Buddy was love, joy and acceptance!   But he died....... the day Proheart 6 was recalled.

Alice and I have two AKC registered female Golden Retrievers, Katie and Molly. Both were almost two years old when we were given an absolutely wonderful 3-year-old male Golden Retriever named Buddy. He was AKC but had never been registered. Since we wanted to raise Golden Retrievers, we were delighted to be given such a beautiful male Golden.

Buddy fit right in. The girls immediately accepted him and it was a joy to see them all together. We quickly found out that Buddy was a joy to be around. He tried so hard to please and he had a great sense of humor. He loved to “wrestle” with young boys in our neighborhood. More than once he would get them down, snatch their ball cap, and run a few yards away, and with the cap in his mouth look over his shoulder as if to say “Ha Catch me if you can”. He never damaged the caps and he always gave them back.

He had apparently had a rough time in his early years. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at him or by his demeanor. Buddy was love, joy and acceptance. The kids in our neighborhood called him “Air Bud”. He was in the middle of more than one front yard soccer game. He was a “leaner” with people he would meet. By that, I mean he would lean into them and they couldn’t help but respond with affection. Buddy loved everybody and everybody loved Buddy.

We have a Sebring Convertible and I built a carpet covered plywood platform for the backseat that came right up to the back of the front seats. This gave the pups plenty of stability for riding in the car with the top down. Buddy absolutely loved going for a ride with his nose in the wind. Alice would get their bandanas (all matching, of course) and the pups would get excited, knowing we were going for a ride. Buddy was especially animated and hard to contain. It was so fun to see him so excited. His enthusiasm always lifted our spirits and our “Smile Machine”, with the three of them not missing a thing, brought smiles and laughter wherever we went.

We know Buddy had a rough beginning. We don’t know the details of his first years, but it must have been far worse than we could imagine. We know this because Buddy had nightmares. He would wake us in the middle of the night crying. We thought at first that he was howling at a siren or something. But we quickly realized he was sound asleep and it was not a howl but an anguished, frightened wail. We woke him and Alice comforted him, telling him everything was OK. He did this almost every night for several months and gradually stopped. We figured that he was finally happy, felt safe and loved. Buddy knew he was home to stay and he blossomed.

God blessed us with Buddy for about a year and a half. We were looking forward to many more years with him. Tragically, Buddy was suddenly taken from us in a cruel twist of fate the Friday before Labor Day 2004. The following is what we can remember about his last week with us.

In the last week of August 2004, we noticed a milky condition that suddenly appeared in the lower edge of his right eye. I made an appointment with our vet, Lori Trahan with Four Paws Animal Clinic here in Rowlett, Texas, on Friday, August 27th at 3:00pm. Upon examination, Lori said it was the result of an irritation to the eye. She gave us some drops and his eye appeared to get better during the next couple of days.

While he was at the vet for this, he was given a physical examination. Nothing abnormal was found. Except for the eye irritation, she said he was in excellent health. He was also given an injection of ProHeart 6.

During the next week, he seemed to be pretty much his usual self. Looking back now, we realize that there were changes in his behavior. Buddy was always a laid-back guy. During his last week though, he was more sedate, lethargic, not as active and slower to get up when called. He didn’t seem to have much of an appetite and was slow to respond when offered a treat. He threw up but it wasn’t food, more like a mucous type liquid.

There were other subtle differences in Buddy’s behavior, but not anything that would have raised an alarm. Certainly, nothing that would have prepared us for the swiftness of his death.

The day he died, September 3, 2004, started out pretty much as usual. I washed out their water bowls and filled them with fresh water before leaving for work. As I get in the car to leave, the pups, Katie, Molly, and Buddy, usually would stand at the gate watching me, and then Katie and Buddy would run along the fence as I drove down the alley. This morning, Buddy wasn’t at the gate nor did he run along the fence to see me off. I didn’t think much of it, just thought he was being lazy. When Alice returned from work, neighbors came to tell her that Buddy was lying in the backyard and they thought he was dead. When I drove down the alley, I could see him lying there but he didn’t get up to greet me. The next thing I remember is seeing Alice standing there and the look on her face will forever be seared into my memory. I could instantly feel the overwhelming anguish and unbelievable pain as she mouthed the words, “Buddy is dead!” I rushed to Buddy and we knelt by his side. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Alice and I stayed by his side for a long time, weeping uncontrollably. We didn’t know what to do. Later, we decided and I buried him that night. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life. My heart grows unbelievably heavy at the thought of him lying there. Buddy was there but gone, forever. And I didn’t understand why.

The girls were obviously upset, remaining close to the back porch, away from Buddy. I’m sure they had tried to get him to get up and were upset when he didn’t. They have acted differently since his death. Goldens are known to crave affection, but there is an urgency to their seeking affection, almost an intangible fearfulness. We know that they miss Buddy as much as we do, and understand even less than we do why Buddy is gone.

We had no idea what had happened until two days later when we heard about the recall of ProHeart6.

This is the cruel twist of fate I wrote earlier about.
Buddy died the day ProHeart6 was recalled.

If his eye hadn't become irritated when it did, he would most likely still be alive today.

We can't prove it........
Our vet tells us it couldn't be the ProHeart6,
Fort Dodge says it couldn't be the ProHeart6,
But we know in our hearts that ProHeart6 killed our Buddy.

James and Alice Westerfield