Family heartbroken after puppy’s death
FLORA BYATT
AD I S T R AUGHT dog owner has spoken of her heartache after her puppy, which cost £4,500, died just hours after routine vaccinations. Alexa Ray, from Accrington, says she has “lost her best friend” and the house feels “empty” without 15-week-old English bulldog puppy, Hugo.
Her two-year-old son doesn’t understand where Hugo has gone, and Alexa feels unable to tell him. Alexa fears he may have suffered a severe allergic reaction to a vaccine.
The dog lover bought Hugo online to join her female French bulldog, Bluebell, who she is now afraid to vaccinate after
Hugo’s death, fearing that she may die too.
Full-time mum Alexa said they had only had Hugo for two weeks, but he was already part of the family.
She said: “I had been to planning to get him for a while and I’d always wanted an English bulldog.
“The breeder said he’d had his first set of injections and had paperwork, and he was due his second set, then I could take him out for walks.
“Hugo fell in love with me and my little boy.”
Alexa, 43, said Hugo was fine until she took him to the vets on the afternoon of January 20 - he had eaten breakfast that morning and played with her toddler son.
She said: “The vet declared Hugo in perfect health after a thorough check-over, and administered the injection, he then began to deteriorate.
“Afterwards in the waiting room he was really panting, but I just thought he needed water.
“I said he could have a drink once we got home.
“As we got out of the taxi at home he was sick and had diarrhoea.
“Blood came up and he started having a seizure.”
With Hugo developing problems breathing, Alexa got in a taxi ride to the vets, only for him to die as they arrived.
Alexa said: “I kept telling him to hang on.
“He was panting and looking at me, trying to lift his head.”
She says she has now sent Hugo for a postmortem in an effort to discover the cause.