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Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  My Jilly was a 3 lb. tiny and though I loved her fiercely and with every fiber of my heart, the stress & strain of caring for a very tiny dog with the attendant medical issues they usually have was 24/7/365. She was a tiny angel - so perfect and cute beyond belief with a personality to die for! She tilted her head just so to clutch your heart with cuteness! She was a teeny tornado, fearing nothing, ruling her world with black, snapping little eyes & tiny perfect, perked ears, wee feet that stamped to get her way. There was nothing more adorable or dearer on earth than she! And she was a joy to live with, a joy to just look at, to live with and love. I wouldn't trade her for the whole world.
But tiny, fragile little Jilly had a lifetime of medical problems and suffering, w/many, many vet, vet ER and hospital visits & urgent, fearful vet calls. I suffered right along with her, somehow almost felt her every discomfort as acutely as she, spent many, many long days and nights seeing her through scary bouts of illness at home or at the ER vet clinic. Out for a walk, blocks from our home, she was violently attacked by an off-leash Dalmatian dog who ran from out of no-where, suffered many bites, had to have surgical repair and 6 weeks of rehab. She was so tiny the Dalmatian just picked her whole body up in his mouth before I could fight him off. He followed us to the end of the block, trying to get at her again as she had seizures in my arms almost all the way home. Never know how I drove to the vet clinic while trying to calm my traumatized little baby.
She had congenital & acute GI issues which manifested throughout her life all too frequently, saw many specialists, took many, many tests and a lot of medicine over the years. Falling off things she managed to get onto was and breaking herself was a constant fear of mine so she was NEVER allowed out of my sight. She almost choked to death after swallowing a chewie end - throat so tiny it stuck and immediately swelled in her minuscule pharynx, cutting off all but a trickle of air. Gasping & fighting desperately for air, she went into a panicked frenzy, digging at her face with her claws. I had to gather her up w/my car keys and somehow breathe for her after she went limp as I was driving one-handed in wild panic to the vet in the night, fearing she had just died in my arms. I don't know how we made it or she didn't die that night. We spent most of yet another night at the vet's.
When 3 weeks before Christmas her tiny shoulder joint finally gave out from all the jumping dogs that tiny dogs must do, even on their own doggie steps, it fractured/dislocated and failed to heal after 3 weeks of horrible casting, the vets and I concluded she'd been through enough to last a lifetime and at the age of 13 w/arthritis and many other medical problems, she wasn't a candidate for amputation or its rehab. She had enough problems without trying to learn how to walk all over again at her age with only 3 legs. I couldn't bear the thought of that tiny angel struggling anymore. I told her goodbye late on Christmas Eve. I couldn't lose my precious little Jilly....but I did. It broke me. I didn't want another dog for years.
Anyone who deliberately breeds dogs too small to comfortably and safely live a normal dog's life should be run out of the human race. They do not care a whit about the life the little dog has to try to live or that of the people who love it more than life. Please either rescue or reward only breeders who breed responsibly for healthy dogs with your next dog purchase. |
Let me just say that I am quite sorry for your loss... sounds like Jilly was a very good dog, and adorable.
I actually think, a lot of people who are enticed into buying those "teacup" , "micro" or whatever term you may have heard of... they don't even know what they're getting themselves into, much less what kind of tragedy will befall on their new addition... and the sort of practice they're endorsing...
I think that someone purposely going out of their way to get a dog like that despite of learning the truth about those poor dogs and their "breeders" have as much as a hand in the practice as the people who breed them.... For every dog they buy like that, they are endorsing those people potentially mistreating those animals, and by doing so-- they themselves are mistreating the animals.
This may appear slightly unrelated but;
I used to work at this small mom and pop pet shop(no dogs or cats being sold there just their foods, reptiles, fish, amphibians, birds, small mammals) near where I live. Now I was in charge of taking care of the animals being sold there, and I personally researched each animals care long before working there as that was my passion and everyday I came into that job we would have all sorts of customers... Majority of the people who went into the store were rather ignorant about what they were planning on buying-- which in a sense I guess I didn't expect them to.
However every single time I worked there quite a lot of the customers who would come to me with pet related questions that would really reveal the sad secrets of the pet industry. While pet ownership is definitely not wrong in my perspective(and of a lot of people), it does leave the doors open to people do as they please with other living beings...
I recall the many questions that saddened me... I will just say one prime example to make my point....
I remember being asked by an older woman, an apparent mother claimed her son just went off to college and that she had bought him a baby turtle-- showed me a photo and all. Told me that the turtle had been living in a fish bowl. Asked me what size tank they needed. The photo she showed me was that of a extremely common to get, red eared slider.
Now a red eared slider I told her, needs at least 55gallons of water to swim otherwise the turtle will become stunted. Being that turtles require some land area I explained to her how one would need to make it so. I explained everything to do with their care.
But all throughout my explanation she kept interrupting asking me if she couldn't just keep it in a 2.5 gallon aquarium. Said she didn't have the space for it, nor the money for it and that it was her sons pet that he couldn't take care of because he was going off to college.
So I explained to her that she should then seek someone who could take care of it-- she then interrupted and said that she wanted it to be there for when her son returned, so I told her to buy a large tupperware container the biggest one they made that it should be able to keep it, told her where she could get cheap light fixtures, and all she had to do was get the light bulbs here(specific for reptiles), the food and water conditioner but she just kept asking me if she could keep it in a 2.5gallon aquarium, after 10 more minutes(30minutes of repeating it) I get pulled away by a coworker and I do I see that she still decides to buy a small 2.5gallon aquarium.....
--
So in conclusion, my point is, that no matter how much you educate some people, they still will not care- and they will claim they're doing it for the animal or for some other "noble" reason but deep down we all know otherwise that it's just for their own selfish desires....
My point is, dogs, like all animals are just "items" to some people, an "accessory"... Some will learn after experiencing it first hand, others just won't care.
I just wish people could reach down into themselves and do the right thing.
I apologize for the long winded speech, but I felt the need to make a clear point.
There are many more examples of animal cruelty that I came to see/hear about from the customers own mouths... Now I am not saying all of them were bad, just saying the ones that are -- are in plain sight.
Knowledge is power.