Trudy

[Dindons]

Some of you might know that I do a lot of dog sitting for friends and family.

I have looked after my bosses dog Trudy quite a few times before and she was my favourite! I became really attached to her. She was 13 deaf and going blind but was full of character. My boss found out last year that she had cancer.

Last month I looked after her whilst my boss was in spain with her family for four days. She'd had an operation on the tumor on her leg a few weeks before and had just had her stitches out.

She had only been at our house for two days and when I came home on my lunch break to check on her, her tumor had started to bleed, by the time I was going back to work it was bleeding even more.

I called the vets that she was registered at and made an appointment to go straight from work. By the time we got there, she was bleeding heavily, couldn't get out of the car or up the steps to the vets.

They got a vet to see us as soon as possible who tried to stop the bleeding but then came back to say they could do no more for her and thought she should be put to sleep. It was just to much for me. I was so glad Lee was with me as he made the phone calls to speak to my boss and her husband. They decided that it would be for the best.

It was such a horrible postion to be in, I felt awful that they were in spain and she had to be put to sleep. I stayed with her whilst it happened. I had never seen that before, and didn't think I would have to for a long time but I could not stand the thought of her being on her own.

I know she wasn't my pet but I loved her all the same. She was a brilliant dog and I thought she deserved a mention on here!

Mod note:  This post will be locked now, but will be reopened at any time upon the request of the original poster.

[Marie]

Poor dog ... poor you!  To be honest, if my dog was that ill, the last thing I'd be thinking of is holidays in Spain   RIP Trudy, at least you were there for her ... more than can be said for her owners!

[Dindons]

I didn't mean it to sound like they had just gone off on their holidays! Although she had cancer she was responding really well to her treatment and her tumor was shrinking. It was something that just happened suddenly. I don't think anybody expected it to happen whilst they were gone for four days.

It has made me realise that when you do go away you really need to make sure your pets are in the right hands. If we hadn't taken her to the vets, she could have bled to death in a lot of pain.