Yeah, reading between the lines, it sounds like the poor guy was not in any condition to take care of himself and likely had no idea what was even happening to him for that week. What a horrible way to go.
That's the worst part. I've never liked the concept of crating a pet if the pet can't break out in an emergency. If your pet "needs" a crate, you taught it wrong or have the wrong environment for it as far as I'm concerned.
Indeed, that's IMO the most horrifying part. It sounds like Gene himself may have been too far gone mentally to be suffering, but that poor dog suffered greatly.
I live alone and even though I'm perfectly healthy I bought self-filling water and food dishes for my dog and I make sure they stay topped up. If my brain were to abruptly explode someday for some unknown reason I want to be sure she'll be okay for however long it takes for my friends to come over and check on why I'm not answering any communication.
Sweden loves to have all their data publicly available. There are some sites that aggregate this, which is a bit of a legal grey area. Anywho, anyone can look me up and find that I own my house, what vehicles I have and that I have two dogs.
I'm hoping the authorities would look me up and do a welfare check on the dogs if both me and my SO were wiped out in a car crash or something.
We've had a way oversized bowl of water out since the Mrs was pregnant, just in case her health would have to take priority (also the neighbours were on standby to take care of the dogs). Plus extra bowls around the house. They shouldn't go thirsty for at least a week.
Hantavirus, it similar to the more lethal Korean hantavirus from Asia. It's also called hemmohoragic fever. Since it's in the states, it's the sin Nombre virus found in wild harvest mice. Besides bats, rodents carry the next lethal viruses. It's also considered as potential bioweapons because how lethal they are