Requiem for Miss Q and the Other Fur Kids

My heart is breaking as I write this.  Miss Q took ill on Sunday with three seizures in a 24 hour period.  I was totally unprepared for what happened on Monday.  I took her into our regular veterinarian and saw Dr. Wilson after taking her to the emergency vet on Sunday, to get another check up.  I was told that they could find nothing wrong with her that she otherwise looked healthy and maybe she wouldn’t have anymore seizures but in case she did they wanted me to have some medicine on hand to help with the seizure and perhaps then calm them down.

I spent about three hours there with her and the vets and technicians .  She was wonderful.  She just sat at my feet while we waited for things to happen, curious about the other pets that came and went and generally was her regular self.  We went home with a plan for me to go back into Beaufort to pick up the medicine after lunch.  I wasn’t home a 1/2 hour when she started another seizure and this time it didn’t stop.  She just went from one seizure right into another.  I called the animal hospital to say I was coming right back in and I bundled her up in a towel and put her in her crate to keep her as safe as I could while we drove the longest 20 minutes possible to the animal hospital.  Once there they took her immediately and started her on an IV.  She was still having seizures but had gotten a little bit quieter in the crate just as we arrived.

Dr. Wilson sent me out to get the medicine which in itself was a bungled mess.  The medicine is very expensive and the Dr. Wilson had given me a website where you could get discounts on prescriptions called GoodRx .  I looked up where I could get the medicine locally for the best price.  It listed Publix as being one of the best prices and it was close by.  However, I got there and was told no they did not honor the coupon and the cost of the drug was $101.00 for 30 pills.  I told the pharmacist that was highway robbery but she just said to go to Walgreens as they would honor the coupon and she would transfer the prescription.  You can imagine I was not in a very happy mood anyway and this almost put me over the edge.  We drove over to Walgreens and they indeed honored the coupon for 1/2 the price but when I looked at the Retail Cost it said $79.00.  So if I hadn’t been so upset I would have barged right back over to Publix and gone to see the Manager and filed a complaint of price gouging.  My advice to you is to really research the cost of medications and take a look at the site I listed and check the prices on your prescriptions.  This drug was a human drug that is used by veterinarians to control seizures called Keppra.  Anyway, we left with the medicine and hurried back to the vet.  I gave the medicine to the receptionist who took it right back to Dr. Wilson.  Within seconds the Dr. Wilson came back out and sat down with me and said that she couldn’t get the seizures to stop.  She had never seen a case where valium wouldn’t stop the seizures and it wasn’t working.  She also gave her Phenobarbital but it wasn’t working either.  Her poor little body was just being wracked with seizures.  It wasn’t even a choice in my mind, we had to end her suffering.

Our primary veterinarian Jessica Rockwell, who had been busy with surgery all morning, came to see me and we both burst into tears.  We went out back where Miss Q was wrapped in a beautiful soft blanket, she was making some little noises but basically was quiet and obviously out of it.  We held her and told her what a great dog she had been and told her to go and find Buckingham and go running again in the woods.  It was peaceful and I believe she knew I was there as she grew quieter once I started stroking her head.  I cannot be more thankful for the care and sympathy that our veterinarians and technicians of the Sea Island Animal Hospital gave us.

Miss Q missed Buckingham more than I can say.  It took her months to stop looking for him and I thought she really did seem happier by the time we came back down here in the fall.  She took awhile to warm up to Winchester but she really liked walking with him and being the boss.  She taught him well and she is partly responsible for how well he has settled into our home.  As I write this I miss her even more.  She was always in the well of my desk when I worked on the computer.  She loved just to be near me and I loved her being there too.  She went to work with me for years before I retired and always was under my desk.  We were buddies.  Miss Q was the only dog of mine that was ever allowed in my mother’s house.  That is saying something.

She had quite a following of special people who thought she was very unique.  She also had her favorites – our daughter Margot because Margot always took her hiking with her, our daughter Katie because when Katie was with us she and I would always take Miss Q walking along with Buckingham.  My brother Paul who would come through the woods and set her off barking because she was ready to go for a hike with him and besides he was the one who found her many years ago after she had run off into the woods and was gone for 8 hours.   My sister Margot who also would walk miles with Miss Q and me in Canada and when my sister would peel off the walk to head for home, Miss Q always wanted to go with her.  There are many others that she really warmed up to and there were others she didn’t much care for so she would just go and curl up on her bed and ignore them.  To all of you who were fans of hers, calling her Mrs. Q (Steve our dog sitter in Canada), Baby Q (Alyssa our dog sitter in South Carolina) Squeaky (Jennifer, my walking partner in Canada) and the many others who always asked how to spell Miss Q – not miscue as John used to tell them, thank you for helping me love her.

This week’s blog is dedicated to Miss Q, Portia, Buckingham, Sir Toby and Olivia.  All of these pets enriched our lives in ways that cannot be measured.  They all died within 11 months of each other.  They gave us unconditional love and we loved them back and cared for them all their lives.  They are all together again and their legacy is Winchester who is bringing a smile back to our faces even though we grieve their passing.  I suspect there is cat out there that needs a home and he/she will find us in the not too distant future.  I leave you with a photograph or two of our four-footed fur family.  We are going off on a short trip which I hope will help us heal from all this sadness.