Our Girl

What the f*ck just happened.

This is the actual thought in our head right now in the days after our girl was taken from us. We are so happy that it was quick for her because she was a happy and playful pup up until 6 days ago, but it’s hard for us to wrap our head around. We weren’t ready to say goodbye. We thought she had several more healthy years ahead of her, but it really just shows the magnitude of the unpredictability of life. 

I know we have a lot of people that are worried about the same thing happening to their pup, so we will explain what happened here, from the beginning. 

Rylee was not acting herself on Thursday, she seemed more sleepy and she did not want to get out of bed that morning. We eventually got her up, called her a “sleepy head”, and she ate breakfast. She had a similar situation in June/July, which is why she did not come to Colorado with us, and she completely recovered back to her puppy self. We honestly did not think much of it.

Friday she acted the same way, but did not want to eat breakfast or dinner. She took a few bites and stopped. If you know anything about Rylee, you know that girl loved to eat. I was really worried that something was wrong since she wasn’t wanting to eat, but she was otherwise acting fine. I made her some chicken broth and rice and she ate that without hesitation. 

Saturday morning she woke up and would not bear any weight on her back right leg. Two days prior she had an insignificant “tiff” with our friends dog, so we thought that maybe she tweaked her leg or pulled a muscle? We figured she just needed to take it easy for a few days. I made her chicken broth and rice again, and she ate it all up, but laying down. She was still alert, interactive, hanging out with us outside on her bed we brought out, licking her paws, she seemed to be turning a corner.

Sunday morning she looked significantly worse. She was switching back and forth which back leg she would walk on, and her hips were drawn under. She refused the rice and chicken broth or any water. She was dry and dehydrated. We immediately called around to emergency vets, and got her an appointment to be seen. We brought her over, Brian carrying her to the car and into the office. She was completely unable to stand or walk at this point. 

At the emergency vet: 

She had a fever of 104, was breathing heavy with retractions by her ribs, her eyes were droopy from dehydration, and she was unable to walk. It all progressed and worsened so quickly. They admitted her for IV fluids, and started Ampicillin TID as a broad spectrum antibiotic to start covering for leptospirosis or Lyme. They collected labs and noted that her liver and kidney function were slightly elevated but it did not seem alarming; thought to be related to the dehydration. The infectious disease labs needed to be sent out, and would take a few days.

We waited and waited and waited. 

Sunday and Monday she seemed improved based on communication with the vet- she was walking outside to go potty, her fever was gone, she was drinking water on her own, and started to eat again. She ate a hamburger and salmon that they made for her. 

In our mind she was responding to the antibiotics, and we simply needed to wait for the infectious disease labs to come back to determine which longer term oral antibiotic therapy we needed to keep her on. 

We were told she would hopefully go home on Tuesday night, but they wanted to repeat her liver/kidney function to make sure it was going in the right direction after the dehydration was addressed. And this is when everything went downhill…. 

Her bilirubin level went from 2 (just slightly elevated) to 9.7 in 48 hours. I could hear the nervousness in the vets voice. She suggested an abdominal ultrasound to get a better look at what might be going on instead of continuing to wait for the lab work to come back. 

They squeezed us in for a STAT ultrasound Wednesday afternoon. We picked her up from the emergency vet, and saw her for the first time since Sunday, and she was walking! Her tail was slowly wagging, and she was happy to see us. We drove the hour drive for the ultrasound, Rylee and I snuggled in the back seat. We weren’t able to go in with her for the ultrasound, so we had to wait in the car for a phone call from the doctor. 

The words that came out of his mouth on the speaker were “she is very very very sick”. 

My heart just sank. 

We were losing our girl. 

He proceed to explain that her kidneys, liver, pancreas, and spleen were all very enlarged. Her kidney had minimal, if any, function due to wide spread masses or blood clots throughout her system. Her fever returned and was at 103, and her breathing was becoming more labored. He explained that it is likely spreading to her lungs which is why she is having trouble breathing. The fast deterioration and multi organ failure likely related to acute leptospirosis or cancer, but we still do not know for sure.

We knew that we needed to help her to heaven, and we wanted to have her back home since she has only seen doctors offices for 4 days. We called lap of love, and set up for them to come out to our home to put her to rest. But first, we brought her to a brewery, she always loved being at breweries with us. She was alert, and watching the people and cars go by. Brian and I cheersed a “Rylee stout” (it was spelled different on the menu but we’ll pretend it wasn’t), and Rylee drank a little bit too. We brought her home, and she enjoyed a few bites of a chocolate and vanilla twist ice cream cone. We laid on a blanket together in the back yard, and we watched her lay her head, and she looked relaxed. Her deer friends came one last time, and she laid and watched them all walk by. We laid out a cozy blanket in the living room, and the 3 of us snuggled together, holding hands. We could see her breathing getting harder as the minutes passed. We knew it was time. The lovely vet from lap of love was an angel. She was so kind and gentle with our girl, and we watch the pain melt away. 

I whispered in her ear to give our baby we’re waiting for kisses in heaven. I know she will. 

Rylee was our girl. Our baby. Our best friend and companion. Our hiking buddy. Our family. 

She started our family, and hand picked her daddy on the street. 

It has always been the three of us. But for now, at least we have the two of us. 

xo, Kelly & Brian

Edit: the infectious disease labs finally came back a few days later, and we were informed that Rylee was infected with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This is a tick-borne illness, and unfortunately, she was infected despite being on flea/tick prevention.