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volumnus · 10-16-2019, 03:49 AM

I'm a teacher. Knox waited until the day before my fall break to get really sick for the first time in his life. I took him to the vet that Thursday. The vet thought he had a sinus infection. She gave me three meds. He got worse. The next day I met my mom and my wife at the Emergency vet right after school. They diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. They gave us two meds. He got a little better and then worse. A few days later, I took him to a third vet. Two different certified cardiologists pronounced his heart healthy after doing echocardiograms. They concluded he had pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure in his little lungs. The put him in an oxygen tank for a day and a half and threw the kitchen sink at him to treat possible infections. They told us he was getting better. My wife is a NiQ nurse. She has to keep three critical babies alive for 12 hours at a time. We had two oxygen bottles in the car when we took him out of the oxygen tank and brought him home. He fought his little butt off to live. He had to know he was loved. I have a sports car with only 12 thousand miles on it. I would have traded it without hesitation for another year with him. I would have rather had my house burn to the ground than lose my little boy.

My main regret is that I wasn't prepared. I constantly remind my high school students to be proactive. I didn't follow my own advice. When you love something this fiercely, you need to have a plan to protect it. I graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They have one of the top vet schools in the nation. They have an emergency hospital that is open 24 hours a day. They have a whole department that specializes in small animals. They have pioneered new life-saving respiratory and cardiovascular stent surgeries. I should have know all of that! I should have taken him to UT months ago when I first noticed his snoring was getting worse and that he didn't have quite as much endurance. I just assumed he was just getting old like his daddy. I can't do what I used to be able to do either. He was getting close to 10 years old. I'm getting close to 50. I spent five thousand dollars, but his vets, who did the best they could, were not equipped save him. I believe Knox died of a collapsed trachea. He had about ten different x-rays over the last two weeks. They all showed a narrowing of the trachea, but nothing that would asphyxiate him, make his tongue turn purple, cause him to breathe 120 short, shallow breaths per minute. Except one. One of the x-rays shows a completely collapsed trachea. My vets had trouble sharing x-rays and records with each other. Each time I took him to a different place, I had to pay to have all new tests run. I live in Chattanooga, only an hour and 45 minutes from Knoxville. I go up for football and basketball games all the time. I named my dog Knox after Knoxville. If I could change one thing, I would have taken him there at the first sign of distress. I think they could have saved him. He had a boundless desire to live. Have a plan. Never take your baby for granted. Be proactive.

10-16-2019, 03:49 AM	#7
volumnus Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA Posts: 77	Knox died yesterday. I'm a teacher. Knox waited until the day before my fall break to get really sick for the first time in his life. I took him to the vet that Thursday. The vet thought he had a sinus infection. She gave me three meds. He got worse. The next day I met my mom and my wife at the Emergency vet right after school. They diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. They gave us two meds. He got a little better and then worse. A few days later, I took him to a third vet. Two different certified cardiologists pronounced his heart healthy after doing echocardiograms. They concluded he had pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure in his little lungs. The put him in an oxygen tank for a day and a half and threw the kitchen sink at him to treat possible infections. They told us he was getting better. My wife is a NiQ nurse. She has to keep three critical babies alive for 12 hours at a time. We had two oxygen bottles in the car when we took him out of the oxygen tank and brought him home. He fought his little butt off to live. He had to know he was loved. I have a sports car with only 12 thousand miles on it. I would have traded it without hesitation for another year with him. I would have rather had my house burn to the ground than lose my little boy. My main regret is that I wasn't prepared. I constantly remind my high school students to be proactive. I didn't follow my own advice. When you love something this fiercely, you need to have a plan to protect it. I graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They have one of the top vet schools in the nation. They have an emergency hospital that is open 24 hours a day. They have a whole department that specializes in small animals. They have pioneered new life-saving respiratory and cardiovascular stent surgeries. I should have know all of that! I should have taken him to UT months ago when I first noticed his snoring was getting worse and that he didn't have quite as much endurance. I just assumed he was just getting old like his daddy. I can't do what I used to be able to do either. He was getting close to 10 years old. I'm getting close to 50. I spent five thousand dollars, but his vets, who did the best they could, were not equipped save him. I believe Knox died of a collapsed trachea. He had about ten different x-rays over the last two weeks. They all showed a narrowing of the trachea, but nothing that would asphyxiate him, make his tongue turn purple, cause him to breathe 120 short, shallow breaths per minute. Except one. One of the x-rays shows a completely collapsed trachea. My vets had trouble sharing x-rays and records with each other. Each time I took him to a different place, I had to pay to have all new tests run. I live in Chattanooga, only an hour and 45 minutes from Knoxville. I go up for football and basketball games all the time. I named my dog Knox after Knoxville. If I could change one thing, I would have taken him there at the first sign of distress. I think they could have saved him. He had a boundless desire to live. Have a plan. Never take your baby for granted. Be proactive.