I lost my 4 year old baby Perseus within two and a half days. My malitpoo, who was a jumper, got into a container of gum that I didn't know was on the table and ingested all of it. I wasn't aware that the ingredient Xylitol was in it and is highly toxic to dogs. My baby threw up all of the gum by Sunday, but his level of energy dropped and he refused to eat because of the vomiting. By the time we took him to the vet, had xrays done, blood work, and he was injected with fluids, he perked up after being force fed by the vet. I stayed up with him all night and saw by Tuesday morning that Perseus was worse. He died in my arms around 6:15 am. My daughter sang to him before he died. My heart was broken and he was on my lap for five hours before the vet called to give me the results from the blood work (I had left a message with his assistant by the time the office had opened). He told me that there wasn't anything we could've done to save Perseus because he suffered liver failure. He offered to cover the charge for group cremation because he felt bad about what happened. Saying good-bye to Perseus again when my husband took him away was even more painful. My children are devastated. My husband and son are dealing with their grief in their own way, but my daughter and I are coping together. At 2:30am on Wednesday, I woke up looking for Perseus. I went to work yesterday and it was one of the hardest things that I had to do. I broke down twice (thank goodness not in front of my students) and was comforted by my colleagues. The pain hurts so much and with the snow day, I felt it even more because my puppy love would've been snuggling with me right now. I loved him so much and I just want to shut out the world and be with him again. What hurts most of all was that my children and I decided to get Perseus because we had lost our other beauty, Brittany. She would have been 5 when we lost her four years ago. Perseus would have been 5 years old in September, so we have lost two dogs in 9 years. I know that Perseus knew that he was loved, but it doesn't make losing him any easier.