" Tigger"
January 23, 1994 - July
6, 2004
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Tigger
was my sight,
and my best friend.
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Tigger was a Golden
Retriever, a seeing-eye dog and the most gentle of souls.
He was only 10 when he died this past July, and other than
being on a very low dosage of thyroid medication for hypothyroidism
(he had it for many years and it was well controlled) he
had few health problems the last 10 years.
I am a legally
blind Canadian and I am having a hard time adjusting to
life without him. Not only because he was my seeing-eye
dog, but also my best friend.
I had saved Tigger
as a baby, the rest of his litter died after receiving their
vaccine shots at 8 weeks. Tig was less than half the size
of his litter mates and he was so very, very sick. After
2 weeks of staying up all night with him, forcing fluids
into him, he recovered.
A year and a half
later, he was to go to a Guide Dog school in Ontario to
be trained for me, but they placed him into Special Skills
after only 10 days because he was so highly intelligent.
I had to refuse to let him go, so I hired my own private
trainers over the next year and we trained him together
to be my seeing-eye dog.
In the course
of his duties, Tigger literally saved my life twice while
walking in traffic. I can't explain the bond that we shared.
Tigger was given
a Proheart 6 shot the end of May, 2004, and 5 weeks later
he died. Prior to the shot, he was in good health, happy
and energetic, but within hours of receiving Proheart 6
he began vomiting and became lethargic. He worsened over
the next two to three weeks, at times collapsing on the
floor, too weak to stand. I had blood tests and x-rays done,
he was given several prescription medications and my veterinarian
suggested an ultrasound. This was done (to the cost of over
$500.00) and he was diagnosed with tumors on his spleen.
No other tumors appeared evident during the ultrasound.
Surgery was postponed for 10 days to allow for extra nutrition
and food to build up his red blood cell count. He had been
refusing almost all foods for several weeks.
(It was at this point that I did some extensive researching
on the Internet about Proheart 6 and was amazed at the reports
that thousands of dogs became very ill or died after receiving
this shot. Tigger had never had ProHeart 6 before)
Tigger had surgery to remove his spleen and it was discovered
then that he had additional large tumors on his liver and
elsewhere. His abdominal cavity was full of blood. I suspect
the tumors grew so quickly he did not have these additional
ones at the time of the ultrasound.
After being sent home, he died about a week later.
On July 5, 2004 from midnight until the following morning,
he was vomiting blood and appeared to suffer a stroke. It
was not until 10:00 am that a veterinarian could arrive
to euthanize him.
My beautiful boy
suffered so horribly, it still breaks my heart to recall
that never ending night.
He was my sight,
and my best friend.
Tigger was diagnosed
with a canine cancer called Hemangiosarcoma after his death.
There were no clinical or behavioural signs or symptoms
of this prior to him receiving the ProHeat 6 shot. The average
life expectancy of a dog after spleen removal is several
months, longer if treated with chemotherapy. There is usually
a marked improvement in the dog's clinical signs and behaviour
after the spleen removal surgery.
Tigger experienced no improvement to his clinical signs
or behaviour and died less than 2 weeks after his spleen
was removed.
Now you know
the story, perhaps you can understand my outrage when I
phoned my veterinarian, and found out that even though the
FDA has recalled Proheart 6 in the USA in September 2004,
our Canadian government is still allowing veterinarians
in Canada to administer this drug to our dogs, with the
vast majority of dog owners none the wiser.
Read about Health
Canada's Update Report on Proheart 6:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/vetdrugs-medsvet/proheart_injectable_dogs_e.html
Neither my veterinarian nor myself, were aware of the numerous
labels revisions for adverse reactions or "Dear Doctor"
letters for ProHeart 6. I have been informed by the Canadian
manufacturer, Wyeth Animal Health, that they are not required
to distribute this information in Canada (according to our
present Health Canada VDD (Veterinary Drugs Directorate)
rules and regulations?)
I can only urge fellow Canadians, whose dogs have suffered
an adverse reaction to Proheart 6, to file a report with
the VDD at Health Canada. The form link is: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/vetdrugs-medsvet/dar_form_e.html
. The home page link for the VDD is: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/vetdrugs-medsvet/index_e.html
I miss you terribly, Tig.
You were my sight.
You are my best friend.
Love You Always, Mom
Ingrid
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