Thanksgiving Day Request

[Jan Ferrante]

I've had a long week with my dog Maggie becoming sick on Tuesday.

It turns out that she had pancreatitis. I suspect that she had it for quite a while.

We had chicken on Sunday and gave her and my other dog Snoopy the scraps - skin and fat.

It was too much for her and as I saw that she was getting progressively worse instead of better, I took her to the vet.

She was on IV until last night because she couldn't keep anything down.

She died last night.

I am asking please don't feed your dogs fat.

I had heard not to feed table scraps and as a rule ours go to our chickens so the dogs hadn't been getting a lot.

Maybe that's why Maggie was able to hold on so long.

I will have more about the symptoms to watch for and Maggie's story.

Bottom line, even in a younger dog, it can stress the pancreas and sooner or later can cause problems.

It's extremely painful, can be deadly as in Maggie's case, and very costly.

Not to mention the heartache of losing a part of your family.

I didn't know and wanted to post in case you don't know either.

Have a happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating today.

Give thanks for any of your 4 legged friends that you may have.

Take them for a walk. Give them an extra hug or a belly rub.

Play with them or give them a smile.

But please don't feed them your turkey or ham scraps.

And have a Happy Thanksgiving.