Acute Pancreatitis

""Acute Pancreatitis"- that's what Trixie's doctor said was the cause of death when he called to report later this morning.

"What caused it?"  I asked.  He answered, "No one can be too sure. However it is common amongst particularly amongst female dogs.  Causes?   It could be her diet (but they all eat the same thing!).  Her age (Trixie's four human years old) But there's no determined causal link ...although some breeds are known to develop the problem "

The puzzling thing is, Trixie out of the lot was possibly the most robust out of the pack.  She hardly ever had diohrrea, or vomited.  Hardly ever shown signs of lethargy or developed a fever.  Infact, hardly fell sick for that matter. From the day she came to Dog Woods as a wee pup of 3 months she was always on the go.  She was so hyper, I had to properly school myself on how to handle and train a dog so highly strung!

To be honest, she was the one that caused the most injuries amongst the other dogs. The two, Joe the Rottweiller and Anna the Doberman never stood a chance against Trixie the Belgian Malinois. Don't get me started on how many times Joe (the Rottie) got nipped in the butt and the wound later demanded some careful care.  And then there's Anna - Trixie's caused some major damage there too - twice required stitching and draining.  Even from her cage recently, she manage to inflict a couple of bites on Anna's left check.   Because of the recent clashes I've been giving both Anna and Trixie many running checks just to see if I've missed any injuries.  Trixie almost always seem to come away unscathe after clashing with either Joe or Anna.

And then all of a sudden she left us.  Time's up.  Maybe all these while she's been trying to tell me that something's wrong and I mistook that for her being afraid of firecrackers (since she scaled her pen's fence every time she heard a pop).   You know the song 'Who Let The Dog Out??' - that was Trixie.  She'd let herself out, climb any fence or gate that confined her - more so over the CNY festivities.

The only time she required the doctor's attention was when she had a piece of skin dangling from behind her left hind leg.  Am not sure how that happened (from running too hard - into fence?) but she came bounding and sat even without me calling.  And when they are that good, something's definitely amiss...The doctor had to stitch her up.

I suppose am still plagued with 'what ifs ...'  Could it all have been prevented ... had I called the doctor earlier .... *sigh*

To think those pictures were taken  a little more than a week ago.  After Joe returned from having his wound treated (thanks to Trixie), Anna getting bitten (by Trixie yet again) and Wally getting tick fever.

So rest in peace Trixie.  I'll always remember you.  Some day I'll see you again ... over that rainbow.