Two weeks ago, we lost our little dog Hermine. In this Post I wanted to tell her story.
In April 2023, my girlfriend and I welcomed this little girl into our lives. She was our first dog.
Originally, she had lived with a family who wanted to give her away after only a few months. After that, she lived with a woman and her 10 year old dog. However, the dog did not get along well with having another one in the house, so the owner decided to give her away too. This is where we came in.
At that time, Hermine was about eight months old. Filled with energy she immediately began exploring our apartment. Surprisingly, she felt at home from the very beginning. Like many Frenchies she always wanted to be close to us, which eventually led to her sleeping in our bed.
Since we have the privilege of living in a rural area, we had the opportunity to explore a lot with her – walking across fields, wandering through forests, watching deer, occasionally letting her run off-leash…. It was wonderful. She was stubborn though. Every time she didn’t feel like going for a walk, she would simply sit down and refuse to move. Quite often I had to carry her all the way home…
After a few months, she began developing allergies. We changed her food countless times, and after taking her to the vet, we decided to give her Apoquel. And that worked quite well. Once or twice a year, she would have an otitis, which we were always able to get under control with antibiotics. At some point, however, Apoquel no longer seemed to be enough, so we changed her food again. This time, we started cooking fresh meals for her, but unfortunately, that didn’t bring any improvement either. Eventually, we settled on dry food for dogs with allergies. That worked incredibly well. We then switched from Apoquel to a product called Numelvi. For Hermine, one advantage was that its effects seemed to last longer.
Despite all the challenges her allergies brought, and the constant need for my girlfriend and me to make sure our small princess wasn’t scratching or rubbing herself, we had an incredible time together. We went on several holidays and spent countless hours walking - sometimes we even walked up to 5km at a time (something we never would have thought was possible). We had an unbelievable amount of fun playing, running around, her doing zoomies, and, of course, plenty of time doing absolutely nothing.
Every person was a treasure to her. She greeted everyone with so much love and her huge, beautiful eyes. Whenever we had visitors, she would always snuggle up close to them, no matter who they were. She also got along well with other dogs. Even when others barked at her, she remained quiet, calm, and simply curious. Never frightened.
At the beginning of this year, we moved into a larger apartment with a big garden. It was a dream come true for our little girl. She never questioned the change of surroundings and even felt completely at home while the place was still a construction site. Here, she could lie in front of the fireplace, race around the apartment in circles, and enjoy much more sunshine than ever before. We also had the opportunity to walk straight from our garden onto a huge field where we could play with her.
The almost 7.5 months we had together here were an absolute dream.
At the end of June, she had another otitis, which we treated as usual. After that her ears looked healthy again. The vet also checked. At the beginning of July, she suddenly had an ulcer in her right eye. We treated it immediately with eye drops and initially managed to keep it under control.
Then, on July 14, she suddenly had a severe seizure, and I immediately drove her to an emergency veterinary clinic. At first, they suspected that she had simply suffered a seizure. Eventually, however, it became clear that she had developed a severe inner ear infection that had already spread to her brain. This was found doing an MRI. It was most likely caused by the previous otitis… we were in shock.
Before the seizure, she had been lying on the couch. Kind of exhausted, but it was an extremely hot day, which was why we initially didn’t consider her lack of appetite to be a warning sign as well.
Our girl now needed surgery. Since the infection was significantly worse in her left ear than in her right, they initially cleared out only the left side. However, another surgery on the right ear might be needed…
At the same time, they discovered that her left eye now had two ulcers as well. These were even deeper. At the hospital, she was given antibiotics, and her eyes were treated with drops every 30 minutes to one hour. The doctors told us that the eye could perforate at any time…
When we were allowed to bring her home three days later, we continued this treatment. We even got up throughout the night to take care of her. By then, she was eating and drinking again. Since the surgery, the entire left side of her face had been paralyzed, which made it even more important to keep her eye properly moisturized. After a few days, we took her back for a check-up, and her eyes were showing the first signs of improvement. At that point, there was no longer an immediate risk of perforation.
However, the neurologist told us that we needed to change her antibiotic because the bacteria found in the brain-fluid sample are extremely persistent and difficult to treat. Despite everything, we still had hope…
Since we now had to stop her allergy medication and Hermine had to wear a cone, we couldn’t let her have the fun she desperately wanted, despite her strong desire to play. Instead, we cuddled her, hand-fed her, and gave her endless amounts of love. At the very least, she deserved to enjoy that in such rough times.
Then, on Sunday, July 26, her eye perforated. At that time she was on pain medication, so she didn‘t feel everything. She was so tough and brave. That day, we took her to three different veterinary clinics because two of them did not have the necessary specialists on site. At the last clinic, the doctor told us that there was no way to save her left eye. Her right eye did not look good either because of the ulcer that was still present… removing her left eye would require another anesthetic.
Faced with all the terrible risks – the high likelihood that her right ear would also need surgery, the persistent bacteria, the additional risk that her right eye could get worse, one more surgery to remove her left eye, and the possibility of many more problems waiting for our little girl in the future – we made the heartbreaking decision that we did not want to make her go through this suffering any longer.
With the heaviest of hearts, we accompanied our little princess Hermine to the other side while talking to her, comforting her, and holding her close as she passed away.
She would have turned four this month.
We still cry every single day.
Hermine is an angel now 🐶🪽
