Hi
I'm writing to you regarding our pet dog's death.
Our dog's name is Snowy and he's a Maltese who was 8.5 years old (Birthday - May 7th). I know, he was not even old enough to die. He was up to date on Rabies, Bordetella and Distemper vaccines.
Before we went on a vacation, we left our dog in Friendly Paws Pet resort located in 5647 Steubenville Pike, McKees Rocks, PA 15136.
We left him for the period of Dec 18th to Dec 24th. He was a perfectly healthy, happy and active dog.
But, soon after we picked him from the daycare, we noticed something unusual with him. He was showing signs of lethargy and light headedness while walking.
He hardly ate couple of bites of his food and looked so tired and weak. For couple of days, we thought he must've got stressed out in the daycare and he was taking rest. He wasn't getting any better.
So, on 27th Dec we took him to Penn animal hospital in 2205 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 and Dr. Brandon M. Cohn treated him. To our shock, the doctor told us that his blood counts were too low. Instead of 40%, he only had 12%. Also, his liver enzymes shot up to thousands which should be only in hundreds.
He also did some bloodwork and found out he was negative to Lyme disease, diabetes, kidney failure etc. But, he could not identify the root cause of the blood count decrease. He gave us couple of tablets and sent us home to try the tablets for a weak. He also gave steroid to Snowy. We were giving the tablets with a piece of chicken, the next day when we woke up, he had thrown up all over the house & had loose stools all over the house too. He completely stopped eating that day. I was giving him chicken broth and apple juice using syringe to hydrate him. When he became even worse with diarrhea still going on, we took him to the same doctor again on 29th Dec. The doctor gave him steroid again and gave us the option of either giving blood or continue the tablets for couple more days. He also gave some wet food to try and Snowy had a bite. We thought he started eating again and picked the option of trying the tablets for couple more days.
His health was deteriorating every moment and he completely stopped walking. His loose stools were so watery. His vomiting did not stop. I was trying to feed his wet food through syringe, thinking that he'll get energy after taking some solids. On Dec 30th evening, we thought of taking him to the emergency, but came back halfway due to severe snow and unclean roads. We thought, if we could pass that one night, the next day morning we can take him to emergency and he'll be totally fine. But, early morning at 6AM, we lost our little soul before our eyes after wheezing for a while, which left our entire family devastated and heartbroken.
With everything happened so fast, within a week’s time, what baffles us is what had happened in the Friendly paws resort. While we can't prove anything now, we suspect that there could be some virus infection going around in the resort. He seemed to have all the symptoms of Parvo virus like lethargy, weakness, decrease in blood count, vomiting, diarrhea. We're not sure, it could be something else too. But we're very positive that our dog got sick only in the daycare and not before that.
With no proof in our hands, I request you to arrange for an investigation in the resort so that other poor dogs are not affected the same way. I hope you will help us get some answers and this may save other dogs' lives.
This email is written not because we're emotional about our dog's death or we're doing a blame-game, but to find the truth and stop more damages.
I could be wrong or not about the infection in the daycare. But an investigation could save many lives.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Regards
Priya
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