My dog has just died at a boarding kennel

[Orc]

Looking for advice. We are on holiday and my dog has just died at a boarding kennel.

We have been using this kennel for years. They phoned me at 9.45 to say he had shallow breathing. And that they would normally take him to the vet straight away but they were short staffed and could not.

So they phoned my emergency contact, my sister, who lives 40 minutes away. By the time she had got there he had died. They said “ideally we like emergency contacts to live closer”, whilst also admitting that they had failed him.

I am so shocked and angry. We trusted them. I also feel like I have let him down as I was not there when he needed me.

I’m not sure how to process this but I feel like they could have done more to help him. What should I do?

DSis is taking him to the vet so we can find out how he died.

edited to add: he died about an hour after they first called. My sister did tell them it would take her 40 to 45 mins to get to them. The kennels are a 15 min drive from the vet.

Oh dear @Orc it sounds like they are going to try and wriggle out of this. The evasive, flippant, weird attitude from them is worrying, and suggests they may close rank, and try and absolve themselves from any responsibilty. AND they are trying to remove any emotion from what's happened by calling Riley 'it.'

I am so sorry. I wish you all the best with this, and I hope you get it resolved, and they don't get away with it - if it is their fault. (And it's sounding more and more like it is!) As a pp has said, they're trying to minimise their part in what has happened.

Thank you for all the replies. We have arrived home now and all his things are gone because my family kindly offered to come and move them to the garage. They cleaned the house too, which I am so grateful for. His nose marks on the patio doors and the greasy line along the hallway wall where he used to rub himself. I would never dream of asking them to do that, but they did, and I’m so glad because I don’t think I could bear to have seen it.

I want to ask the kennel owner to pay for the autopsy via her insurance but I also want to thank the person who I know Riley liked who worked there. I don’t know her name but he was always happy to see her. She looked after him when he visited. Those things are very conflicted in my head, though (this lady wasn’t there when he died).

Sending you so much sympathy, OP. X

Op, kindly, why would they pay for a post mortem that you have chosen to have? If for example he'd had an accident due to their negligence then yes vet bills and obviously compensation would be paid but your dog seemingly had an acute medical episode and died very quickly. It sadly happens. I wouldn't even have a pm if it was my dog.

I'm not sure if subconsciously guiit is playing a part as you left him but this is the risk we take if we use kennels, they can't monitor them 1:1 and they can't do immediate vet dashes as they have other dogs to care for. That is what family and friends do.

I would focus on the many positive stays he had, how he liked the the staff etc, accept this was a sudden collapse and nothing could be done .

I disagree.

The dog died suddenly whilst in their care and I think the OP is right to expect them to pay for the post mortem.

I agree. Something could have happened to Riley while they were responsible for him - something that they may need to think about and change their practice. It may be an awful coincidence and he would have been unwell at home but if he was given someone else’s medication or if it’s bloat then they should want to know. Bloat isn’t 100% preventable but maybe they let Riley run about too much too close to dinner time or gave him too large a meal. They should want to know if that’s happened so they know what to look out for. Tbh I would expect a kennel to recognise bloat and treat it as a medical emergency.

I agree with the Pp who said it’s a kennel, not ITU. They leave them all night so why not run in one member of staff long enough to take Riley to the vets? It does sound like it may have made little difference apart from causing him additional stress but it wasn’t a clinical judgement - just a staffing level and priorities one.

He was such a lovely boy. Mine is similar but has never managed to grow the fluff on his ears like Riley. He must have had a wonderful 5 years on your sofa.

I really hope you get some answers from the post mortem. If there is proof that the kennels are responsible then of course they should refund you the cost of the PM, they also need to learn from it so another dog doesn’t suffer the same fate.

I thought I would come back to update. I have spoken to the kennels this morning. There was a nice lady there who wasn't working over the weekend, but who Riley was really fond of. She called me and she was really upset (in tears); she wanted to speak to me personally to relay exactly what the person who had been with Riley had seen and done. It sounds like he could not have been saved. However, the kennel have actually said they would pay for the post mortem because they want to find out what happened to him as well.

The owner has admitted that a mistake was made when they told me they couldn't take him to the vet but to be honest it does not sound like this would have saved him anyway.

That sounds like the best possible resolution @Orc and hopefully it has put your mind at ease to some degree.

Be gentle with yourself, you've had a horrible shock, but Riley knew he was loved ❤

Again, so sorry for your loss 💐

I'm so sorry @Orc but at least you know a bit more now and it is hopefully comforting. Sometimes things happen with horrifying rapidity and can't be predicted and it is a great shock. Take care

thanks for the update @Orc if you feel able will you let us know about the post mortem?

Glad the kennel has stepped up a bit

Poor Riley 💐 How lucky he was to have you rescue him and love him though.

I think the rescue's initial response was very poor, but it's good that they've admitted that things could have been better and are helping with the PM fees.

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

That is decent of the kennels to pay for the post mortem, hopefully lessons can be learnt by them if it was a preventable death 😢

@MrsMitford3 yes, I will update when we hear about the post mortem. Thank you, everyone, for all the support on here. And to the people who reported the troll.

@Inthebleakmidwinter1 I don't think it's fishy. When my dog died, there was a younger member of staff and an older, more experienced member of staff. There was supposed to have been another person but they were off sick. The younger person found Riley, and called the senior person, who called me. It turns out there would have been someone to take him to the vet and they were supposed to have got him in the car and called the vet to say they were coming. But they called me, called my sister, and my sister set off. Then they called her again to say he had died. I think the more senior person perhaps got a bit flustered and didn't follow procedure properly (the kennels have apologised for this). But I have a feeling that even if she had, he probably could not have been saved.

I am trying to see things from their side and although I wasn't impressed with the way the older member of staff on the day handled things, I think subsequently they have stepped up. It was heartbreaking yesterday speaking to the lady that my dog bonded with as she was really upset. She wasn't involved in any of this at all and did not have to call me, but she still did.

I suspect this has been a shock event that they have handled incredibly poorly then panicked. I’m glad they are paying the PM costs. I’m so so sorry - what a beautiful lad.

Dear @Orc , I've been following. I really get your pain and your anger and I can see how you're moving through it and feeling better disposed towards the kennels. I honestly can't comment on the kennels, I think your evaluation of it being a bit of a muddle and a panic is probably bang on.
I just wanted to say I have a dear friend whose dog died suddenly with absolutely no prior warnings, in his case he simply fell down dead one day with no lead up to it at all. Not an old dog. Obviously she was immensely upset. She was there. If there'd been any moment of time to do anything she'd have done it.
It's just that it can happen, and so fast. Terribly shocking. I hope you get some answers from the pm but my friend decided not to have one, I think she just wanted to heal and didn't see it as helpful.
Wishing you well and wishing you peace. Poor Riley. 💕

I am so sorry for your loss, it's awful to lose your doggie.
Our kennels have a policy of asking what our wishes would be, should our elderly dog die while staying with them (they asked about this when our dog was 12). They put this policy into place because their dog died while they were on holiday and they had to give instruction over the phone.
This policy wouldn't have been any good in your case with your dog being only 7, it sounds as though the kennels didn't get it quite right and they want to learn from it. Not that makes it any easier for you.
How lovely of your family to sort your home so you didn't come back to dog paraphernalia everywhere.
Sending you very unmumsnetty hugs.

Oh what a thing to happen, your have my sympathy, I’m so sorry for the loss of your lovely boy. Xx

I’m so sorry for your loss. This happened to us in August. Our little dog who was almost 12 was found dead at kennels in the afternoon 2 days into a 5 day stay. A student found him, apparently she walked past ten minutes before and he was fine.

The weather was extremely hot that week. They explained they had cool mats for the dogs and that the dogs would only be walked in the morning due to the heat and that they’d go in and play with them in the afternoon instead of a second walk. I asked them to send me a picture of him after he passed (I worried he might have been mauled by a bigger dog) but thankfully just looked like he was asleep.

He’d been slowing down a bit and on reflection he had times when he was off his food but had his health check in June and all was fine. I think I took his health for granted.
The kennels paid for the cremation but did charge for me the two days he was alive. We did not have a post mortem. We didn’t have insurance and were worried about the cost. I hope you find out what your lovely dog died of.

Even though he was an older dog it was an awful shock and I felt terrible that I wasn’t with him when he passed as he was quite a clingy dog. I can’t face getting another dog yet as I don’t know I could love another like I did him. I don’t blame the kennels at all but if I do get another dog there’s no way I’d leave them in a kennel.

@Wednesdayschild87 So sorry, it's a very hard way to lose a cherished friend. It's such a hard thing to go through. xx

@Wednesdayschild87 I am so sorry ... that must have been horrendous for you and your family. I can completely relate. I also feel terrible that I wasn't with Riley. Then you have all the feelings of "Were the walks long enough?" and "Did we play in the garden enough?" etc. He didn't ask for much.

The kennel I used didn't charge for Riley's time there. I think the post mortem is costing them £540. It wouldn't be covered by insurance, but the cremation will (partially).

I don't think I blame the kennels either, but I think I'd probably stick with our family (which we did use on occasions) or a home boarder in the future.

I can't imagine not having another dog, but I also can't imagine finding one as perfect for us as Riley ...

I thought I’d pop back and update this thread since so many people were so kind in their replies.

Last week we got the news that Riley died from a “catastrophic internal bleed” in his abdomen, where they found 2.5 litres of blood. They believe this came from a blood vessel tumour that burst. They said there was evidence that the tumour had had small bleeds in the past that went unnoticed and called it a “silent” and “unusual” tumour.

Hemangiosarcoma (v.aggressive cancer) was a possibility that couldn’t be ruled out but the pathologist felt that a birth defect or benign tumour was more likely (although I can’t help thinking that this sort of outcome isn’t really very “benign”).

The vet said it is not the sort of thing that would have been picked up at regular health checks (Riley had one in October and all was fine, or so we thought).

I am glad we know, but I really hope he didn’t suffer.

When our dog passed at the kennels it was ruled a congenital defect.

It felt torturous knowing they were fit and healthy 5 minutes ago, and knowing the cause didn't really bring us much closure.

I'm sorry this has happened and so close to christmas too.

When vets use the term benign it doesn't always necessarily mean that it isn't growing, because tumors obviously do grow, it just means it is unlikely to be something that spreads to other body parts. It isn't any consolation though, I know.

Since you had Riley, all he knew was pure love. You gave him a gift in life many dogs don't get the chance to have, and although what has happened was tragic, the time he had with you was more special to him than you could imagine.

That is very sad @Orc . You must be devastated. It does sound unlikely that Riley could have been saved, even if this had happened at home. What an awful condition.
So sorry for your loss 💐
RIP Riley.