Death by Chocolate
Sadly our beloved dog, Maio, died at the weekend. He had arrived as an unsolicited present in May 1997, as his name suggests, to Myriam from her son, and had been found to have dysplasia in all four limbs. Myriam had nursed and nourished him until he was capable of doing our longest Wednesday Walks, and had even walked with her part of the way across the Algarve in 1998. He was not the most intelligent of dogs, but he was placid and had the best temperament of any dog we have known. However he was a typical Labrador, and his appetite knew no bounds – once he broke into our larder and tipped over the barrel of dog food while we were out, and when we arrived back he must have consumed 4-5 kilos and was unable to move.
It was this appetite that was his undoing. While we were out on Saturday evening, he inexplicably knocked a large glass covered jar of wrapped chocolates from the table and consumed about 500 grams of them with their silver foil wrappers. This jar, with various sweets, had been there for years, and he had never shown an interest. On this occasion we did not discover the act until about half an hour after arriving home. Knowing the potential toxic effects of chocolate on dogs we called the emergency number of our vet, Scott Miller – who lives nearby and whose surgery is just a few yards away from our flat. He did not respond. We will never know how much the delay contributed to Maio’s demise, but by the time we had contacted another vet, Heike and driven to Espiche to meet her, we had lost an hour.
An emetic was administered and some of the chocolate and wrappers were vomited, but over the next 18 hours he became weaker and passed away, unexpectedly to us, during the evening, just one day short of his 13th Birthday.
He hadn’t walked with the AWW for 2 years as his joints were deteriorating, but his presence and loyalty will be sadly missed.
To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs. Huxley, Aldous
2 comments:
Maio will always be there in our minds. Having had & bred one litter from our Tessa, there is not much that we don't know about this lovely breed! Sadly, death separates but our minds & spirits endure. Love, Esme & Maurice
Maio will be in our hearts too. He is your family dog and will be treated as our family dog. As well as Milo in all. Love, No. 8 & family
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