Hannah's (Hannie) Story
Hannie lost her life on Friday, April 9th, 2021. She was only 1 year 5 months old. On March 13th we took her to the vet after she developed a cough and some heavy breathing. The vet insisted he didn’t hear anything with the stethoscope, but as a concerned dog mom, I asked him to do X-rays. The X-ray revealed what he believed to be aspiration pneumonia. She had thrown up days before, so this made sense. The next part is what has boggled my mind now looking back. He prescribed 1 week of antibiotics, doxycycline and cough tabs. He also scheduled a follow up for March 27th to do more X-rays and possibly more medicine, he said. We could see a huge difference after giving her the medicine. She was getting back to herself again. We gave her the last one Sunday March 21st. So she went 6 days without any medicine until the follow up appointment. When we arrived at her follow up appointment on March 27th, Hannie was sick once again, coughing and heavy breathing. The employee checked us in 15 mins after we arrived. We waited another 45 mins in the hot car. Hannie was panting and coughing. After waiting an hour, I decided to leave. I would just take her somewhere else, because it seemed as if they didn’t care. As I’m backing out, tears running down my face, the vet tech comes to my window. I let her know we were going somewhere else and that it wasn’t right to make a sick dog wait in the hot car for an hour. We arrived back home and she acted better. The next day her symptoms continued so I took her to the emergency vet. The vet on duty let me know, 1 week wasn’t enough antibiotics to treat Hannie’s pneumonia. He prescribed her more antibiotics, enough for her until she went to her regular vet. At this point, I don’t think these antibiotics were working. It was too late. Fast forward to the next week, we went to her new vet (changed from original) on April 6th and he gave her 2 more weeks of doxycycline and cough tabs. Early morning April 9th, I woke up to Hannie coughing up blood. We immediately took her to the emergency vet. They did more X-rays and found that the pneumonia had gotten much worse and she was about to die. Later that day around 12pm, we lost our sweet Hannah. She was a huge part of our lives and family. She slept right in my arm every night. We miss her terribly and just want her back. In my heart I know nothing can bring her back now but I just want answers. The medication was working and had he give her more than a weeks worth, she would still be here today. Whether he did this accidentally or purposely to get us coming back for money purposes, it resulted in Hannie losing her life. If he kept us coming back we would keep paying. This isn’t right. Hannie deserved more than this. I’m having a really hard time accepting this and just want answers and justice for our sweet girl. We only had a short time with her and I feel he robbed us of the many years and memories we would’ve had. I’m sharing Hannie’s story to bring awareness about poor judgement by so called veterinary professionals. I want to prevent another beloved animal from suffering the way she did. No one should have to deal with the grief and regret of losing a pet due to a veterinarian’s careless mistakes when you are depending on them to HELP not HURT.
To Hannie: We loved you beyond measure and you are missed the same. You didn’t have it easy starting out, being moved around from home to home. I will always remember the day you came to be with us, so confused. It didn’t take long for you to realize — this was it — your forever home. Lilly (fur sister) and you were perfect together. Although our time together was short, I’m so very grateful your path connected to ours. You were the best dog and unfairly treated at times in your life. We’ll always think of you and share your story in hopes of saving another. Thank you for a year full of memories. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!”
