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b 01 20
09
One final toss for The Dooze
An incredibly touching story by ESPN’s Bill Simmons about the death, and most wonderfully, the life of his dog “The Dooze”.
Impossible not to draw some similarities between Bill’s loss and our own.
h/t Beijing Boyce on Twitter.
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n 22 20
09
Optima Dog Food Saga: It’s Done
Most often I feel time is moving much faster than I expect it to. This last month, however, is an exception. It’s hard to believe that it was just over four weeks ago that we got the news about our Optima dog food being contaminated with aflatoxin.
Only a month ago that we began to suspect, and then learned, that our beautiful dog Addie was dying.
These 18 days since she died have been sad, lonely and full of anger at a situation that could never give back what it took from us.
But now, it’s done.
As…
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n 17 20
09
Optima Pet Food Saga: Media’s double-edged sword
It’s been a crazy week – both with trying to catch up on work I let slip while caring for Addie over the holidays and also with trying to bring some perspective to this whole, ongoing, experience.
When all this began I created a Google Alert for “Optima dog food”, so I’d know any time the phrase appeared on Google’s news channel. For weeks there wasn’t a peep, but then suddenly (just after the Shanghai Daily piece) it lit up and I began receiving several notices a day.
Perhaps most prominently, the Associated Press picked up the…
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n 12 20
09
Shanghai Daily-late and dollar short
The Shanghai Daily finally got around to reporting on the emergency recall of dog food after pets poisoned and seem just as confused as the rest of the net on where the Optima dog food comes from and how it ended up killing dogs in China (including my baby).
The site reports:
Since the end of November at least 20 dogs are believed to have died in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou from liver complications. Some pets died within 10 days of showing symptoms.
An agent of Shanghai Yidi Pet Co Ltd, a Shanghai dealer of Optima
…
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n 06 20
09
Addie’s Ashes – cremating our dog in China
It’s been a handful of days now, and both Maggie and I are coming to terms with Addie’s death. I still expect her to be there, wagging her tail, when we open the front door; and I still look for her underfoot when I get up from the sofa. But time is a cool leveler, and has given me a glimpse that the pain we initially felt will eventually fade and be replaced by our numerous fond memories of her.
One step in that process is laying her to rest. You would think that with everyone and their cousin having…
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n 04 20
09
From time to eternity
Addie has died. I’ve sat here at my computer for a while now looking for the right words to start this post with and can’t come up with any. But as that first sentence is why I’m sitting here, it seems reasonable that it is where I should start.
Reason. Ration. These are vile words when you’ve lost a loved one. Words that, like some linguistic drug, offer you an escape from the pain you’re feeling by masking it with purpose and order.
But, and continuing with the metaphor, they’re circular. Rationalizing the death leads no where. There’s no reason.…
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c 31 20
08
Addie Update #2: The Youth in Asia Debate
A couple of days ago I drew up a calendar on a whiteboard Maggie uses to keep track of her yoga clients. The calendar shows the dates from December 23 (the day before we found out Addie was suffering from aflatoxicity) to January 4th (one day after the vet said she would be lucky to live until).
It’s been a week, and with three days to go, Addie’s still putting up a good fight. She’s looking a bit worse for wear though, and despite us doing our best to clean her, smells of a rather horrible combination of stomach…
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c 28 20
08
Addie Update
Having been up until 4am the last two nights watching my dog suck endless bottles of medical juice into her veins, my head’s not really in the game – but I wanted to post a bit of an update on her condition and the situation as a whole.
First, she’s de-energized but still fighting. She’s having a really hard time keeping any food (and/or pills) down, and is quite nauseated most of the time. We’ve routinely been giving her shots to help with the nausea, and that seems to alleviate it for a while, but hasn’t much helped her appetite…
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c 25 20
08
US-made Optima dog food in China may have killed my dog
In what’s poised to be the absolute worst Christmas ever, there is an excellent chance my dog – my awesome, beautiful, wonderful, fantastic dog – is going to die.
After posting the other day about the possibility of her having come into contact with aflatoxin contaminated Optima dog food, a visit to the vet yesterday confirmed it. Her liver is shutting down.
We had hoped that her fussy eating lately was just her usual finicky self. However, when the whites of her eyes yellowed yesterday and she peed in the house (something she never does) we called…
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c 23 20
08
Feeding your dog Optima in China? Stop.
The last two days we’ve been dealing with a bit of a scare. We got a call from our pet shop asking us if we’d seen the news. Optima – the decent-quality, American-made dog food we’ve always fed our pup – was issuing a major recall because contaminants had been found in it.
Apparently since the end of November about 30 dogs have died in the Yangtze Delta (Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, etc.) of liver complications – and they all ate Optima dog food.
According to the pet shop, the food was contaminated with “黄曲霉素”, or aflatoxin, an extremely toxic and…
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c 15 20
08
Addie’s First Birthday
Alright, I never wanted to become one of those people that have a dog and they go on and on about their dog like it was their child. I never did.
But I also never expected that such a connection could be formed between myself and a dog. I’ve had lots of pets, including a number of dogs, throughout my life, but Addie is the first dog that was “mine” as an adult.
She’s also the first I’ve raised since a puppy, and I think that brings a bit too it as well, as watching her grow, learn and develop…
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p 26 20
08
Sexy Bitch
Addie just recently went into heat for the first time (snuck up on us – we were still thinking she was just a puppy). For anyone that’s never had a (ahem) bitch in heat, it can be a bit messy. To combat this we’ve employed a couple pairs of old undies – much to our amusement.
She’s surprisingly good natured about the whole thing and doesn’t seem to pay hardly any attention to her sexy panties. In a week or so when the bleeding stops and the “come get me boys!” starts, we’re betting that might change.…
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b 19 20
08
Puppy Power in the PRC Part II
Well, it’s the end of day three with the puppy and I dare say there’s not a place she hasn’t marked with a little bit of puppy love.
The physics of a puppy astound me. I swear more comes out of her than goes in.
But for every ounce of patience she takes from me, she gains back points from the fact that she can be entertained for 10 minutes just by putting a towel over her head (she’s trying to navigate her way out as I type).
Just thought I’d post a photo that pretty much sums up my…
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