Sweetie, for You
 

Such a sweet remembrance!

Tiki must feel so lost without her big sis. :(

Lisa I saw that you made a donation to Yorkie Haven Rescue in memory of Meika, and wanted to say thank you so much. What a lovely way to memorialize Meika, that was so sweet.

Today is a little more calm and 3 furgirls and I are feeling loved and supported by all of you.

We are trying to adapt to the new smaller pack, and I'm giving Tiki lots of extra attention, which she needs and loves. Without Meika to play with, I will be her best buddy and take her more places with me, etc. where before I felt they were better off at home keeping each other company. Tiki kind of lived in Meika's shadow, and now is her time to be top dog and shine.

Kayla and Karlee (sisters) are buddied up as usual, and doing ok. Meika also played with them a lot, but they still have each other.

We still search for toads daily, and have only found one small one in a week and of course disposed of it. I've started letting the pups go out more again, as I know I can't make them live in a bubble forever.

Thank you all for your healing thoughts, and helping me get through this.

You sound better, less frantic, and that's good that you've gotten to this point though I know the pain is still bad in every way. I'm glad you are giving extra everything to Tiki and helping her through the adjustment. You know she must wonder what happened to her Meika and why she's not there for her. I'm sure she will love her top dog status and blossom now. Living with those all the scary things out there that can hurt our dogs is just the worst and it seems unthinkable that you've found a second one! My goodness - even a small one is awful. I wish exterminators or someone could find ways to treat the yard for those things or find some sort of preventative or some animal that hunts them down so you didn't have to keep searching them out and disposing of them before every outing. I hate that you have to live like that, Sandy.

I'm sure glad you have your furry little three-pack and all the love that comes with them. That's got to make it better to have those sweet babies there trying to make Mommie feel better and comfort her and make her laugh. I pray these next weeks and months slowly heal you and your heart feels lighter before too long.

Oh Sandy, I'm so very sorry. How horrible to loose her in that manner.

Sandy, Im so sorry to hear of your loss.

toad
 

I finally caught a huge toad near the pool pump today, with the help of the gardener we scooped it in a bucket and put a lid on it.

It very likely is the one that killed Meika, and I am relieved to have it gone, but I know there may be more, so I will keep looking. It's hard to believe that one lousy toad could kill my baby Meika..... and made me mad and crying all over again.

Please warn people to be aware of these, especially in South Florida, Australia, and Hawaii. There is more info here: Poisonous Bufo Toads Can Kill Your Dog | For The Love of My Dogs

Those horrible bufo marinus toads (aka cane toads) also live in South Texas along the border, and surely all the way south through eastern Mexico, Central America, all the way to the Amazon (where they originated). There is another species, bufo alvarius (Colorado River toad), that can kill too, and they're in northern Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, and a couple of other places. My girl got poisoned by a bufo speciosus (Texas toad) a couple of months ago and got pretty sick, but those aren't known to kill. I see the bufo speciosus all the time at sunset and sunrise in the San Antonio, Texas area during the summer, so I have Cookie on a leash always when the sun isn't out. But the one in January that Cookie got to tripped me up because it was out about noon, hiding in a really shady and cool corner between a planter and a trash can on a warm day.

They actually imported them to Hawaii in 1930's to control pests in the cane fields. They do eat centipedes etc., but not worth the trade off of killing dogs and pets. One article says they can even kill alligators, so it's not just toxic to the small pets.

Well Sandy I guess there's at least one advantage with living in Illinois, no Bufo Toads. I honestly had never heard of these toads before. Thanks for spreading the word to anyone that will listen, we all must watch our babies carefully...they can be snatched away from us within minutes. Such a tragedy. Missing Meika, thinking about you.

I read a lot about this toad after you wrote about this. He is a few ways of getting rid of them

Trap and Eliminate Bufo Marinus Toads | For The Love of My Dogs


I am sorry that this happen and I hope that everyone takes notice and learns from this tragedy. I hugged Galen a little closer. I also send lots of hugs and puppy kisses to you and your pack during this sad time.

Same way they got into Florida :(

I think bufo and toad are redundant; I think bufo just means toad. But everything about Sandy's description screams bufo marinus. Huge toad, big poison glands, and then the location. I remember as a kid in school learning about the super toxic toads in the Amazon that were used to poison arrow-heads and such, and then come to find out that exact toad is in the US. :(