Hi All,

Thanks for your concern...autopsy results came back today from one of the dogs that died this week and it turned out to be Parvovirus - why people do not vaccinate their pets I will never know... I guess they think that since they live out in the country and do not have direct contact with one another that they do not need it. Not the case! Parvo can travel home on your shoes, car tires and can live in fecal matter for as long as 6 months! I'm sure that everyone on this site does vaccinate but if you don't, please DO!!

On another note, I do realize that most pets can live a long, healthy and happy life with diabetes (and other managable diseases) but by the time Cuddles was properly diagnosed, they were not sure she would even make it through the night. Her symptoms had progressed very rapidly (they think due to hormonal changes). She had never been spayed and based on the veterinary advice my parents were given if she lived through the night, she would need to be spayed (at 13!), spend several weeks housed in their facility and then she could come home and they could start to monitor the disease themselves with insulin injections. Even with all of this, the veterinarian gave her only about an additional 6 months to live. I really don't want anyone to think that this was a decision that was made lightly. She was a part of the family for 13 years and we certainly would not have let her go if we thought she would have enjoyed those 6 months - if she had been younger, things would have been much different. Sorry for the rant!! I'm just still upset about the whole thing...this was only about a month ago.