Ember’s Final Expenses

Ember, our 12-month old Great Dane died at her vet’s office on 4/1/2023 from Parvovirus.

She was fully vaccinated and received a clean bill of health at her 1-year old check-up. The virus depleted her entire system in a matter of days and she was not strong enough to survive.

Funds raised will be used to pay Ember’s vet bill as she was in the dog version of an ICU when she passed. I am also raising funds to have her cremated.

Full story:

On Tuesday 3/28, my 12 month old Great Dane began showing signs of what we believed was her first heat. She was moody, distant, did not want to eat, was in general grumpy. My current foster puppy is NOT neutered yet. Yes, I know. Shouldn’t have a male and female together. But understand that Ember is as tall as a deer and my foster is a 55 lb., 6 month old cinderblock. He could reach her knees when he tried to jump her.

However, believing Ember was having a heat cycle and Ash was losing his mind (marking her bed, overly aggressively playing) I asked my sister-in-law to keep Ember until my foster could be picked up.

Wednesday 3/29, Ember was still not her usual playful self. Not really eating, just snoozing on the couch.

Thursday 3/30, my sister-in-law texted me that one of the Dane girls had massive diarrhea overnight and we assumed it was Ember… possibly hormones from having a heat. Throughout the day she got sicker - throwing up yellow bile, lethargic, still not eating. When she threw up a 2nd time we decided to try and get her in to emergency vet, concerned she may have HGE or some other issue caused by her heat and/or stress.

I called Cheat Lake. They weren’t seeing patients due to lack of staff. I called Blue Pearl. 8-10 hour wait time. Same at PVSEC.

Finally, I called AVETS. Because Ember is a giant breed and her stomach was tender, they said she would be considered a critical case and to bring her in. As I was on my way to pick her up, she had diarrhea again which my SIL placed in a baggie for me.

I completed the online registration at 7:32 pm and drove over to Monroeville. I presented Ember at the front desk. Lethargic, drooling, eyes sunken in from dehydration, nose and eyes running with red mucus.

We sat in the waiting room at AVETS for hours.

Now - I understand completely that life threatening emergencies happen and must be taken care of first. But Ember was fading by the minute. I begged them to give her fluids. They refused. She had to see a vet. That’s their “policy.”

At 11:40 pm, they took her to triage. She immediately threw up a large pile of yellow puke. The vet tech couldn’t find a thermometer, so she disappeared to go find one at which time she threw a pee pad on the vomit pile. Never even wiped it up.

She came back and said after discussing with her supervisor, she did not feel Ember was in eminent danger. The wait time to see a doctor was at minimum 5 hours. Again, I asked for fluids. All care was refused. Since my vet would be open not long after I would be able to see their vet (allegedly…) I decided to bring Ember home and take her to her vet first thing this morning.

We tried everything to get fluid in her. Rice, chicken broth (warm and cold,) maple syrup, whipped cream. She clamped her mouth shut and refused. Thankfully I gated her off upstairs where the floor is hardwood.

At 6 AM, Jason woke me up. Ember had diarrhea and he smelled it through his CPAP. We walked in the living room to find a puddle of bloody diarrhea and Ember laying on the LoveSac covered in slobber and shit. She could barely open her eyes and would not lift her head.

At this point we were frantic. I was trying to figure out if I could give subQ fluids, if I should go back to AVETS… I was seriously preparing myself to watch my puppy die in my living room. I am so grateful to our friends and family who kept my head straight for those 2 hours.

At 8:30 AM, we loaded Ember up to head to her vet’s office. She threw up on the way there, and Jason carried her out of the car. She managed to walk to the exam room and collapsed. Dr. Krazel did a parvo test and within minutes it popped positive. His team went into action so quickly. Ember was immediately quarantined. He warmed fluids infused with vitamins and started an IV. He then gave her anti-nausea, antibiotics and other meds before inserting a catheter line and putting 1500 more ML of fluid in her. Every time someone stepped out of the room, their coat came off and they stepped in a pan of Rescue. Then someone mopped behind them.

AVETS looked at this dog, with bloody, runny diarrhea, bloody mucus in her eyes and nose and very obvious dehydration while vomiting and said her condition was not life threatening. They never even mentioned the word Parvo.

That means my dog was in their parking lot, in their waiting room for 3+ hours and in a triage room WITH PARVO.

Not only did they almost kill her, every other person and dog that was in their clinic was exposed to parvo.

As a courtesy, I called them and suggested they disinfect their clinic and call any patients who had been there in the last 24 hours. The response was “I’ll let the team know.”

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