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Health & Fitness

I Just Want to Know if My Dog Will Die

How life lessons sometimes lend themselves to lessons in the workplace.

Our two year old golden retriever, Daisy, took a bowl of grapes off the counter and ate them. Little did I know how poisonous grapes are to dogs. After two days of vomiting, I took her to the vet to see if she was dehydrated. She was in acute kidney failure with a "grave prognosis".
Her blood test results were "very dangerous".

The recommendation was 72 hours of intravenous fluids at a potential cost of nearly $3000. After 10 hours of fluids and she still had not urinated, the prognosis worsened. We were told that if she didn't urinate it was "a very dangerous situation and very scary". We agreed to leave her at the hospital overnight. The following day her blood tests had only improved a tiny bit, but not a statisticallysignificant amount.

The vet was still using words like "grave condition", "dangerous" and "serious". Yet at the same time, she was describing Daisy as "perky" and she was"optimistic".

How was I feeling? Confused! I just wanted to know if she was going to die. I got the distinct feeling that the vet was afraid to tell me the truth. Of course I didn't want her to die. But I did want the truth, no matter how bad it was. I wanted to prepare myself and my children. I wanted to know what to tell them. And I didn't want to spend $2000-$3000 and still lose her.

As I was driving back and forth to the vet's office, I realized that the conversation I wanted the vet to have with me was similar to the conversation I need to have with some home sellers. I am often nervous to tell a homeowner their home is not worth as much as they thought.   I do not look forward to asking a homeowner to lower their price.  I realize that this is not just a business transaction for them but an emotional transaction as well.

Why am I afraid to give bad news? Sometimes I  try to soften the blow by agreeing to a price in the middle, or pricing the home the way the homeowner wants for a set time before lowering it. But I know that I am not truly servicing the homeowner when I do that.  In a fallling market, a homeowner loses money every week that the home remains on the market. That does not include the money lost on mortgage payment and property taxes. Even if the market is not falling, the listing grows stale and typically sells for less.

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My homeowners are better informed than ever before. They are hiring me because I have information, experience, resources and an understanding that they may not. My clients are smart, intelligent and informed.  They can understand market conditions when it is explained to them. They just want the truth, no matter what it is. Having the tough conversation is often the best service I can provide.

What happened to Daisy? She is home now. She is slowing getting stronger and still cleaning the toxins out of her kidneys. The whole family is thankful for the vets at Commack's Banfield Pet Hospital who cared for her and got her through the worst. I did learn something from this experience. After being on the receiving end of a difficult conversation, I think it will be easier for me to be on the delivery end.

Here is a list of things you may not know are poisonous for your dog:

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GRAPES!, Alcohol, Avocado, Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Raw Fish, Raisins, Hops, Iron Supplements, Macadamia Nuts, Large Amounts of Dairy, Mushrooms, Onions and Garlic, Persimmons, Pits from Peaches and Plums, Raw Eggs, Raw Meat, Rhubarb Leaves, Tobacco, Yeast Dough, Xylitol

This list is not complete.  You never know what could be toxic for your dog.  Your best bet is to stick to dog food and dog treats, especially made for man's best friend.

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