moose.cs.yorku.ca
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
From: bassett@hpcss01.cup.hp.com (Diane Bassett)
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 04:37:23 GMT
Subject: Re: compromise btw crate & free roam?
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino