[TheTrinks]

Hi everyone.... I haven't posted here in quite some time. I am going to share my story, as hard as it is, in hopes that if someone is experiencing any part of what we just did, you will seek help. Also, please excuse me for being somewhat graphic, but I want to be honest with what happened.

My wife and I adopted our yorkie a year and half ago from a rescue. She was 6 when we got her, and she spent almost 5 years breeding in a puppy mill. Of course, no one knew her exact family history. She was always pretty lethargic, very quiet and tame. She also ALWAYS have a dry, hacking cough that never produced anything. The vet always told us "yorkies snort when they get too much air", but I never felt that was what she was doing.

She could never exercise for too long before she went and laid down. We figured she was just a quiet dog. she still very well could have been.

Fast forward.... about 3 weeks ago, Sprinkle start vomiting frequently a very liquidy fluid. Maybe 3-4 times a day, for 2 or 3 days. Then she would take a few days off. We just moved, and she likes to eat grass. So we figured the stress of the move, plus the grass, she was getting it up. This symptom could still be unrelated, but I thought I'd mention it. The vet said this is probably not the same issue.

So, about 2 days ago, she started getting REALLY lethargic, and couldn't even jump on the couch. She started to get constipated. We gave her some pumpkin with food, which didn't really help. Yesterday, she stopped eating altogether. We noticed her belly was distended a bit, but, again, we thought she ate a lot of grass. She wasn't interested in treats, but drank normally. She also start vomiting more frequently, but it was the usual yellow-ish foamy stuff. Also no fever.

This morning, close to 4AM, she woke us up to more vomiting. This time it was getting worse. Darker colors... brown, red, speckled with bits of something. It was coming on every 3-5 minutes. She also was very constipated, but trying and trying to get something out. I took her outside, then she wouldn't eat, and just laid in her bed. Finally, after a while, she calmed down, stopped vomiting for about an hour, and laid there. We thought she finally got up what she was trying to get up!

We also noticed she was wheezing a bit, which wasn't normal.

Then, at about 6:45AM, she started growling. She never growls. I went over to her to see how she was doing and I saw she got sick VERY red liquid, but didn't even try to get up... she vomited laying down. I went to pick her up, and when she opened her mouth A LOT of blood came out, and she got very stiff and almost instantly passed away. It was very traumatic, violent, and sudden.

I panicked. Got her into a carrier, and ran to the vet ER. When I got in the car, I didn't know she was completely gone yet. When I got her there, I knew.... the vet grabbed her and said there's no heart beat.

She took her in the back to do a quick exam, as much as she could, and said her entire inside was full of fluid. Her chest cavity and abdomen area was full of blood and mucous. She was vomiting fluid that was leaking into her lungs, and trying to poop fluid that wasn't actually in her bowel, but not in it. Hence, nothing was coming out.

The vet said she's pretty confident she had congestive heart failure, even without an autopsy. The heart enlarged to the point where it was tearing, not getting blood to circulate, and the other organs were failing. She said, even if we brought her in weeks ago, there would have been nothing we could do. MAYBE, if they caught it when we first got her, they could have prolonged her life, but not cured it.

This has been a horrific day for me and my wife. We absolutely love our dear Sprink. She had the worst beginning to life a dog could have, and it ended so suddenly and painfully. She left us too soon.

If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me. If you feel like things aren't quite right, DON'T assume anything. Even though the vet said we couldn't have done anything, it's hard to accept that.

So, in short:

Early symptoms which line up with congestive heart failure that WE experienced are: dry, hacking cough, lethargic, tired from short activity.

Symptoms that were VERY severe, even though at that point there was no saving her: dark brown/red vomit, heavy vomiting and constipation, labored breathing, wheezing, VERY tired all the time, loss of appetite, distended belly.

All of these things I learned about AFTER she passed. I have been to the vet a number of times since we got her about the cough, and about her being lethargic..... but they never checked her heart. Eventually, it got so big that her whole system shut down.

Please do not take this time to man-up and say we are horrible dog owners for waiting to bring her to the vet. You have to understand that the severe symptoms only started about 12-18 hours before she passed. The vet said there was nothing we could have done once she started the heavy vomiting.

We are heartbroken. We miss her so much already. She was my best bud and I'm glad she's not in pain any more. Thanks for hearing me out, folks.

RIP Sprinkle 9/1/2004-10/23/2011