Nursing student's dog sickened by toxic pet food

CNN.com - Nursing student's dog sickened by toxic pet food - Jan 9, 2006: "When her own daughter died last year, Stewart said Cocoa helped her through her grief. 'It was like she understood,' Stewart said. 'She was my best friend.'"

I think it's great that this young nursing student would go to this length to care for her sick dog. How many people would go without sleep to do this?

"I haven't had any time to do anything but take care of her," said Stewart, a 19-year-old nursing student at the University of South Carolina.

"She's the No. 1 priority ... I get maybe four hours of sleep before she wakes me up."

Some people just consider their dogs cheap security systems and others will treat them like friends or members of the family. Unfortunately, I happen to believe that some people, would have a dog with this condition euthanized, even if they could afford the treatment, since it takes a great deal of care and unless the pet is considered a member of the family, rather than a life form that barks and makes noises to scare off burglars, then some people would just make the dog expendable. It's great that people like Shanika Stewart are around and even better that they've decided go unto nursing.