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.

Thank you, no underlying issues with Riley that we knew of. He had his 6-month health check a month ago. So when my sister brought him to the vet after it happened they were very shocked.

For those who asked, here is a photo of him from a few weeks ago.

Lovely Riley - he looks like such a good boy. I am so sorry x

Lovely boy ❤️

What a lovely boy Riley was, @Orc - I am so sorry for your loss.

I hope that you can get the answers you need.

There will be a dim but friendly brown lab called Coco, and a slightly grumpy rescue pointer called Mia waiting for Riley with Logan, over the Rainbow bridge,

It can happen very quickly. Our old boy (13, good age considering he had lost a front leg at some time in his chequered life before we got him) became very ill very quickly and when the vet came out in the middle of the night it was quickly diagnosed as cancer and he was PTS. It was so sudden, he'd had dinner fine a few hours earlier and had all his check ups. Heartbreaking and I feel for you. Try to remember that you loved him and gave him a happy life.

I’m so sorry OP, what a gorgeous boy. How heartbreaking

I am so sorry. They failed your dog and I would be so angry and upset. Take care x

Oh, he’s beautiful. What a gorgeous boy.

So sorry for your loss x

Oh what a gorgeous boy!!! I hope you get some answers from the vet as to what happened. As ive said previously, Ive had dogs die in my care and its devastating, and then to have to make the call. My heart goes out to you x

I have a saluki cross
.. A beauty your boy was op.
Report them to the council they are registered with. They could be running illegally if not enough staff..
So sorry for your loss.

I agree with that. He could have died during the night when the staff were asleep.

It does sound like natural causes. However I am so sorry, it's very hard to lose a much loved pet.

What a gorgeous boy.
So sorry for you. It's heartbreaking.

He's beautiful, what a handsome boy.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your beloved pet. Dogs are often very stoic and can be very ill without us knowing xxx

I would wait for the post mortem and try and hold you thoughts until then. It's not ok to be short staffed and rely on emergency contacts for getting to the vets in a crisis - that's really not the type of emergency the role is intended to cover. So you're right to peeved by that. But I would deal with all the issues in one go when you have the info from the pm (which will hopefully show natural causes and not any issues on their part). Perhaps you could suggest they need their own 'emergency contact' to help out with ill dogs on days when they are short staffed.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Don't beat yourself up about going away, there was no predicting this as an outcome.

how old and any existing health issues?

What shocks me is that they couldn’t take him to the vet in an emergency- because I am certain you would have absolutely- and reasonably - expected that. And they should be professional enough to ensure they can handle emergencies!! I cannot think why they would be short staffed meaning they couldn’t take him. They could also have rung the vet and requested a home visit in absolute urgence.

I’m also surprised- if he had no existing health issues / wasn’t at end of life - that the first thing they noticed was shallow breathing. That’s highly unlikely to have been the very first symptom.

Im so so sorry for your loss. I think your anger is justified because they should definitely have done more to get to the vets and arguably much earlier than they were thinking about doing so. I’d go as far as saying that’s negligence on their part. You’ve used their service which should clearly include health care in an emergency - they didn’t provide that service.

Unfortunately very few veterinary practices can always have a vet available to attend a house visit at short notice. Bear in mind there may be other critically ill patients at the practice being cared for.

In an emergency it is almost always preferable to take a sick or injured pet to the practice (having called ahead) than have a vet travel to them. The facilities to, for example, take x-rays, provide oxygen, give iv fluids, take to emergency surgery are thete and a home visit can be a delay to getting the right treatment if time is of the essence. If it is unsafe or impossible to move a patient a visit may be necessary but the standard of care which can be provided at a home or kennel situation is unlikely to be as good as at a clinic.

I'm sorry for your loss OP.

What a beautiful boy Riley was. I’m so very sorry you’ve lost him in such horrible circumstances, it really does make it hard to process.

I lost my beautiful 8-year-old Weimaraner, Vienna, in similar circumstances a few years ago, so I can understand the feelings of guilt you have along with then grief. So many “what ifs”. In Vienna’s case, she had similar sudden onset of symptoms, they got her straight to the vet who diagnosed bloat and gastric torsion and though they operated immediately they couldn’t save her. It was very quick - a matter of a few hours from healthy dog to losing her.

Talking to the vet afterwards, he told me that there was nothing more anyone could have done, it’s 80% fatal and even if she been in the vet’s surgery when it had started the outcome would probably have been the same. It didn’t make me feel any less guilty, or comforted, but I realised I shouldn’t blame anyone. I still miss her now though, six years later. He also said it’s more common for deep-chested dogs to be afflicted with this.

I hope you get some answers about Riley, you couldn’t help that you weren’t there for him but he will have known how loved he was by you. I hope you can soon start to remember the happy times with him without them hurting so much.

Very sorry for your loss. Our dogs are our babies so I completely empathise with you.

yiu trusted the kennel and they have let you down, woefully so that they did not take your dog to the vet in a timely manner. They were understaffed. They failed you and your dog in that regard.

Another animal lover just sending you love and strength
What a horrible thing to happen under these circumstances, Riley was a beautiful boy .

@Orc What a gorgeous dog. Thanks for letting us see him! 😍

I’m so sorry, what a lovely dog he was. It’s awful they didn’t take him to a vet, or at least call an emergency vet out? Did they contact a vet at all? Did they stay with him whilst he was struggling to breathe?

So sorry for your loss. Unfortunately sometimes really shit and horrible things happen and there nothing we could have done to prevent it. Please don't blame yourself for going away, as far as you were aware, your dog was well and had a good bill of health when you booked and went away. There were no signs at all this could have happened.

Sadly, I doubt there could have been much that could have been done because of the time scale of how quickly your poor boy went downhill. Sometimes things go downhill very fast or trigger an unknown underlying condition which makes things go downhill. Even if they hadn't been short staffed and taken straight to the vets, by the time they had phoned you, arranged someone to take, collected paperwork vets might need together, loaded your poor boy, travelled to the vets, marked as here to see the vet and waited for a vet to be available then you are pretty close to that hour. Even had they called an emergency vet out, by the time that vet had made it to the kennels it's likely to have been close to that hour.

Please take all the comfort from the fact he had a lovely life with you. I hope you get some answers and find comfort in them.

Her dog died, this does not mean that anyone failed him. In all likelihood the kennels didn't fail him and neither did OP for putting him into kennels. It is just a sad fact that some lives end prematurely, and upsetting that OP couldn't be there at the end.

Riley had fantastic ears x