Meet Bindi and me.

Hi, I’m Zoe Powell. Bindi was my first pancake. My first golden retriever. I am a huge fan of the Gilmore Girls and on an episode they make reference to the first pancake not being edible because the skillet isn’t hot enough, and it doesn’t turn out right, but Lorelai thinks that is crazy, and her first pancake, Rory, turned out pretty damn good.

So did Bindi. I made mistakes though, on my first pancake, that I would not do again. I would not have had her desexed. I would have been a stronger advocate for her with her vet. The vet that was meant to serve her, let her down. I asked him to test her for diabetes. I recognised some signs. He did the test but ignored the indicators of high glucose, and diabetes. Had I known then that I had the right to request the copy of the blood test, Bindi would be here today, being managed for her disease and on the correct diet.

My reason for not desexing her is not because I would have bred her, but because after she was desexed she gained weight, like many of her friends I have witnessed, because their hormones are changed, similar to when women experience menopause. Their metabolism changes. Bindi got a lot of exercise and her appetite decreased, but her weight increased. I got lots of comments from people suggesting I was over-feading her. Even the vet accused her of gaining weight because she must be stealing my cat’s food or eating my other dog’s share of the food. It was so disheartening to hear other people blame her for her disease, when I knew her better than anyone else in the world and I knew this not to be true.

Bindi passed away after becoming extremely ill with pancreatitis and then pneumonia from excess fluid. She was in extreme pain but she continued to fight for her lift until her heart could take no more, and at 4.30 in the morning I received the dreaded phone call. She had been in the Emergency vet for 3 days, hooked up to seven different medications.

To honour her memory, I am going to give a voice to other dogs who have the silent, often missed disease, and if I can save even one dog’s life through my efforts to educate dog owners to recognise the signs and get them tested, it will be worth Gold for Bindi.