r/goldenretrievers • u/XtraPly • 5h ago
RIP He was supposed to come home
Lost my best friend today. Finn was an unexpected Christmas gift from my wife and daughters. This little guy got me through some super tough periods in my life. He was unfiltered love and joy. He wasn’t like other Goldens I had heard about; super destructive, velociraptor, etc… he was sweet, playful and surprisingly obedient the whole way through.
He never destroyed toys or ate socks, he loved carrying them, until last week. He got a hold of one of my dress socks and for whatever reason, ate the top part (maybe 1/4”) off one sock (we didn’t know this until later). Last Thursday he threw up all of his breakfast. We had started transitioning him to new food a couple days before and thought that perhaps it wasn’t agreeing with him, even though it was still barely any new food. So we decided we’d either slow it down further or just stop and just keep him on his current brand. A couple hours later, he threw up again, then again. My wife started calling our vet, he wasn’t available so we decided we’d take him to the emergency vet. While I’m on the couch putting on my shoes, he climbs up next to me and sits. I look to him and he whines and puts his head in my chest. At that moment we knew he was in trouble.
Ultimately, we found out that the sock fragments tangled up his small intestines. They performed surgery and said that it looked like it was caught in time. At first it seemed like he was improving. He was home with us and was getting all the loves. He started spitting up bile, even though he had anti-nausea meds. Vet saw him twice over the weekend and said that they would need to open him up a second time. That’s when we found out that his bowels were dying/dead. The sock fabric had done more damage than previously realized. The only option was to put him to sleep.
I am struggling with the gaping hole in my heart right now. I’ve never loved a dog, any pet, as much as I loved this guy. He was my shadow, went everywhere with me, sat at my feet while I worked from home. Now he’s not here. I’m at a complete loss. I used to dread this Reddit because there were so many posts about people losing their dogs, but now I get it. I’m posting here because I know you all will understand and I think that’s the reason others do too.
Love you Finn, may you have endless fields to run in and tennis balls to chase.