Fairview’s Jack-in-the Box (Jack)
March 2 – October 16, 2018
Anthony and James grew up with a strong connection to my parents’ Labrador Retriever, Cody. When they knew Cody he was considerably settled down from when he was a young pup, full of energy to duck hunt with my dad. But even in his senior years, Cody was always excited to hop in the truck with my dad and the boys for a weekend at our family hunting camp. Cody and the boys wandered the expansive yard together, exploring and feeling a sense of freedom.
The boys had long wanted a dog of our own and in early 2018, the time was right. Anthony was 14 and James was 10. They wanted a Lab, I wanted a Golden Retriever. I wanted a female, they wanted a male. We compromised on a male Golden. For our first dog we wanted to raise it as a puppy. I knew the commitment a puppy meant having grown up in a household where many puppies were raised and two litters had been born. All the boys knew was how cute and cuddly a puppy was! We researched breeders and kept an eye out for litters that included English Cream Goldens, my preferred color variety for Goldens.
When the litter we had our eye on was 7 weeks old, we went for a visit. All those pudgy, energetic, cuddly puppies were irresistible! But we took our time, interacting with each of the puppies in the litter, watching them play with each other, checking out the parents and eventually came to a consensus…Jack had our heart! He was curious, playful and adorable. The picture of James holding Jack once we knew that Jack was the puppy for us remains one of my favorites. A boy and his puppy with all the anticipation of years of fun and companionship ahead to look forward to.
Both boys immediately took to the daily (hourly!) care of an 8 week old puppy when we brought him home. No complaints about taking him out, cleaning up after him, being patient as we slowly introduced training. Jack had found his way into our hearts and lives and we couldn’t have been happier about it! As he grew, walks in the neighborhood turned into longer hikes on local trails. He started accompanying me to the office on occasion. We introduced him to water so he could wade and swim in creeks and lakes. He was our buddy! Everything we had hoped and wished for when we decided to get a puppy.
On a beautiful October day, I took Jack for a loop around the baseball fields near our home. That year we’d had a particularly wet Fall and mushroom populations had exploded over night. That day he reached over and grabbed a good-sized mushroom and started to eat it. I cleared his mouth of the remnants, but he had swallowed a portion of it. I didn’t think much of it as I’d witnessed this dog eat all manners of things he came across outside…other small mushrooms in our yard, he’d sampled just about every shrub and plant in our yard, devoured entire sticks, snacked on the mulch, one time I even pulled a dead bird from his mouth. After our walk, I left for a work event for several hours. Upon my return, we loaded in the car to enjoy a late afternoon hike and wade in the creek at Asbury Woods. This was 8 hours after ingesting the mushroom and there were no signs of distress. We enjoyed a beautiful Fall hike that afternoon.
In the evening, I started to sense that he wasn’t feeling well. He was unusually lethargic. Even after a morning and afternoon walk, he would have normally still been full of energy. But this evening he didn’t follow me from room to room and just seemed off. By morning it was clear that something was very wrong with Jack. Our vets were able to get us in mid-morning and I had started to do some reading about possible mushroom poisoning. What I read was very scary. The vets were equally concerned and based on their assessment and tests, we concluded that Jack had likely ingested a portion of what is commonly known as the death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides). It’s highly toxic to pets and humans, with as little as half a mushroom being enough to be fatal for an adult human. It was already working its deadly poison on my beloved puppy as he was in early stages of liver failure. He stayed at the veterinarian’s office that afternoon as they monitored him and started him on an IV and several medications. I picked him up at the end of the day with instructions on how to administer additional medications that evening and to bring him back in the morning. The vets were clear with me that they had witnessed these cases go both ways. They gave me instructions that if he experienced a seizure, to take him to the emergency vet clinic right away.
The boys and I laid out blankets across the floor in our family room to settle in for an all night cuddle session with Jack, keeping an eye on him and giving the medicine at the appointed hours. As the night wore on, it became clear that he was rapidly declining. He could not keep the medicine down and was starting to vomit. Around 3:00 a.m. he had a seizure. I woke up Anthony to help me load Jack in the car for a sprint to the emergency vet’s office. As we were preparing to carry him, he stopped breathing. He passed away in our home with Anthony and I there.
A few short hours later, we had to come to terms with what to do next. I naturally thought of cremation. We also thought of laying him to rest next to my parents’ dog, Cody, on the grounds of our camp but that would have required a little more planning, help with preparing the plot, additional time away from school and work. When I discussed cremation with my sons, James was adamant that we had to properly bury Jack somewhere. That’s when that I remembered my mom telling me about burying her dog at the pet cemetery and I could visualize the location from numerous bike rides through the area. I found the phone number for Tom Paavola, son of the founder of Hearthside. He immediately provided a sense of calm and was reassuring and comforting. He provided me with the particulars of burying Jack at Hearthside. He told me to bring along any favorite toys, blankets, etc that we would want buried with Jack. I delivered Jack to Tom that morning. He patiently worked with us on wording for the memorial plaque and even let me deliver a last minute letter that James wanted included in the burial. The experience provided comfort and was handled with sensitively, understanding and respect as we came to terms with losing our beloved Jack in such a sudden manner at age seven months.
We share this story to help raise awareness about the death cap mushroom and its fatal outcome for people and pets. I’ve talked to so many pet owners since this happened to us and very few had ever heard of such a thing. Even our veterinarian said it was a fairly rare occurrence. So while rare, it should be in the minds of pet owners as this didn’t happen at some exotic location, it happened within sightline of our suburban home.
We also share this to say, we know and understand what it feels like. We have been there. We have lost a pet and been comforted by the kindness, understanding and empathy of Tom Paavola in our family’s time of grief. We are honored to carry on the tradition of Hearthside Pet Cemetery and hope that others dealing with the loss of a pet can take some small comfort in the services we provide and the opportunity to memorialize your pet.
--Jennifer, Anthony and James Farrar