My neighors dog died yesterday and they are upset with me. I had attempted to help.?
Since the moment my neighbor got his dog I looked after her frequently without being asked. I am an animal lover and have 3 dogs and 2 cats of my own that are well cared for. My neighbor got this dalmation from his sister about 8 yrs ago. She had him promise that he would take good care of her since he had a history of neglecting pets. Over the past 8 yrs the dog has been neglected repeatedly. There was a dog house with the front missing and no appropriate shelter in their yard. I had gotten a Little Tike’s playhouse a few winters ago and set it up for shelter. I would go and get loose hay from the feed store to make it warmer. This dog had a litter of puppies about 5 years ago so she did have some company to play with, because they kept 1 of the litter. Often this man and his daughter would not be home after work until very late in the evening. I would go over and give the dogs water and food in the evening. I can not recall ever seeing this man or daughter outside in the yard with their dogs. I did not check on a daily basis and the dogs were not frail and thin so I know they have been feeding them. Last week I noticed the dalmation was looking very sickly. She was thin except for a swollen abdomen. She could barely stand up. Knowing that their needs were usually not being met by their owners I got a worming pill and gave it to the dogs. I treated both of them. I checked 3 days later and she was able to stand and come to get petted on her head for a while. I notified my neighbor that night that I had treated his animals. He expressed anger because
I had not asked first, and he thought his daughter was taking care of her. Knowing their history of ignoring these dogs I felt it was unlikely she had done anything. I did not go and check on her again and had not seen her in 3 days. Last night the daugher called me to say the dog had died and she was quite ugly to me. She blames me for giving this dog medicine. I feel horrible and very sad, but thought I was doing the right thing at the moment. I simply told her "that what I did had not killed the dog, but what they did not do was the cause". I wish I had an autopsy report to support my feelings. If they were good animal owners they would have taken her to a vet for care. The end result would have most likely been the same, however, in hindsite I wish I could have done more. Perhaps her suffering would not have been prolonged. What do you think about this situation? I am trying not to feel guilty.
Wish I would have called animal control the first day I saw her in that condition. She was standing in the backyard and fell over when the other dog jumped playfully on her. When their cat was ran over a few months ago I took her in for 00 worth of treatment. I paid the bill in full and never expected to get a penny in return. Brought her home and they promised to keep her inside. They did for almost a full day before she was kicked out because "he doesn’t really like her". Thank you for all the comments. I am a medical professional, and not just a busy body neighbor. The hertz worming pill would not have had this result 8 days later. It was a dose for less than half her body weight. I have consulted with a vet and he suspects the paracites were beyond control when I first noticed her and that is the most likely cause of death. I made an error in judgment and while my intentions were good I did the wrong thing.
Tagged with: anger • animal lover • animals • cats • daily basis • dalmation • daugher • dog house • late in the evening • little tike • loose hay • medicine • neighbor • pets • playhouse • puppies • swollen abdomen • these dogs
You should not have personally interfered. Sorry. You should have called animal control as soon as you saw that swollen body. They would have sent out a humane specialist and probably taken the dog with your word as a witness. The dog would have been treated, and then given a good home – dalmations dont stay in shelters long.
I feel really bad for you because your intentions were good, but you wont see an autopsy report unless they decide to press charges against you. Then they will do an autopsy and probably find that you were definitly not the cause.
Keep your head up, you are a good person. Ignore your neighbors, they are only mad because they know they are bad owners but want to put the blame on someone else.
You had NO business doing anything with a dog that wasn’t your dog. You should have reported them to the local animal control office.
First, if it were me, I would call the Police and have you Criminally prosecuted for the following- Practicing veterinary medicine without a license and trespassing.
I would file a lawsuit for the value of the dog, the vet bills, and would try for punitive damages.
You had no right to do this.
In the future I suggest you mind your own buisness and tend to your own dogs.
I agree, you had no right to do anything to someone elses pet. Besides, unless you are a Veteranarian, you have no right to diagnose and treat an animal.
Where did you even get this medication you gave the dog? A pet store? Some of those medications can be toxic if they are not properly given by a Veteranarian, for the appropriate reasons.
You should have called your local Animal Control, or ASPCA and let them look into it. Maybe the dogs would have been removed from the home and taken care of properly.
I know you were only trying to help, but you have to remember there are laws to protect owners, and laws to protect the animals. You should have obeyed them, and maybe all involved would have been better off.
And I dont think the end result would have been the same had you taken the right course of action. I am sure if you contacted the appropriate authorities, the animals would have been removed from the home if such neglect was going on. Then they would have been treated and cared for, and atleast given a chance.
If there ever is a next time, I hope you make a wiser decision.
I would be furious if you did that to my dog.
You kinda should have asked the neighbor before giving the dog some meds. You could have just stated that you noticed the dog wasn’t behaving right.. and as a friendly neighbor and animal lover.. you just want to see his dog be happy and healthy, and have something that would help him out.
I know you felt you did the right thing by trying to take care of the dog.. but its not your dog to take care of.
No good deed goes unpunished.
But. Your reward will come in doggy heaven when the creatures that you helped in this world will testify before The Lord and tell of your love and devotion to the creatures less fortunate.
I applaud your intentions, but you should have called the proper authorities. You should still do so to try and save the remaining animals. Just because they aren’t sick now doesn’t mean they’re in for a pleasant winter. This will likely cause more static with your neighbors, but if you care about the animals it’s the right thing to do.
Also, it’s only an autopsy when performed on a human- for animals, it’s referred to as a necropsy.
You really had no right doing anything for that dog. If you wanted to help, you should of went to the police and told them that you thought these animals were not being treated properly. You could, and should, get in trouble for this.
I too would be upset at anyone doing things with my dogs, ESPECIALLY giving them medication of any sort, without my knowledge and permission. How do you know the dog didn’t have allergies to the dewormer? How do you know worms were the problem? You are not a vet, whatever you used may have been harmful for whatever condition the dog did have.
If you think the dogs are being neglected, call animal control.
Sometimes a lot of damage is done by people with good intentions.
EDIT: Anybody seeing Mina during her last days could easily have assumed she was being horribly neglected, when in fact she was under constant veterinary care.
Taking it upon yourself to medicate someone else’s pet. with or without any knowledge of their medical condition is wrong.
You overstepped your boundaries. If you felt the dog was in need of medical care, you could have offered your neighbor to take the dog (& pay for the visit) yourself, or called animal control to investigate.
You touch my dog without notifying me…I’d sue you. You don’t go medicating other people’s dogs. IF you think there is a problem with other people’s dogs…you say something to the owner or call animal control. You gave a dog medicine with knowledge of current treatment. Just because you suspected that they were doing nothing…how do you know that they didn’t already medicate the dog? Nope…without a necropsy…you would be at fault in my book too. Sorry about being so harsh but I do have a sick dog at home…and she is getting medicated…I would be horrified if someone came over and gave her wormer or anything else for that matter.
The same goes with feeding other people’s dogs. Just because you don’t see it happening doesn’t mean it’s not getting done. I feed my dogs at 5:30am and when I get home late at night. Nobody see’s it happening…meddling people like you freak me out!!! Geesh.
Edit – PETA SUCKS! Nothing but terrorists. SHARK SUCKS TOO.
you should not have allowed your neighbors to do that to her dog. i take heart in knowing that there are still good people out there and that they are making themselves felt. you should still have called something like PETA for help.
WOW… I would have react the same way the owners did. I would of felt invaded. You had no right to attempt to treat, feed or physically care for someone else dog… You don’t know what situation the owners or the dog is in, that’s why SPCA investigates before taking action. You just went straight to taking action… when you don’t even have the right to do so. Especially trying to treat a dog without the owners knowledge? You situation could of been or can be much much muuuuuuch worse, what if they had decide to sued you?Well they still can, if you haven’t thought about that one yet. If you really though that something was up, your best bet was to report it as animal cruelty to SPCA. There’s people out there with titles behind their names which protects them, you on the other have nothing behind your name, which assumes your liable for anything and everything you do to someone else dog.