Heart Attacks in Dogs

I started to post this under "internal medicine", but it’s in the right place. Dogs (in fact, all domestic animals) very rarely have a heart attack in the sense that we understand it in human medicine.

Myocardial infarction (M.I.) is the technical term for "heart attack".  Myocardium means heart muscle.  Infarction means that the blood supply to something is stopped up, causing damage to whatever has lost its circulation.   Sometimes people say they’ve "had a coronary".  The coronary arteries are the blood vessels that bring oxygen and nutrition to the heart muscle so that it can do its job.  If one of those arteries gets stopped up, the heart muscle it was taking care of gets really sick, really fast.  Maybe it just dies.  If a big enough area of heart muscle is affected, the heart ceases to function and you die. With very small areas of heart muscle damaged, your heart may keep working, but you have chest pain, nausea and all the rest of the signs of a heart attack.

The most common cause of a blockage in these coronary arteries is the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque.  Cholesterol (among other things) builds up a lining of crud inside the blood vessel, making it’s interior diameter smaller and smaller.  This in itself causes poor blood supply to the heart muscle.  If a chunk of the crud breaks off, it flows downstream and can cork the vessel off completely.  Now you’re having a heart attack.

The thing is, it’s rare for domestic animals to have high cholesterol.  There are definitely individual animals that do have high cholesterol and triglycerides (another kind of fat in the blood).  They usually have thyroid problems or other medical problems that contribute to this.  Even when they do have high cholesterol, they don’t develop the atherosclerotic plaque that would clog up their coronary arteries.  Maybe they just don’t live long enough for that to happen. Even really obese human children don’t develop that kind of heart problem before they are teenagers.  At any rate, dogs and cats and horses and cows do not have coronary arteries clogged up with junk.  This means that they very rarely have something that stops up an artery to cause death of the heart muscle.  If they do, it would be a blood clot or something similar.

What all that boils down to is that, with rare exceptions, dogs don’t have heart attacks.  Whenever I have a patient that dies suddenly with no explanation, we encourage a post-mortem examination.  If nothing shows up to the naked eye, we send tissues (pieces of the organs) to the pathologist to examine under the microscope.  With a sudden death case, we always send the entire heart.  Myocardial infarction has been reported back to me exactly one time in twenty-eight years.  It can happen, but it doesn’t happen very often.

So why do people tell you that their pet died from a heart attack?  Where did they get such an idea? Sometimes they just invent it.  You extrapolate your answers from what you know.  Why do people die suddenly?  Heart attacks.  Why wouldn’t a dog be the same? See the above.

I’m afraid that, in years past, most people have heard the pet-heart-attack story from a lazy veterinarian.  Think about it: people have experience with heart attacks.  They don’t have much understanding of other types of heart problems.  If the pet didn’t die from a heart attack, what did cause the sudden death?   If you (as a doctor) were presented with a pet who died suddenly and you could not determine the cause, which would you rather do?  1. Give a lengthy explanation of why it’s probably not a heart attack (see above) and end by saying that you don’t have a clue, OR 2. Solemnly pronounce that the pet died of a heart attack.

Two good things here: the first is that our pets are unlikely to have a heart attack.  The second is that most veterinarians won’t give you that kind of a BS answer these days.  Would you rather have an earnest "I don’t know" or a solemn load of BS?  Would "I don’t know" satisfy you?  See comments below.

708 thoughts on “Heart Attacks in Dogs

  1. Alyssa says:

    My Black Lab died suddenly this week, she was only 6 years old. The vet told us he could do an autopsy but it could cost $200 being a college student that is way beyond my budget. He stated just by looking at her she either had a stoke or a heart attack. After reading your article I feel mad knowing thats the excuse vets give to people. What if she had a heart problems all these years and the vets did not know, maybe this could have been prevented. It just makes me sad that I dont know the reason my best friend died.

    • Darlene Long says:

      My dog died on Wednesday at the vet don’t know why she died either they gave you this reason they died was from an heart attack dogs don’t have heart attacks

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Darlene,

        Dogs don’t have coronary artery disease as people do, with the plaques that break loose and stop an artery, causing a “heart attack”. That doesn’t mean that they can’t have heart failure. It is difficult to determine the cause of sudden death, so we often assume it is a heart condition. We cannot really be sure without a complete post-mortem examination and sending tissues to the pathologist for microscopic examination. When this is not an option, we take our best guess. Veterinarians often use the phrase “heart attack” because people understand it, and its easier than going through along explanation of what we don’t know.

        • Dee says:

          My 6 year old jack russell passed away on mothers day , we found her in her bed in a laying position with arms and legs out , her tounge was hanging out of her mouth and her eyes was closed , she had also opened her bowels, in the morning she was running around the house like normal no signs seen of illness , when we looked back at our dog camera , our jack russell appeared to be walking around very slowly standing in one position staring at the floor or wall , she moved slighty round the kitchen then went back to her bed and we found her when she passed away , any ideas if this could of been a heart attack as we took her to the vets and they said her tummy felt fine she looks like a healthy dog we cant understand what caused her to pass away so young

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Dee,
            The standing and staring sounds like something affecting her brain, a stroke-lie event, perhaps. These cases are very difficult to get to the bottom of, even with lots of testing, sometimes.

            I am sorry for your loss.

          • Molly says:

            Hi Dee, I’m so sorry for your loss. My 9.5 year old English Bulldog passed away on January 23rd under almost identical circumstances. She was running around the backyard playing with her ball when I saw her sit down suddenly. She was starring at nothing and didn’t respond to me. She took about 3 or 4 steps and collapsed in the snow. We ran outside and found her tongue sticking out, her eyes open with fixed and dilated pupils, completely limp and not breathing. From the time I put her out back to her collapse was only 5 or 6 minutes and I saw the whole devastating event. She was gone by the time my husband picked her up from the snow. She was almost 10 years old, which is above average life span for a bulldog, but otherwise healthy and very frequently checked by the vet (at least once every 8 weeks or so due to my fears about her aging). I wanted to share this with you for a couple reasons. First, although no autopsy was done, my vet also believed her death to be associated with some catastrophic event in her brain and second, to let you know having seen the whole thing unfold it was very quick and despite seeing it and getting her to the emergency vet immediately (less than 10 min from the time she collapsed to them attempting to resuscitate) they said that there was nothing anyone could have done to save her. My vet went so far as to say that the whole emergency vet team could have been in my backyard at the time of Marcy’s collapse and the result would have been the same. I just wanted you to know that there was nothing you could have done to prevent or save her and, given how similar the circumstances surrounding her death were to what happened to my Marcy, I believe she didn’t have any pain or awareness. I have a 3 and 5 year old daughter but losing Marcy felt/feels like I lost my first born. I loved her with every fiber of my being. She was my soulmate and I miss her more than I could ever express with words. My heart aches for you. I hope knowing that someone else can relate and truly understands what you’ve been through can bring you some comfort!
            My deepest sympathies,
            Molly

          • Kris says:

            Dee my 9 year old doodle died 3 days ago almost exactly what you explained. She ate her breakfast with my other doodle like any other day and ran outside to use the bathroom. Upon returning a few minutes later she was walking very slowly with her nose to the ground. I thought she was sniffing something. She then came into the house and collapsed. Her legs were spread out snd she lost control of her bowels. She died before we could get her into the car. I’m devastated. She was our baby.

          • Felicia says:

            Sorry for your loss. My dog passed away today. Same as your dog he was playing in the yard with my kids and suddenly he got slow laid down and passed. I was at work my 12 year old was freaking out. I got it all on camera also

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Felicia,
            Thanks for sharing your story. I cannot imagine how difficult this was with your child passing this on to you.

          • Katie says:

            My 5 year old lab passed away on Monday. She was a very healthy, active dog… the only health issue was a possible torn ACL a few years ago which healed… probably wasn’t a torn ACL after all. She went out at 628 and and at 630 I found her laying in the grass, tongue was blue and she wasn’t breathing. I tried CPR the best I could do on a 55lb lab/pit mix. I keep going back to thinking I Stopped CPR too soon. An autopsy is being done, but so far the only finding was scant of blood in her stomach. I’m just lost.

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Katie,
            Statistically, CPR in cases like this is almost never successful, no matter who is doing it, or how long they try. So don’t beat yourself up about that.

            I hope the post-mortem will give you some answers. Best wishes.

        • Dawn Rosen says:

          My almost 12 year old cockapoo died suddenly yesterday and I can’t stop blaming myself. She was fine and happy yesterday morning and had a big breakfast. I had a vet appointment scheduled because I know that she has a history of a heart murmur and had started to have an occasional cough that sounded a bit asthmatic. She was fine before they took her in, but when they brought her back out to me, she went into some sort of pulmonary distress, they said because she was stressed and panicked. They took an xray, said her heart was enlarged, tried oxygen and told me to go to the emergency vet, so I drove there, arrived, pulled into their parking lot and she actually seemed better, so i pulled back out, thinking that maybe she’d get better being calm at home and would have had another panic attack (maybe fatal) going in there. So, i started driving home and it started up again with the labored breathing and she jumped off the seat to sit on the floor. So, I turned back and tried to get back to the vet and was driving in circles trying to get back on the parkway because I was scared. She then was trying to get back up to the seat next to me, so i pulled over and put her next to me and I knew. Her body jolted a bit (i’ve seen that too many times before) – and she went limp. I drove 85 mph anyway back to the emergency vet, they tried to revive her, but it was too late. How do I process this and make sense of it to not feel so tortured?

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Dawn,
            Thank you for sharing your story. I can see how you would have felt letting the dog go home to “de-stress” would have been the appropriate action to take. Really, when a patient is lost this quickly, it is unlikely that they could have been restored to health. I have a patient with congestive heart failure who has had two trips to the specialty hospital for critical care treatment with oxygen and round-the-clock monitoring. He has been able to come home both times, but he is just “sitting on the edge” of another crisis. His heart is barely strong enough to function with the assistance of his medicines, and any additional stress gets him de-compensated.

            It is obvious that you feel guilty about your decision, but I don’t think that you should. Some things just can’t be fixed.
            I am sorry for your loss.

          • Patti H says:

            My 8 yr old dog died 2 weeks ago. He was his normal self. Around 830pm he jumped up put his head on my lap to be petted, put his paw on my hand. His nose was cold so I covered it. He got down and laid in his spot in front of me. I sat and watched TV. At around 12 I said Bubba do u need out and he didnt move. I touched him, he was cold and had passed away. Not one sound had he made. Looked as if he was sleeping. Eyes closed and moth shut. I’m trying to reason how or why.

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Patti,
            Wow. We frequently say that we wish our pets could just pass away peacefully in their sleep, but we are thinking much later in life.

            I wish that I could give you some closure here. I can only say that it doesn’t sound like there was anything you neglected. Sometimes bodies just fail.

            I am sorry for your loss.

          • john kierans says:

            dawn i had the same problem with my yorkie . took him to a cardiologist put him on viagra said he would live for 4 months . a day & a half later i found him by my bed lifeless . that day he was had laboured breathing can not stop thinking should i have taken him to the ER vet that night . the cardiologist said to keep a eye on him i keep on blaming my self

          • Doc says:

            Hello, John,
            I am sorry to hear about your loss These things are often hard to predict. We just do the best we can. I’m sure you miss him.

          • Kat says:

            Good morning Dawn Rosen. I am just coming across this website, and reading your story. I see that it has been almost a year since you lost your pet and there is never a healing for it. I am sorry for your loss. Your story stood out to me because I just recently lost my dog under similar circumstances. I took her to see a vet for some bloodwork and coughing they recommended she’d have an x-ray, she walked in her happy energetic self, and left on oxygen to the emergency hospital. I lost her two days later at home, she never became herself again she was weak didn’t want to eat and seemed lethargic she passed away in my arms. I am just wondering if you ever found out what was the cause of the loss of your beloved pet? This was a sudden loss for me, I know I am forever heartbroken.
            Thank you for sharing your story.

        • Casey w. says:

          My 1 year old Pomeranian Millie who seems to be in perfect health suddenly passed away recently I woke up for work took her out to potty and she ate breakfast with me and she was acting like her regular self I put her on our bed and she was playing on the bed and my fiancé said she was running up and down the bed and 25 minutes after I left he said he heard her yelp and then seen she was bleeding out of her nose and said he picked her up and her heart was beating really fast/hard and she was gone within 2 minutes. We’re just having a tough time trying to figure out how our little princess could be playing and then dead all of a sudden without warning. He’s thinking she might of had a heart defect and overexerted herself because of how small she was she was a runt and only grew to be 2 1/2 pounds. We aren’t able to do any after death tests because this happened March 24th and we already buried her. Just wanted some assumptions on what could have possibly happen even though we won’t know 100% what actually happened and we understand that just haven’t heard a story exactly like ours with the bleeding out the nose.

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Casey,

            I’m sorry that I don’t have anything to add. It certainly sounds like some type of birth defect that just finally gave way.

            I am sorry for your loss.

          • Ashley G says:

            I had a 7 month old pit bull female puppy. Took her for a 1/2 mile walk, once we got home she completely urinated herself. Then started to convulse and choke , I tried to give her cpr.. then she laid there while breathing slowly with bright red blood gushing from her mouth and nose.. she passed away within 5 minutes.. it’s a mystery.

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Ashley,
            That sounds like there must have been some congenital problem with her heart and the blood vessels in her lungs. I doubt that anything could have been done to prevent this or save her.

            I am sorry for your loss.

        • Kathy Gooch says:

          My 17 year furbaby just fell over dead , lifeless with in 5 to 10 seconds after coming outside with me and my other boy. I ran over grabbed him up and started CPR I am happy to say he is alive and well only thing is he is more clingy than before but I don’t mind one bit

        • Deepa A Reddy says:

          Hello doc,I left my dog to play and he didnot come back home ,I found him dead after 1 and half day ,when I found him on the roadside I thought he is sleeping,but when I went near he was dead with his mouth closed tightly ,and no insects were on him ,so can I know how many hours before he died ,I tried asking people in that area they said he was hit by a bike from behind to the private parts ,and after even that he crawled from road to the road side and then they didnot see wht happened to him ,whenni found his body the blood was dried under the tighs and still I am not knowing wht is the reason for his death ,he died because of injury to back means private part or ,he got heart attack after crawling some way ?

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Deepa,
            I had some bugs in my comments, so just now seeing this. Often with a blow from a vehicle, something inside is damaged, and there is internal bleeding. The patient goes into shock, because there isn’t enough blood inside the vessels for his circulation to work. Often you don’t see anything at all on the outside of the body. I am sorry for your loss.

        • Brooke says:

          My dog is scheduled to have a teeth cleaning this Friday. They do these from 12:00-3:00 pm on this day. He is 8 years old and a 3 lb long haired chihuahua. He was recently diagnosed with Degenerative Valvular Disease- moderate; MMVD B2 (moderate left atrial enlargement due to moderate mitral regurgitation). This was diagnosed by a Veterinary Cardiologist through an echocardiogram. The vet recommended these every 6 months along with vetmedin twice a day. The echocardiogram was suggested by my vet before putting him under anesthesia for his teeth cleaning. He stated that the cardiologist said there is a mild, at most, moderately increased risk for anesthesia; avoidance of dexdomitor, ketamine, and very aggressive usage of IV fluids is recommended. Elective anesthesia may still be performed. My dog needs multiple extractions and the tartar and plaque are very bad or I would consider skipping the teeth cleaning all together. At this point I’m worried his teeth are a detriment to his health. He has had his teeth cleaned once before when he was 4. Although he seemed in rough shape when I picked him up, he made it through without any problems known to me. This was with a different vet. My concerns now are his age since he is 8, his size since he is 3lbs, his heart condition, and the fact his procedure won’t begin until around 12:00-3:00pm that day. He is a small dog and I’m nervous about hypoglycemia since I was told to withhold food after 10:00pm. I wanted to get your opinion on this situation. I am so nervous for this teeth cleaning and I’m about 8 months pregnant and am super attached to my sweet dog, especially right now. We’ve talked to a specialist, we’ve had his preprocedure bloodwork completed and cleared, and the doctor says they will monitor his heart on the EKG and will stop the procedure at any signs of distress. He also stated that he planned on only having my dog scheduled for any procedures this day so he can focus on him.

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Brooke,
            It sounds like everything possible is being done to ensure a successful outcome. I know you are worried, but if there are heart valve problems, you don’t want that crud from the mouth getting in the bloodstream and potentially making it worse. The periodontal disease increases the risk of problems with his heart and with his kidneys, so it is in his best interest to get it cared for. Best wishes.

        • Malinda says:

          My Dog Ki Baloo Bear passed on Sunday morning May 15 2022. Completely sudden no warning, he was 3 and a half would be 4 in october of this year. Ki was a boxer shepard mix, we think a rescue we went to dog park saturday, sunday morning we went for a walk he pottied with no issues came in ate his breakfast about 10 min later he went up stairs let out an elongated howl we have two other dogs in the house and he hit the bathroom floor. We did CPR on him I did everything I could we rushed him to the ER vet and by the time we got there he was lifeless I am so sick about it I am so broken he was my baby boy. The vet said he most likely passed in the car ride or even before we left and there was nothing they could do they said they suspect he had a blood clot that went to the heart. I just dont get it, he was fine no signs of any issues help me understand this

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Malinda,
            I wish that I could give you some closure here. We can see dogs that have had a heart muscle problem their whole lives and then just die suddenly with no warning at all. The only way to make the diagnosis is by microscopic examination of the heart muscle. Some dogs have an aneurysm that bursts.

            Sometimes even with a complete post-mortem examination we still cannot give an answer.

            I am sorry for your loss.

      • Ahalya says:

        My greyhound died last week Monday, all of a sudden. He was just 2 months shy of turning 9, and was getting long walks and was on a senior dog diet plan. He was a bit lethargic since morning, but he went for a short morning walk, ate his breakfast, drank water and slept till about 5:00 pm. Since greyhounds sleep a lot during the day, that was not unusual at all for him. In the evening, my husband and I took him to a nearby trail to walk, and that was when we observed that he was not his usual self: Not running to sniff and pee as soon as he was out of the car. Instead, he was just standing there, waiting, looking down. We went for a walk for about a mile, and he suddenly stopped, and would not move forward. My husband decided to go get the car from the parking to the place he stopped, and he sat back in the car. I was worried that he was over-heated, and tried to give him some water in the car. He would not drink. Then I noticed that he was not panting, but his heart was racing. At this point, we thought getting him home on his bed would be good for him, so we brought him back home. He was able to walk to his bed and lie down. I tried giving him water and his evening meal, but he would not drink or eat. He was lying that way for about 45 minutes, then he started walking around restlessly. He was getting dizzy at this point, and nearly fell over, but I caught him in time. By now, both my husband and I knew something was wrong. He then started howling frantically for help. I had never heard such a sound from him before – he barely even barked usually. We decided to take him to the emergency vet, and carried him to the car. The vet was 20 minutes away, and we were hoping and praying that we got there in time. However, mid-way, he stopped howling and gave a deep sigh. When we got to the vet, they said there was no heartbeat or pulse. They tried 10 minutes of CPR, and adrenaline shot, but nothing could revive him. It was really devastating and at that time, we didn’t request a post-mortem. I am still trying to find out what had happened, and have been researching online since then – but I am left with more questions than answers.

        • Doc says:

          Hello, Ahalya,
          I understand that you have more questions than answers. That is usually the case in such situations. I’m sorry that I don’t have some answers for you.

      • Mrs mo dorey says:

        Is there anywhere in dorset surrounding areas that deal with jack russell who has been diagnosed with a hole in the heart cm long heart murmur and enlarged heart she is 7mths old

    • Dewayne says:

      I just lost my 1 year old Paws,,, he tested + parvo and vet said he is more likely to make a full recovery if I help him thru this , well 15 hrs later he responded for the 1 st time to be aided with nutrients thou allday I had to make him take , I thought well I guess he’s gonna be ok if we can get thru till sunlight. Well I had my hand on him and 38 min later he took his last breath and died. Heart was still working, well nutrients, no vomiting and only one diarrhea time and was in a controlled environment with full time aid. So I am heartbroken and confused to mabe he had a blockage. Your the first I’ve stated and spoke with on this and I am in PTSD condition, I miss my friend so much

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Dewayne,

        We know that the parvovirus can attack the heart muscle, thought this is more common in very young puppies. Most dogs have the more obvious signs of vomiting and diarrhea. The virus also routinely attacks the bone marrow, causing the white blood cell count to drop to extremely low levels, which makes the dog more susceptible to other infections.

        When they have a lot of intestinal damage, the breakdown products of the dying cells can get into the blood stream. This can cause the dog to go into shock, where there is collapse of the circulatory system, with such poor circulation that the organs shut down.

        I am sorry for your loss.

    • Lynn James says:

      My 8 year old Japanese chin passed away yesterday morning in my arms he woke up as normal ran downstairs to go outside he had wet himself and seemed disoriented we thought he may have heatstroke he laid down and refused to drink his jaws were clenched shut he had laboured breathing my husband took his temperature and it was 36.9 his eyes were closed and he was unresponsive we rushed him to the vet we were almost there my dogs body suddenly jolted he became floppy I ran into the vet and gave him to her he seemed to let out a last breath the vet came out and said he’s gone I’m devastated he was absolutely fine last couple of days the only thing that happened the night before was that he wouldn’t eat his dinner what could have happened

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Lynn,
        I wish that I could give you some closure on this. That temperature is slightly below average normal, so not a heat-stroke. Even when we do a complete post-mortem in these cases we are often frustrated. I am sorry for your loss.

    • Maj Ravi Kant Saini ( Retd) says:

      My 6 yr old female Husky had so far12 times Myocardial Infractions beginning at the age of 2 yrs. Each time she survived having been attended to and given CPR by me.

      2 years back , it conceived and delivered two Pups. One female and one male.
      Now at 1 year and 10 months both pups suffered same problem simultaniously in a gap of 45 days.
      Vets says, nothing can be done. All three are healthy and take their meals regularly.

  2. Doc says:

    I can appreciate your frustration and pain. Please don’t feel that your veterinarian was trying to be malicious or dismissive.

    Sudden death in a pet is devastating to the family. Many times people are too upset to permit a post-mortem exam. Many times the post-mortem examination is inconclusive. More than once we have done as complete an exam as we were able, including sending tissues to the pathologist, and still not been able to determine the cause of death.

    Sometimes in such a situation (where either through inconclusive results, or being unable to perform a post-mortem) we try to offer some type of closure. I think that sometimes the doctor is just trying to help the client not feel guilty. If it were a heart attack or stroke, then it obviously wouldn’t be due to any neglect on your part.

    Sometimes it is just impossible to figure out what happened, and you do your best to help people get through it. Despite this, our best can surely be less than is needed to get through this time of grief. I know you will miss your friend.

    • Sharon Kelly says:

      I read these stories and my heart breaks for everyone of you. I am so so sorry.
      Well Doctor, I kinda like have a similar story as they all do. But I didn’t feel my dog had a heart attack. But I’m kinda like still mourning since she just died April 14th at around 730-745pm 2021…. So this is like really hard trying to text and be talking about her but I am soooooo scared about something… Please put my fears at rest….I have the guilty feeling.. they say that’s natural. Cuz you start thinking “did I do some thing wrong.? Was it the brand of dog food I chose for her or the treats she ate?”
      Ok it started about 4 days ago when my son took are 2 dogs out to potty and he always carried my dog angel and when he put her down the grass she like went limp and then peed right there so he picked her up and brought her back in and she was okay then I guess she did it again they later and then on the 14th she had really long hair so I noticed when she went to the bathroom that and plus when she was laying down the grass she got poop around her bottom and so I was cutting the hair around it and just put her in the sink and was giving her a bath and she was okay you know looking up at me babe she wouldn’t sit up so when I put her down on the floor for her to shake she didn’t wouldn’t shake so I picked her up and put her in the towel and held her for a little while and I could tell that she cuz she was like into some kind of dead stare but still breathing she wasn’t shaking nothing like that she just like those limp and goes into a dead stare in her mouth open a little bit and she drools a little bit but then I put it on the stool right in front of me where I was sitting on the blanket and on her bed and she was all covered up and I was petting her and she was just staring at me so I started rubbing the side of her head ..she always like when I rubbed her ear. Well at the same time I was doing that I was playing a game on my phone well then I noticed her head went down on my hand you’re like she was putting her head into my hand and I looked over at her ass is all this is mama loves you too baby girl and she started licking my hand and my arm and I went and kissed her and she lay there for a few minutes and just stared at me and so I pet her again and then she just laid down and put her head away from me and she stared at me for like 10 minutes and then she put her head away from me and a kept looking over at her and making sure I pet her butt and stuff then I noticed that cuz she breathes heavy when she’s sleeping and I know she wasn’t her stomach wasn’t going up down in my picture up her eyes were a little bit open and her tongue was hanging all the way out to the side and she was real limp my son tried reviving her but there was nothing.
      But tonight a huge fear hit me when I was reading about things that made her go limp and be unresponsive for those couple times. And I read about seizures and syncope , part sounds like what was wrong with her but she wasn’t doing the shaking and the conversion and she wasn’t you’re like real stuff like your legs weren’t completely out she was just like to limp I mean you couldn’t get her to stand up for nothing she just like fall down and for some reason and then I started reading about brain tumors and stuff like that she did have like this really bad kennel cough from the people because I rescued her and then the brain tumor thing came up so some part of me is thinking we could she have been in a coma or with her eyes open and tongue hanging out mean she was dead. I had my son take her to the humane society to pronounce her dead and they gave her a shot . Cuz she said it helps the rest of the body relax and die cuz I guess sometimes they have parts that still might move or something. I understood that.
      So l guess I want a professional tell me that when a dog dies their eyes are a little open and dead stare and mouth part way open and tongue hanging out and body limp means she died and wasn’t in a coma..
      I’m sorry I know how this sounds. I just never been around a dog that dies right beside me.
      I know that before I rescued her she had it pretty bad and I showed her so much love. I know she was happy .. she showed me every day for over 2 years that she was. .
      ….thank you for taking the time to read my crazy mail here. I am a worry wart about everything. Just like her life before me..she didn’t get the attention and felt love so I didn’t either growing up and was always made to feel worthless. So that’s where this over fear feeling thing is coming from . I just need someone to tell me that the way I described her at that moment meant she was dead …
      Thanx again. Will be looking forward to your reply…

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Sharon,

        I don’t know that I can answer all of your questions. When dogs die, their eyes do remain open. Comatose dogs usually have their eyes shut. Sometimes we have what is apparently brain-death, but there are still occasional spasmodic breathing motions and an occasional heartbeat. This will stop eventually, but that may have been why they gave her the injection.

        I am sorry for your loss.

        • Kristen says:

          Need help understanding my dogs death

          My 4 year old dog died Sunday. She got shots on tuesday, was active and playful as usual on wednesday (we live on a farm, she ran for miles), had diarrhea on thursday. I took her to the vet and they said she had heart and liver failure. She didnt eat, and her death was very sudden. Within 20 seconds she vomited, whined, vomited again, died, peed, then bled out of her nose. How did we not know she was sick? Is it usual to die so sudden with no warning? Was there something we should’ve done to prevent this? Why the blood in the nose?

          Species: unknown long haired weimaraner mix

          age: 4

          spayed

          50 pounds

        • Heather says:

          Doc. I lost my little girl 4 days ago, she was only 6 and I’m tearing up inside. I left the house at 4.30pm with two very healthy pups. My Romeo and Juliet.
          I came home after a bus run (work) at 7.30pm and found her unresponsive She had popped and peeped Her jaw was locked shut with her tongue out one side. . Eyes half open. Still warm.
          She’d had passed all alone. I wasn’t there.
          She must have been so scared.
          The emergency vet on the phone said it was likely a snake or spider bite. Autopsy not an option. I couldn’t find any marks on her but she very fluffy
          I’ll probably never know what happened but petrified for my Romeo now.
          Do you want have any ideas what might have happened to my Juliet.
          She is a Maltese shitzu

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Heather,
            I had some bugs in my comments, so just now seeing this. I wish that I could give you some reassurance and closure, but I don’t have any good ideas for you. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t sound like something that would be “catching” to the other dog. I am sorry for your loss.

  3. jen says:

    hi,

    one of my dogs, a beautiful 7-year old rotty/pit mix, died suddenly last night. he collapsed in my mum’s kitchen; all four legs splayed out, and couldn’t get up. his breathing got laboured, his back started arching, and he lost bladder control. my mum thought it was a stroke, so she called a pet ambulance. a few minutes later, he stopped breathing all together.

    we’re devastated, and don’t understand how a happy and healthy big dog of only 7 could die so suddenly; do you have any idea what it was? i terribly miss my canine brother.

    thank you for your help.

    ~jen

    • Sandra Moll says:

      My german shepherd mix started having pancreatic problems and we put her on a diet she lost 20 pounds but then didnt want to walk anymore and that night laid down and couldnt get back up and that night passed away and blood came out of her mouth she was just 9 years old I miss my baby dog dearly

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Sandra,
        I can’t relate what you are telling me about your friend’s death to the pancreatitis. Blood from the mouth may have come from the lungs, a blood vessel having broken there. It is so hard to tell what happened in these cases without a post-mortem.

        I am sorry for your loss.

      • Brytni says:

        My three year old pitbull woke up at 8am and couldn’t use her back legs. One hour later she was throwing up and bleeding from vagina. Twenty minutes later she died. Any ideas. It’s been killing me for five days.

        • Doc says:

          Hello Brytni,

          The inability to use the hind legs makes me think of a fibro-cartilaginous embolus (FCE). This is a stroke-like event where a piece of disc material gets in the bloodstream and stops up the circulation to a portion of the spinal cord. With your dog also having vaginal bleeding, it makes me wonder if she had a spontaneous bleed that caused this type of problem, just as some brain strokes are caused by a bleeding vessel. The most common source of bleeding disorder in dogs is contact with rodent poisons that make them a free bleeder. There are also auto-immune disorders that destroy platelets, resulting in free bleeding.

          I wish I could give you a definitive answer and some closure. I am sorry for your loss.

    • Dave says:

      Why would my 7 yo Male Pom healthy normal weight, vet checked, shots, go from playing with a rag toy and 1 minute later come moping tail down, Laying around and be found dead the next morning. By the way it’s only an indoor dog.

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Dave,
        I wish I could give you some closure, but without a post-mortem examination it really isn’t possible for me to tell you what happened.

    • Sharon Kelly says:

      Jen,
      I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. This is the first ANYTHING has died in front of me. And I know for sure I never want to witness it again. Like you said.. I too was devastated. I almost collapsed.
      But hun I really am sorry.
      My prayers to you and your family!
      God Bless

  4. Doc says:

    This type of sudden death is frightening and frustrating. I wish that I could help you with some type of closure, but I don’t have any good answers for you.

    While dogs do not have the cholesterol problems and clogged arteries the way people do, there are dogs with high blood pressure (a possible cause of stroke). Dogs can have aneurysms, just like people. (An aneurysm is where an artery develops a weak spot, like a bubble on a tire. One day, it breaks and there is internal bleeding. This can happen in the brain, the lungs, anywhere.)

    I can think of several possible reasons for sudden death, but sometimes it is not possible to determine the cause, even with a thorough post-mortem examination.

    I am sorry for your loss.

    • Shelby M says:

      My 13 year old American Staffordshire Terrier died suddenly Sunday. He was completely fine in the morning and then we gave him a shower and when he got out he seemed okay he went out poop and then when he came back in he stumbled a little so we thought he may have gotten some water in the ears despite us putting cotton in there and the cotton came out seemingly dry.
      He laid down and was shivering so we thought he was just cold from his shower so we just covered him. And thought he would warm up and rest. We went about our business and when we came back a little bit later he was standing against the couch and he had peed the floor. He laid back down and and seemed to be resting. While we were observing him and discussing taking him to the emergency vet he stiffened up and seemed to have a seizure then he was gasping. 20 minutes later he died in the parking lot of the vet. I don’t know what happened.
      A few weeks ago he had been to the vet for his shots and they said he had ear infections and gave us drops and then he went completely deaf. We waited a bit to see if it would clear up but it didn’t and we had an upcoming appt to get his ears checked out again.
      He also had a lick spot under the base of his tail that the vet said was just a extra cell growth but she just gave us a wash to keep it clean because there was always broken skin there because he wouldn’t stop licking it.
      I thought maybe he had a stroke. But now reading your post I’m not sure. I feel like I failed him. 13 years together and maybe if I had just taken him straight away to the ER he’d still be here.

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Shelby,
        Don’t beat yourself up about this. The deafness occurs rarely when medication somehow penetrates the eardrum. Some ear medications are more likely to do this than others, and it is more likely to happen if the eardrum is already perforated (as it often is with long-term ear infections). Unfortunately, there are rare occasions when the eardrum appears intact, and deafness occurs anyway. I’ve been in practice for 42 years and it has happened to me (my patient, I mean) twice.

        Dogs can have strokes and they can have heart attacks, but we don’t usually have access to the sophisticated imaging that it takes to document strokes, and most pet parents don’t want the dog’s heart removed and sent to the pathologist. With the history you have described, it could have been anything from a stroke to a brain tumor.

        In sincerely doubt that getting him to the ER a little faster would have preserved his life. I know you feel bad about this, but I don’t think that you should blame yourself.

  5. Michelle says:

    Yesterday my 6 year old lab died suddenly after being at the vet’s office for ‘allergy’ tests. A week and a half ago, he started having mini ‘asthma attacks’ or short shallow breathing spells lasting about 10 seconds or less. They increased over a period of 3-4 days. After the spell, his eyes would roll back and become beet red. He was then lethargic and kept his eyes closed. We took him in for more tests and he was doing fine. Yesterday afternoon, he had what the vet described as a mild seizure, then just stopped breathing. As you can imagine, we are devastated. We NEVER expected anything like this. We’ve requested an autopsy because we had been giving him allergy medication (prescribed by another vet) for about 8 months and it didn’t seem to help his skin ‘allergy’. There were several blood tests sent to various labs and the vet has requested we get the results before doing the autopsy. He thinks our lab may have had a fungal infection but he hates water and has never been exposed to stagnit water or runoff of any type. Has anyone ever heard of this before?

  6. Doc says:

    Dear Michelle,

    I know that this is a frustrating and devastating situation.

    I think that your doctor has a good idea in wanting to get the blood test results, but the post-mortem (autopsy exam) may be necessary also. Histopathology means having a specialist (pathologist)look at the tissues under the microscope, and that may be necessary as well.

    Unfortunately, sometimes the test results do not give us a definite diagnosis, even when we do everything we know how to do.

    From your comments about stagnant water and fungal disease, I think that your veterinarian may have been referring to Blastomycosis. This fungus is found in swampy soils. 70% of infections are found in animals who live within 100 yards of some body of water. That means that 30% of infections are NOT associated with water accumulation. I have seen it animals who lived on well-drained sandy areas, but our whole geographic area is considered at risk for this fungus. Since I am in southeast Missouri about 100 miles from Memphis, I fear you and I are in the same boat there.

    Blastomycosis organisms can usually be found in the infected tissues when the pathologist looks for them under the microscope with special stains. The blood test can give false negatives (the animal did have the germ, but the test didn’t show it), but if it turned up positive for the germ, that would be reliable.
    Here is a link to a discussion on Veterinary Partner
    http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2256&EVetID=3001962

    I hope that you are able to find out what happened to your dog.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

    • Debra M. says:

      My dog passed away at 16, 2 weeks ago. Miniature Pinscher I am devatasted. She was diagnosed with tracheal collapse 3 years ago by 5 different vets. She had coughing spells. This year the vet said she didn’t have trachael collapse. Now they are saying she had pulmonary hypertension, maybe pneumonia. She’s had a crackling sound in her lungs for over a year. They gave her antibiotics. She took a spill and fractured her right front paw and got a splint the next day because the vet couldn’t see her that night and the ER hospital said they don’t do those types of accidents now because of Covid they only do serious emergencies. Two days later she was fine and ate and hobbled around on her splint, but later that night she had trouble breathing. Her cough got worse. I took her to the ER that night (Monday) and I lost her that Friday. The fall didn’t seem to bother her, but I’m wondering if it aggravated her pulmonary conditions. My heart is broken.

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Debra, I’m sorry to be so late replying, but we had a revamp of our website and the comments were hidden until today. I would have to say that a dog of her age with breathing problems would always be at risk with any other illness or injury. Any kind of stress can put them over the edge.

        In regard to her underlying problems, I can’t really speak to that. Pulmonary hypertension is a little difficult to diagnose definitively without some sophisticated testing. The treatment most often recommended in dogs is sildenafil (the same drug that is in Viagra – it opens up the blood vessels that are too tight, lowering the blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries). Tracheal collapse is a dynamic process. You can take several X-rays without seeing it, then see it on the next one. Sometimes you see it on the first picture. The trachea collapses in when they inhale, then expands out when they exhale. It is a common condition in older toy breed dogs. It gets worse with time, but sometimes can be helped with anti-inflammatory drugs, cough suppressants, broncho-dilators.

        I am sorry for your loss.

  7. Angela Brooks says:

    Hi,

    My 2-year-old black lab suddenly started to freak out one night about a week ago. She just started barking and growling wildly like she had gone crazy or something. She was just simply eating her dinner as always when this happened. We, my husband and I, took her outside as quickly as we could because she started acting like she was going to throw up. We had no idea what was going on with our beloved dog. Then she stopped breathing and collapsed. Fortunately, my husband, tried to give her CPR, having to punch our dog in the stomach/chest area. She threw up and looked around, swaying and very dizzy. After a couple minutes she was back up on her feet and my husband took her back inside the house. We gave her a drink and that was the end of it. The entire thing happened so quickly–my kids were terrified, as was my husband and I because we have no idea why a dog that our vet described as “the poster dog for perfect health” would suddenly freak out and collapse like that. If you can, I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell what happened to our poor Patches.

    Thank you,
    Angela

  8. Doc says:

    I am uncertain from your writing as to whether the dog has made a complete recovery or whether she died. It sounds like she got okay. If so, I would suspect some type of seizure disorder. If you have not contacted your regular doctor to discuss the case, you should.

    Typically, with a dog’s first seizure (if that is what it is), recovery is very rapid. We want to run a blood chemistry exam to be sure that the seizure is not due to some liver, kidney or blood-sugar problem. Your dog’s doctor would discuss keeping a seizure log, recording the circumstances preceding, the appearance and duration of the episode, and how long the dog takes to recover.

    Some dogs have one seizure and never have another. With many, the seizures continue, but it many be six months or a year before the next one. If they are becoming more frequent or more severe, your regular veterinarian can guide you about when it would be appropriate to begin seizure control medications.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  9. HollyP says:

    hello,
    My 7 year old golden retriever died last night. She had a heart murmer. If it wasnt a heart attack what was it. We found her laying down in an unusual spot, and her face had a grimace look on her face. We thought that a jolt went through her and she died. Its very devastating because she was a very good dog.Please help me.

    Thank you,

    Holly

    • Eva says:

      My 3 yr old puggle (pug/beagle) Mr. Beacon, passed last night. He was fine and acting normal when I came home from work then just 5 hours later he walked as though he was drunk then he threw up and evacuated his bowels and within an hour he was gone.
      With every drs visits I was told he was as healthy as he could be. Never any problems with him. Got him fixed about 4 mths ago. About a month ago he stopped wanting to jump up on everyone and I thought it was due to all the weight gain from being fixed.
      Any explanation or insight on this would be greatly appreciated. He was one of my babies. My kids even called him brother.

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Eva, I am sorry to be so late in replying, but our website was revamped, and the blog comments went into limbo. These sudden death cases are so frustrating. Sometimes we cannot find the cause even when we do a complete post-mortem examination (autopsy). Dogs can have strokes, but it is certainly rare in such a young dog. Same thing with tumors or aneurysms. It does sound like this started with something in the brain. It certainly does not sound like this was due to anything that you did or didn’t do. I am sorry for your loss.

  10. Doc says:

    I am sorry for your loss. The sudden death of your pet is a devastating thing.

    It is not impossible that your dog had a heart attack, but the type of attack people suffer is very rare in dogs. There are other types of heart failure that are just as fatal.

    A post-mortem examination (“autopsy”) would be the first step in trying to determine cause of death. If there is nothing visible to the naked eye as the cause of death, the doctor can submit tissue samples for microscopic examination by a pathologist.

    Unfortunately, sometimes we are still unable to determine the underlying cause of the problem, even running all the tests we know.

    Knowing the cause of death doesn’t bring back the pet, but it at least gives us some sense of closure. It certainly is more difficult to have to wonder what the cause was, and if there were something we could have done to prevent it.

  11. Cheryl says:

    I was playing catch ball with my 8 year old jack russell. He exercise everyday, ate well, just very healthy.

    When I threw the ball, he just fell to the ground. It looked like a seizure, he stopped breathing. I thought he might have choked, I was able to put my fingers down his throat.

    His throat was so relaxed and his body was limp. Now I wish I had tried better CPR. He just had blood work in October, and everything was okay.

    I wonder if I excerised him to much, right now I’m going thru the guilt trip, I’m racking my brain for any symptoms and I could have prevented it.

    I’m so upset and I wished I knew why he died at such a young age and so healthy.

    Thanks, Cheryl

  12. Doc says:

    Dear Cheryl,

    I am sorry for your loss. These sudden death cases are so frustrating. Sometimes a post-morten will reveal the cause of death, but sometimes everything just looks normal. Sending tissues to a pathologist for microscopic examination can also tell the tale, but doesn’t always.

    As in people, dogs can have aneurysms (defective blood vessels) that rupture with no previous signs. While rare heart attacks and fatal strokes may occur as well. One would think that some congenital birth defect in the heart would have shown up long before this.

    I wish I could offer you some explanation that would give you closure, but I cannot.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  13. denise says:

    on weds night my dog ( 5.5yr old black lab/german shepard) was running around the yard like he usually does, then suddenly started yelping, we thought that maybe he got some ice stuck in his paw. he calmed down, we brought him inside. he looked really sad. he wouldn’t put his ears up. he barely wagged his tail. so I brought him into the living room with me, he laid down where he normal does. He got up to walk about and then started to stumble. he came back to me and collapsed. He started to drool/foam at the mouth, his tongue fell out of his mouth, he couldn’t get up. He died before he got him to the vet. The vet said it was either a twisted bowl, which he said it wasn’t or a heart attack. I fell like i did something wrong. I didn’t get autopsy done. Was there something that I could of done to prevent this.

  14. Doc says:

    Denise,

    I am sorry for your loss. Without a post-mortem exam (autopsy), and perhaps even WITH one, we cannot know what caused your pet’s death. We just don’t have enough information. Your description does not sound like any of the commonly available poisonous substances.

    In these cases of sudden death, it is unlikely that the cause is related to any neglect. Also, when the pet goes from apparently feeling fine to dying within a matter of minutes, it is unlikely that he could have been saved, even if you had rushed him to a well-equipped emergency facility.

    I doubt that this is much comfort, but I do not feel you should blame yourself.

  15. L.James says:

    I’m so hurt I don’t know what to do. My dog was 9 years old and she was an inside dog. Everytime I came home, as soon as I open the door, the first thing you saw was her little black nose trying to help open the door. She would talk back to you in howl forms. It was amazing. I taught her many tricks as a puppy and she still can remember the tricks I taught her. Example, high five and waive with her paw. Bark on command. Waive both paws at times and was very trained with sitting, staying and all the other basic commands.

    She was about 55lbs and she was my first dog. She had her own little bed next to my bed where I sleep next to the window. She would lay her mouth on the window ledge and stair out the window. As soon as I moved….she followed me everywhere. She loved car rides and she understood…”wanna go for a ride Roxy”…she would get excited and bark as though she was saying “hell yea I want to go for a ride!”

    My daughter doesn’t know yet. My daughter is 12 and we’ve had Roxy since she was 3 years old. She is crazy about her. She is out of town playing in a club volleyball tournament. She is going to be so torn when she comes home to find that her best friend is no longer her.

    My dogs personality was second to none. I talked to her as though she was human every since she was 6 weeks old. By doing that, she understood many things in the English language. I can’t get my dog out of my mine and it hurts. When my wife and I had arguments, I would take roxy and make a bed on the floor in the other room and she would sleep right next to me. She would slob on my pillow sometimes.lol However, she would stay next to me under my box fan all night. Sometimes I would sleep with my arm around her and we would just cuddle all night. Sometimes I felt Roxy liked my wife and I to have arguments because she knew it was me and her under the box fan. When my wife was out of town for a few days. She would sleep in the bed with me.

    Anyway…I came home yesterday after work..she stuck her nose in the door as usual as I begin to walk inside. She showed me her usual love and all of a sudden….she fell to the floor with all four legs stretch out and started to shake a little but very fast. I would say something simliar to a vibration. It was over in about a minute. I tried to bring her back but she was gone. She lost her bladder control and her pupils were completely dialulated. At the point I knew she was gone. Her body became so limp. When I picked her up she hung over my arms like a wet towel. I begin to hug her and cry. I couldn’t believe it.
    It was extremely difficult for me to bury her but it took me a while. Before I put her a way….I hug her some more kiss her on the lips and placed her cold tongue back in her mouth and tried to close her eyes. This is so hard and I’m so upset. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I can ever love a dog like I loved her. That is what I’m afraid of if I get another dog, I will measure the new dog vs my roxy. I know it would be wrong to do that but that is how I feel right now. I want my dog to do all the things roxy can do. I want her to sleep next to me and be my best friend when I need him/her the most. Anyway, thats my story and I’m so sad. This is much harder than expected. I hope by writing this to my fellow dog lovers, this will start my healing process. One thing, tomorrow when I pick up my daughter from the airport, it will be like she died all over again.

    • Miss Bee says:

      Hello, I was Wondering, How You’re Doing Now, Since It’s Been Such A Long Time Ago? How Soon Did You Find Another Friend, Like Roxy? Did It Take Very Long, To Quit Crying? Your Story Seemed Similar to Mine, So I was Curious & I Wanted to Talk to Someone.. Two Weeks Ago, I Lost my Daisy Girl, my 12 Year Old, Toy Poodle, ???? My Girl Daisy ???? She was Just That Special as Well, Like Your Roxy!! Idk, What to Do , I Try but I just I Can’t Seem to Let Her Go. I Lost Her Quickly too. & If I Had just Went to the ER Hospital that Night Maybe She’d Still be w/me. She was My Best Friend.. She was So Smart, Slept w/Me, Every Single Night, Followed Me Around & No Way Around It, We Were Best Friends!! I’d Tell Her Stories, While She Laid in my Arms & She Would Just Listen bc She Knew, Exactly, What I was Talking About!! I’m Handicapped & I’ve Been & Still Am, Going Through An Awful Lot & Now This. ???? I Need My Girl to Talk to & She was Always There for Me, Aways, More Than My Own Family Has Been. That’s Pretty Sad Isn’t It but Very True… I Loved It, When I Came Home from the Dr.’s or Store & She Missed & Loved Me, So Much, She’d Scream. HaHa!!! Cutie-Pie, All The Way!! The List is Endless, about How Special She was & The Greatest BFF in The Whole World!!! ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? I Just Wondered, What You May Have Done or What Might Have Helped You, Get Through Your Loss? My Family Doesn’t Even Come Over to See Me, While I’m Going Through This Sad Time.. Thank-You for Your Time.. I Greatly Appreciate It!!

    • Penny says:

      So sorry for your loss. I’m reading these posts as my 9-year-old Chinese crested died in exactly the same way as you described the passing of your dog. She jumped up on me, dropped to the ground. Went into a seizure with legs stretched out. Let out a gif awful howl. Released her bladder then gone. Carried her limp body straight to the vet but she was gone. Heartbroken

  16. Doc says:

    I am sorry for your loss. Don’t let someone else tell you when it’s “right” for you to get another dog. It’s different for everybody, and you’ll know. When I lost my first dog, it was nearly a year before I found myself wanting another. The time did come, though.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  17. Bryan says:

    Last Thursday I came home after being at my parents for dinner and my dog Dixie met me at the door, excited as usual but seeming a little odd. I headed into another room, noticing that my other dog, Angus, hadn’t come out yet. He sleeps really heavy, heavier than usual lately, so I didn’t think to much of it. As I walked by the livingroom, I saw him sleeping in one of his regular spots, so I said “Hey, Angus”. As I took another step, I realized he didn’t lift his head and immediatly turned around. Thats when I saw his tongue hanging out, ran into the livingroom, and realized he was gone. He was still warm, I was only gone a hour and a half, and began mouth-to-mouth and heart palpitations, to no avail. I was devestated and living alone, did the first thing I thought of and called my parents, hysterical. They were so sad but obviously didn’t quite know what to say. He was in a spot where he always slept, in a position like he always slept with nothing disturbed, no drool or foam at the mouth, and just a small loss of urine. Is it possible he died in his sleep, without ever waking up? He always slept so heavy, even as a pup. I would have to put my ear by his mouth, you could barely see his chest rise and fall. He was only 9 years old, a smooth collie, and I knew being a larger dog he might pass at a lower age, but never imagined losing him at 9. He was very healthy, Dixie has been my “problem child”, catching colds and a bladder infection a couple of years ago. Angus was never sick. We both miss him so much 🙁

  18. Doc says:

    I’m sorry for your loss. This is one of those things where (from an intellectual standpoint) we’d love to have a post-mortem exam. From an emotional standpoint, it’s not going to bring them back, and a lot of folks don’t want to go through the process.
    Best wishes for the future.
    Everett Mobley, D.V.M.

  19. kym says:

    I am having a hard time dealing with a sudden death of my dog. She was a beautiful Australian Shephard/Husky mix with one blue eye and one brown. She was 12 years old. We woke up this morning, fed her, walked and played with her and at 1:00 we took her for a bath and teeth brushing. I got a call from the groomer at 3:00 saying that she was throwing up and lethargic. We went to pick her up immediate. She was not acting like herself and when we got home, she went to her favorite place on the couch between pillows and about 10 mins later, we saw her head drop. He took her to the vet but it was too late. She was gone. I am having such a hard time dealing with the sudden death. Has this happend to anyone? Was there something I should have done to prevent this? I can’t undersatnd why she is no longer here. Does anyone know what may have caused her to go?

  20. Doc says:

    Kym,

    I am sorry for your loss. From your post, I take it that no post-mortem (autopsy) examination was performed. I frequently find that folks who have lost their pet do not wish to confront the thought of the pet’s remains being dismembered. After all, it won’t bring them back. Unfortunately, when we are looking for closure, the information we want can no longer be obtained.

    It is exceptionally frustrating when, despite the dog being at an advanced age, she seemed just fine. The extremely rapid onset of weakness and death in your case reminds me of patients who have had internal bleeding due to the rupture of a tumor, as in a tumor of the spleen.

    As to what you might have done to prevent the death, it is unlikely that a more rapid trip to the veterinarian could have saved her during that short period of time.

    As part of her wellness exams, it is not common for us to perform whole-body X-rays, ultrasounds and CT-scans. Really, nobody does that. That MIGHT have detected a treatable problem ahead of time. I would relate it to a person who has an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. Sometimes they are found serendipitously when a person is being examined for another problem. If not, they rupture one fine day and you hemorrhage internally.

    Your dog has left a failing body and continues the adventure elsewhere.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  21. Shelly Magno says:

    I have a question about some symptoms. My 12 year old English bulldog died last month suddenly. She’d had a normal day, ate her dinner, and stretched out for a nap on her puff. Half way through her nap, she suddenly craned her neck back and stretched her legs out straight. Her bladder let go and she let out several gurgled wails. She died in 20 seconds.

    She was regularly on Soloxine for Hypothyroid and was diagnosed with an enlarged heart the month before but the vets here in Boston said it was typical for Bulldogs and no reason to be alarmed.

    I’m just wondering why she stretched the legs and neck out, and made that noise?

    Appreciate your help,
    Shelly

  22. Doc says:

    Hello, Shelly,

    The stretched out position you describe is not uncommon when an animal breathes its last. Possibly the low oxygen to the brain causes a seizure-like electrical discharge, but I really don’t know. I have seen this many times (too many) over the years when an animal has been hit by a car or had other severe trauma. It doesn’t really tell us anything about the cause of death. With the suddenness of your dog’s demise, I suspect that the moans were not associated with a conscious sensation of pain, but were simply a terminal event, like the stiffening out.

    Did the dog have a stroke, a seizure, a heart attack or what? Even if you had a complete post-morten examination we might not be able to tell.

    I regret that I have no helpful information for you as to cause of death, but I sincerely doubt that there was any suffering.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  23. Mark says:

    I just found out some pretty strange and upsetting news. Evidently my sister’s 2-year-old golden retriever died abruptly outside of her house while he was playing. Her vet said that it was a heart attack, but I’m beginning to find out that that is a pretty whack conclusion.

    She is too upset to do any kind of autopsy, so unfortunately it appears as though this will remain a mystery.

    One question remains for me though. Recently her dog had been taking some meds for, what I believe, she described as a “hot spot.” Is it feasible to believe that the meds could have brought a drop in blood pressure, thus resulting in the collapse.

    Also, it was night, his eyes are a little sub par, and she said he was overly excited because he saw the cat and “freaked.”

    Just wondering if one, or both of these things could have played some role in his untimely death. Thanks so much for your help.

    -Mark

  24. Doc says:

    Mark,
    Your distress at the dog’s unexpected and sudden death is certainly understandable. There are dogs who have a congenital heart defect that is just a time-bomb waiting to fail. With cardiomyopathy (a sort of catch-all term for heart muscle disease), sometimes the first sign of a problem is sudden death. If every patient routinely got chest X-rays, electrocardiogram, and cardiac ultrasounds as part of their annual physicals, you’d find some of these before they blow. Nobody is really going to do that. The situation is analagous to these high school football players who collapse on the field and die. Nobody expects a teenage athlete to have some kind of heart problem.

    As far as medication reaction being the problem, I have to be pretty skeptical there. With a “hot spot”, the dog would probably have been receiving antibiotics, or antihistamines, or some form of cortisone, or some combination of the above. Drug reactions tend to be more along the lines of skin eruptions or stomach problems, rather than sudden death after you’ve been taking them for a while.

    I am sorry for your loss.
    Thanks for reading and writing.

  25. WendyAnn says:

    Hi,

    I had a two year old dog neutered last week and two days after the surgery, he was dead. He died overnight in his sleep.

    I bred this dog and he had never been sick a day in his life… except… about a month before the neutering, he had what seemed to be a stomach virus or he ate something he shouldn’t have. He was lethargic and vomited a few times over a couple of days.

    A vet visit ruled him to be in normal health. He recovered and was back to his old self. Athletic, happy, active… a normal two year old Shiba Inu.

    An autopsy said his left ventricular tissue was 90% dead.

    This dog had been an active and healthy dog his entire life – there’s no way he was born with a heart defect – which was one of the suggestions for his death.

    I’m devastated over his death. I have four other dogs that I”m worried about — one of them a champion bitch two weeks away from having her first litter – in 15 years of breeding and raising Shiba Inu, I have never seen or heard of anything like this.

    Like I said, this loss has been devastating and I wish I could find some answers.

  26. Doc says:

    Hello, Wendy,

    I can appreciate you distress and frustration. If the tissues were preserved, one would ideally send the entire heart for examination by the pathologist (under the microscope). I could not tell from your note whether this was done, or the diagnosis was made from visual observation alone. Microscopic examination might yield more information as to why the tissue died, such as whether there was inflammation in the heart muscle, or blockage of blood vessels. I have only had one patient where we could actually document the blockage of a blood vessel to the heart, causing the same situation as a heart attack in a person.

    If there are closely related dogs who need to undergo anesthesia or surgery, I would consider a pre-op electrocardiogram and echocardiogram (cardiac ultrasound) for them.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  27. Bri sant says:

    My dog sadly passed away at the vets office yeasterday at 8 years old. She was going in for a check-up because she had a believed eye infection and skin problems. I was holding her head while the nurse looked at her eye and my dog suddenly collapsed and she let out a high pitched scream and urinated on herself. She was gone instantly and I could do nothing to help her. I don’t understand what happened to her, she was a healthy dog.

  28. Doc says:

    Hello Bri,

    I wish that I had an answer for you. Events like this are devastating for us all. While strokes and heart attacks are rare in dogs, they can certainly occur. I have had patients with cardiomyopathy (a defect in the heart muscle) go on seemingly okay for years, then just drop dead.

    A post-mortem might have revealed the cause of her death, but sometimes even the pathologist is not able to give us a certain answer.

    With an event of this nature, I think that you can feel certain that there was nothing you could have done to either cause or prevent your dog’s death. Please don’t add guilt to the grief you’re feeling.

  29. Leslie says:

    I just lost my dog suddenly 5 days ago. He was an 8 yr old pit bull and I’m just devastated. Im so confused at to what had happened. The night before his stomach was take large breaths. it was going in and out. Then the next morning he was not himself. He was very mellow and laying around in weird places. So, he slept most of the day and around dinner time he wanted his dinner and was even interested to see what his mommy was cooking. He seemed better to me. Then all of a sudden a couple hours later he was breathing funny again and hiding. I had found he made a bowel movement in the house (after he just made one outside) but it was not dirareha. It was solid. He was not even throwing up. In a matter of minutes the breathing was making him uncomfortable and he would lay down and get back up. All of a sudden his lips got really thin and he pushed them all the way back; very frigid. He got up and was hunched and fell over. I took him outside and thats when he just went down..and stopped breathing.I grabbed him and raced him to the vet hospital but it was too late. Im so confused…he did not have direhea or vomiting or anything of the sort. The vet said it could have been a heart attack or stroke or even a annerism….i just dont know what happened to my baby. He was a very healthy boy.

  30. Leslie says:

    To add one more thing: He was not gasping for air…his mouth was not opened. He seemed fine…his stomach was just going in and out.

  31. Eric Lemnitzer says:

    This morning my Australian Shephard(Sydney) was playfull, I was sitting in the chair outside, and Sydney got up and looked like she was choking or gasping for air, a few seconds later she looked herself. I went into the yard, Sydney came over while I was working and than went back where the other dogs were. About 5 muinutes later, I went back over to the dogs and Sydney was just laying there, her tongue and mouth were non responsive, her eyes were open and ears up. Her head could not stay up,she was not in control of her bowels, and her breathing was fast. I took here to the Vet and he listened to her heart and said it was racing fast and irregular. He said the heart muscle had torn and the heart was pumping fast to get oxygen into the blood. he said this happens in athletics who tear a heart muscle and just die. He said the dog was having a type of heart attack and the best to do do was to let her go peacefully. So I choose to put her under. Is this rare in dogs, and if so can this be detected?

  32. Doc says:

    Hello, Eric,

    What you have described would be rare (though not as rare in dogs as the artery blockage that humans experience as a “heart attack”).

    It would be difficult for your doctor to make as accurate and detailed a diagnosis as he would like to without performing a complete post-mortem examination. I am sure he has made as accurate an assessment as could be done under the circumstances.

    As far as detecting it early, it is unlikely that this could have been done without an echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, and possibly a dye study. These are not things that we routinely do as part of a young dog’s annual physical exam.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  33. kim k says:

    Hi, I just wanted to relate that I also lost my dog, Pinky, fairly suddenly within like 24 hours. She was 13 years old, but very healthy and alert. First I notices a little bit of coughing, but we all were kind of doing that in our house due to air conditioning. So I put a pan of water to humidify the air a little bit. Then She started to breath heavier and wouldn’t each much of her dinner. So I decided if she wasn’t much better in the morning we would go to the vet, because it was very late at night and I am disabled so I have to arrange transportations. Well next morning her breathing was more labored and walking was an effort. So I rushed her to the vet. He looked at her mouth, gums and tongue and said the color was off, and that he suspected heart attack or similar episode. He listened to her rib cage, and said her heartbeat was erratic, fluid was in her lungs and also he detected a leaky ventricle sound. I kissed her goodbye and left her in his care. He said he must act quickly but things didn’t look promising. I got a phone call next morning that despite his heroic efforts, my dear Pinky was gone. Now mind you this happened like overnight and in the span of few hours. Does this sound like ‘heart attack’ to you? I did not order an autopsy, not wishing to prolong the pain or disturb her final rest.

  34. kim k says:

    Hi writing again because I found a site with wonderful testimonials and alternative treatments. Too late for my babe Pinky but maybe it will help someone else. http://www.caninehearthealth.com it is for the 5 leaf pet pharmacy. Please check that out it looks very promising as a possible solution when other traditional proceedures have failed. Ty.

  35. Doc says:

    Kim,
    It certainly sounds as though your dog had serious heart disease, even though it may or may not have been the blood-vessel blockage that we associate with heart attacks in humans.

    Many herbs and botanicals do have medicinal properties. It is unlikely that a dog who developed such a sudden deterioration would have benefitted from any type of nutritional supplementation, as these things take time for a poorly functioning body part to rebuild.

    There are many veterinarians who are knowledgeable in herbal and alternative medicines. If I felt the need for an alternative treatment, I would seek their advice. Mail-ordering herbal nostrums is an iffy business. Many do not contain their advertised ingredients. Even when they do, the potency varies from one company’s preparation to the next. If the compounds ARE biologically active, then it is just as easy to create problems by wrongly dosing as it is with conventional medications.

    If you work with a veterinarian who is expert in using alternative treatments, they will have sources that they know from experience that they can trust. They also can advise you as to what combinations are beneficial versus risky.

    Anything that you can sell to treat heart disease as being risk-free, without seeing and examining the animal, makes me wonder whether it may not be benefit-free, as well.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  36. Carrie says:

    My 9 year old doberman/lab mix dog died yesterday, he had been diagnosed with heart disease only 2 weeks ago, he was prescribed a diuretic and also a heart medicine, he seemed to be doing ok. He woke us up at 2:55 am yesterday panting real hard then he slumped into a dresser in the bedroom he then stretched his head/neck straight up and he let out this blood curling howl and he slumped again, he let out another howl upon constriction of his breath and he was gone. I have read that normally dogs do not have heart attacks but that is what seemed to happened. It was so awful to hear such pain in his howl. I know that is not going to bring him back to us but after everything I have read I find it odd that it sure seemed like a heart attack to me.

  37. Doc says:

    Hello, Carrie,

    I am sorry for your loss. When the heart fails, for whatever reason, circulation to all organs will fail. When the brain gets low on oxygen, you can get stiffening, twitching, vocalization, and so forth.

    It is certainly possible that your dog had a coronary artery blockage (what happens in a heart attack in humans), though this is rare.

    It is also possible that the failing heart just could not continue, even with the help from the medication.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  38. MATTHEW BAUMGARDNER says:

    HI,
    LAST THURSDAY MY WIFE CALLED TO TELL ME SHE HEARD OUR DOG MAKING A NOISE. SsHE INVESTIGATED AND FOUND HIM UNDER ONE OF HIS FAVOURITE TREES. HE WAS CONCIOUS BUT UNABLE TO MOVE. I CAME HOME AND TOOK HIM TO OUR LOCAL VET. WE THOUGHT THAT THE DOG HAD BEEN HIT BY A CAR AS HE HAD A PENCHANT FOR ANYTHING MOVING. AFTER X-RAYS SHOWED NOTHING HE PRESCRIBED PREDNISONE AND TOOK SOME BLOOD. FRIDAY CAME AND HE WAS STILL STRECHED OUT AND UNABLE TO MOVE BUT SHOWED NO SIGNS OF DISCOMMFORT. THE VET HAD CHECKED FOR FEELING AND THE DOG SHOWED SOME SIGN BUT DID NOT WINCE.SO MY INITIAL THOUGHT WAS SPINAL INJURY. SO BACK TO FRIDAY. NO CHANGE TO THE DOG. CHECKED HIS EYES FOR DILATION AND ALL WAS GOOD. HE WAS ABLE TO URINATE BUT NO BOWEL MOVEMENT. SATURDAY MORNING EARLY I WENT TO TAKE HIM TO ANOTHER VET AND WHEN I SAW HIM I KNEW HE WAS DYING. HE WAS BLOWING BUBBLES FROM HIS MOUTH AND HIS BREATHING WAS LABOURED. HIS HEART STOPPED WHILE WE WERE THERE WITH HIM. HIS BODY WAS NOT STIFF PRIOR TO HIM PASSING AWAY.WHAT COULD IT HAVE BEEN?

  39. Doc says:

    Hello, Matt,

    I am sorry for your loss. Dogs can have strokes (though this is not nearly as common as it is in people). It is unlikely that your dog could have been accurately diagnosed without an MRI or similarly sophisticated imaging and diagnostic technologies.

    A post-mortem exam would have required a skilled pathologist. In a case like this, it is unlikely that a general practitioner such as myself would have been able to sort out anything that wasn’t pretty dramatic.

    The sad part of this is that even if you had been able to take your dog to a teaching institution, some of these things just can’t be fixed. A dear friend of mine has been languishing for months in a hospital with one side paralyzed by a stroke.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  40. Juliano says:

    Hi my dog, Sam, a Belgian Malinois, died suddenly this morning. she was only 8 months old. She was a very active dog and enjoyed to run a lot.
    She was playing when the tragedy happend. The Vet said that she might had a heart attack. Her tongue was blue. Any guess??

    Thanks a lot

  41. Doc says:

    Hello, Juliano,

    I am sorry for your loss. These sudden deaths are very frustrating.

    The arterial blockage that we think of as a heart attack in people is rare in dogs, but it does occur.

    It is certainly possible to have a congenital heart problem that shows up as the dog matures. With a “cardiomyopathy” (something wrong with the heart muscle), sometimes the first sign of a problem is sudden death.

    When I have had to deal with these sad events in my own practice, a complete post-mortem (“autopsy”) sometimes tells the tale. In the event that examination wtih the naked eye doesn’t tell us much, I have sent a sample of every major organ to the pathologist for examination under the microscope. In such cases, they ask for the entire heart to examine.

    Obviously, this isn’t going to bring back your dog, and it’s a significant expense. While we always hope for closure, I must say that even when we run every test available, sometimes we are at a loss for an explanation.

    The only good news is that whatever caused the problem is unlikely to be catching, so a new puppy would probably not be at any extraordinary risk.

    I know you will miss your buddy.

  42. tammy says:

    Last week my much loved and healthy dog of 7yrs died suddenly. He was a chow mix. One minute he was out running with the other dogs and they all came back in he looked almost sad like so i offerd he a yumyum and he seamed fine after that. Then the dogs wanted back outside and he acted like he was going to go out but decided to eat instead,I gave him a good scatching and went out myself. Two minutes later I hear a horrible howling and when i got to him he was laying on the floor with his legs straight out, his tongue was hanging out and he wasn’t breathing anymore. I can’t beleive he just died just like that in a matter of seconds I cant understand why a perfectly healthy dog would be fine one sec and dead the next can you please help me know what happend so maybe i can quit hurting and wondering if there was something i could have done. We did try CPR but it did no good.

    • Sad dad says:

      My little guy died yesterday and did the exact same thing…horrible howling then on his side with legs and tongue out. I pray that he wasn’t conscious or was feeling whatever it was that caused the howling. I protected him from suffering throughout his life and to think he suffered in his last moments breaks my heart.

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Sad dad,

        It’s hard to say, but many times a patient who has low oxygen to the brain will vocalize, despite being unconscious. I know you miss your buddy, and I wish that I could be more certain in providing closure. I am sorry for your loss.

  43. Doc says:

    Hello, Tammy,

    I am sorry to hear of your loss. These sudden death cases are devastating. I don’t know that we ever really “get ready” to lose a loved one, but it sure seems worse when it is so sudden and inexplicable.

    I wish that I had an explanation for you, but even with a complete post-mortem (“autopsy”) examination, sometimes we are not able to understand what happened.

    I think you can be certain that this was not a result of anything that you did or failed to do, and it is very unlikely to be something contagious that would affect another dog.

    Take care.

  44. Janelle says:

    We had a cane corso who just turned 1 year old and weighed about 90lbs. Our vet has always said that he is in perfect health and a beautiful dog. This morning, I let him out about 6:30 and went back to bed. Our kids got up about an hour later and came upstairs. Our son went back down to play and let Tyson out of his crate(we crated him at night to prevent chewing). He was out for a couple minutes following our son around, according to him, and then ran quickly upstairs. This is when my husband and I heard him. He was howling over and over. My husband got up to see what was going on and saw him seizing. He then got limp, his tongue fell out of his mouth, and he lost control of his bladder. He did what is called agonal breathing in humans for about a minute. My husband carried him downstairs and got his shoes on so we could rush him to the vet. By the time he got his shoes and coat on, Tyson was gone. Being in healthcare myself, I wanted to have an autopsy and find out why a 1 year old dog would suddnely die like this. My husbad had very opposite feelings, thinking that he did not want his dog ‘dissected’ and then thrown out so we did not have an autopsy done. Our vet said it was most likely a heart attack or some kind of a congenital heart defect. After reading what this says about a heart attack being a bogus answer, I was wondering if you have any idea what could have caused this.

  45. Doc says:

    Hello, Janelle,

    My language may have been a bit strong in labelling “heart attack” a bogus answer, but myocardial infarction (the stopped-up artery to the heart muscle that causes heart attacks in people) is pretty rare in dogs. They don’t have cholesterol problems and atherosclerotic build-up.

    To be fair, you haven’t given your veterinarian much to go on. Without a post-mortem and pathologist’s exam, there is really no way to know. While I probably wouldn’t have said “heart attack”, I probably WOULD have speculated that there was a congenital heart problem (as did your doctor).

    Dogs (and people, for that matter) can have a problem with their heart muscle, present since birth, and seemingly just fine. The first sign of illness is sudden death, which doesn’t give you much warning. ECG, echocardiogram (ultrasound exam) and chest X-rays might have let you know ahead of time, but who in the world does all that stuff on a young, apparently healthy dog? Nobody, that’s who.

    After the fact (with no post-mortem), the only advice I can give you would be to contact the breeder. Let them know what happened and ask if they have ever heard of similar problems in their breed. Ask as though you were sure they would want to know, rather than in a manner accusing them of selling bad dogs. This could be a one-time deal, or there may be other problems in the breed (if not in their bloodlines).

    I am sorry for your loss.

  46. Gina says:

    Hi. I had a black lab/rottweiler mix. This dog loved me more than my own mother. He was nothing but love. He is 9. He has been slowing down the last four months and looking a little more “oldish” with weaker muscle tone, but nothing unusual. When he was 3-4 he got heartworm and was treated vigorously for this. I had him retested a year later and they were gone but I didn’t have him tested after that. Last night at midnight, I let all my dogs outside to go potty and gave them a fresh bowl of water which he drank. At 3:15 in the morning, I woke up and found him in his final death breaths. He had that straight ahead stare and didn’t seem to respond to me. He wasn’t breathing much at all and quickly stopped breathing and then took 3 of the last gasps. I pet him the whole time and told him I loved him and he was a good boy. I had to leave for work at 5 AM and it took at least an hour to see any kind of rigormortis set in. In fact, by 5 AM when I left, he was barely getting stiff in the rear legs and the bottom side of his face, (the side he was laying on), was starting to look mashed. But for an hour, he had good movement and his eyes were open and his tongue even still had a fairly pink color. By closer to 5 AM his tongue started getting blue. My question is, why did it take him so long to rigor up? Was he still alive all this time? Was he suffering in unspeakable agony unable to bark or moan? Could CPR have helped him? Why did it take so long for him to rigor? I left for work and came back by 10:30 AM and he was stiff as a rock all over and his eyes looked dry and his tongue was dark blue. He also had an exceptionally bad odor about him that came in wafts or waves. Can you answer some of my questions and help me understand what may have been going on with him before death and at the time of death? He was a notoriously thirsty dog too. Thank you so much. Gina

  47. Doc says:

    Hello, Gina,

    I am sorry for your loss. While it is impossible to know the cause of your friend’s death, I can set your mind at rest on some points.

    First, that is not an unusual length of time for rigor mortis to develop. The time can vary considerably. I feel sure that he was indeed deceased, and NOT lying there in some sort of cataleptic state (paralyzed but conscious).

    The eyes stay open unless you glue them closed (which is what undertakers do – in the old days, they would put pennies on the eyelids to hold them down until rigor set in).

    As everything shuts down, the bacteria in the gut continue to multiply and this produces gas, accounting for the odors. (Eventually, the bacteria spread throughout the body and the gas production causes the corpse to bloat, as you may see on the roadside in summer).

    It is highly unlikely that CPR would have been of any benefit. Even when dogs are in great shape and arrest with some kind of drug reaction or abnormal reaction to anesthesia, it is rare to be successful with CPR. Don’t beat yourself up on that account.

    The average lifespan of a giant breed dog (purebred Rottweiler, Great Dane, St. Bernard, Irish Wolfhound) is seven to nine years for the really big guys. They just don’t live as long. Labrador Retrievers (with no obvious medical problems) average ten to twelve.

    It’s hard to lose a friend, but it didn’t happen because you neglected him, nor because you failed to “rescue” him when he was dying.

    Try to remember the good times. Nobody stays in the same body forever. When it wears out, we drop it and move on. The adventure continues.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  48. Brent says:

    Thanks for allowing us to write about the loss of our pets. My 11 year old Dachshund passed away last night suddenly .This was his second time. He died 2 years ago on the operating table while having his teeth cleaned. They revived him and put him on the EKG and found he had an irregular heart beat. The vet warned me that this could lead up to his death. Last night, he was on the couch, he lurched forward, stretching his neck and back to what seemed to be imposable limits, let out a screaming howl. Then he seemed OK, I picked him up and noticed that his hind quarters were little cold. I knew he was just more than sick. He laid in my lap for an hour or so while I checked my email. I took him out to the living room. His little heart was pounding so fast , it was like it wanted to leave his chest. I held him on my lap. He was drooling and very scared. I left him on the couch, when I returned he had gone outside. I went to look for him and found him in his dog house. He didn’t want to come out. I left him for 20 min or so, he screamed another howl and I was there to see if he was OK. He was still there. I came back after about 10 min and he was gone. From the on site of the first event last night to the end was a total of about 1/1.5 hours. With all that I have read.. there probably wasn’t much I could have done for him but be his friend till the end.

  49. Doc says:

    Hello, Brent,

    I am sorry for your loss. With the cold hindquarters, we could suspect that blood clots were forming. This could partially block circulation to the hind legs, resulting in the cooler temperature.

    Clots hitting blood vessels and stopping them up can certainly be painful. However, the howling could also have been from disorientation if he had poor circulation causing lack of oxygen to his brain.

    Deteriorating heart valves could certainly have been a factor in causing blood clots to form.

    This is all just speculation, I fear. I agree that there is likely to have been very little that could have been done to prevent your buddy’s passing.

    Take care.

  50. kim says:

    we have a 4 year old germen sheperd…he was misdiagnosed with kennel cough now he is at the vets..they are running so many tests…he has enlarged heart and liver which is making him breath heavy..one off the tests showed thyroid problem could this be the cause?

  51. Doc says:

    Hello, Kim,

    A poorly functioning thyroid can affect the entire body, but is unlikely to be the sole cause of heart or lung problems.

    Another consideration is that when the rest of the body is sick, the thyroid suffers, as well. Therefore, if the patient has a severe medical problem, his thyroid hormone levels might be sub-normal, even if the thyroid was basically okay to start with.

    I know that it can be frustrating to have “lots of tests”, but it sounds to me like your veterinarian is trying not to miss anything.

    As to the missed diagnosis, initially feeling that the cough was due to a respiratory infection (“kennel cough”), a four-years-old dog is pretty young to be having heart problems. Without doing more diagnostic tests, I think that many doctors would suspect an infection over heart problems with a such a young dog presented with a cough.

    From your description, it sounds like your veterinarian is working hard to make up for lost time so that your dog’s problem can be handled as soon as possible. Keep the communication in with your doctor, and let them know if you don’t fully understand the explanation.

    Sometimes we try to explain too much, too quickly. People don’t want to “look dumb”, so they just nod and say yes. There just isn’t any way I can be sure that I’ve given you several hours of veterinary school study in a 10-minute explanation (I sure didn’t get it in 10 minutes). So just let your doctor know if their explanation isn’t really explaining things so that you fully get it.

    I hope this is helpful to you.

  52. kim says:

    Thank you for answering but unfortunantly are baby boy was put to sleep at 6 pm december 11.He had a heart defect one side was bigger then the other and my heart is broken and dont think it will heal for a very long time.I have been crying ever since.R.I.P my baby i love you gunner

  53. LAURA LEE RAYNOR says:

    MY DOG DIED SUDDENLY 10 DAYS AGO. I THOUGHT HE HAD A COLD AND WAS TAKING HER TO THE DOCTOR AND HE REACHED OVER AND GAVE ME A KISS AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW HE JUST COLLAPSED. I RUSHED HIM TO THE NEARST VET AND THEY TRIED TO BRING HIM BACK FOR 30 MINUTES. I THINK I KNEW FROM THE MOMENT HE DID NOT RESPOND HE WAS DEAD. SEE CODY WAS PARALYZED FROM THE WAIST DOWN FOR 2 AND A HALF YEARS DUE TO INTERVERTEBAL DISK DISEASE. HE GOT THE BEST CARE THAT MONEY COULD BUY AT ONE OF THE TOP SPECALITY HOSPITALS ON THE EASTERN COAST. HIS DOCTOR TRAVELS ALL OVER THE WORLD AND SPEAKS TO OTHER VETS. HE IS GREAT AND SAVED CODY’S LIFE MANY TIMES IN THE PAST. CODY HAD MANY PROBLEMS I HAD TO DEAL WITH AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW. HE WAS MY WHOLE LIFE. I TOOK CARE OF HIM LIKE A CHILD. HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND AND THE MOST PRECIOUS THING IN THE WORLD TO ME. I LOST MY MOM WHEN I WAS FIFTEEN DUE TO ME RUNNING A STOP SIGN, THIS DOG WAS MY LIFESAVER. WHEN I WAS SO DEPRESSED I COULD NOT STAY OUT OF BED HE WAS THERE COMFORTING ME, BUT I ALWAYS GOT UP AND TOOK CARE OF HIM. YOU HAVE NO IDEA THE WORRY AND ANGUISH I WENT THROUGH WATCHING HIM LIVE LIKE THIS. BUT HE WAS A HAPPY DOG, ALL TESTS WERE GREAT. HE HAD A CHRONIC BLADDER INFECTION THAT WAS CONTROLLED WELL BY NITROFURATONION AND HAD JUST HAD A THOROUGH BLOODWORK AND OTHER INTENSIVE TESTS, AS HE HAD TO HAVE OFTEN, AND MY DOC SAID CODY WAS DOING GREAT AND IF HE DID NOT KNOW HE WAS PARALYZED HE WOULDN’T FROM THE TEST. HE SAID HE WAS A MIRACLE DOG. ABOUT 3 WEEKS AFTER THE TEST HE BEGAN TO SHAKE MOSTLY AT NIGHT AND COUGH UP WHITE STUFF, AND HE STOPPED EATING. THE EATING THING WAS NORMAL CODY ATE SOMETIMES AND SOMETIMES HE DIDN’T. I ASKED DOC IF THE SHAKING WAS HIS HEART. HE TOLD ME THAT HE WAS PROBABLY SHAKING FROM SOME PAIN SOMEWHERE BUT HE DID NOT THINK IT WAS HIS HEART AT ALL. THREE DAYS AFTER I TALKED TO HIM CODY WAS ACTING MORE LETHARGIC AND WAS STILL SHAKING BUT ONLY AT CERTAIN TIMES. I CALLED AND LEFT HIM A MESSAGE TO CALL ME THE NEXT MORNING. WHEN WE GOT UP AND CHANGED CODY’S DIAPER AND WENT TO GRANDMA’S LIKE WE ALWAYS DID HE WAS ACTING FINE. THE DOC HAD NOT CALLED BACK BUT I KNEW HE WAS PROBABLY IN SURGERY, SO I WAS GOING TO WAIT, BECAUSE HE TOLD ME IT WAS PROBABLY NOTHING, ESPECIALLY NOTHING LIFE THREATING. HE LAYED DOWN AND WOULD ONLY ANSWER ME BY MOVING HIS HEAD AFTER A WHILE. I NOTICED THAT HE WAS BREATHING VERY SHALLOW AND THERE WERE HUGE SPACES BETWEEN HIS BREATHS. I CALLED MY DOC’S OTHER DOCTOR FRIEND WHOM I TRUSTED AND SHE SAID COME RIGHT AWAY. YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED RIGHT UP THE ROAD. AN AUTOPSY WAS PERFORMED AND IT SHOWED NO PROBLEMS WITH ANY ORGANS, JUST AS THE TESTS HAD A FEW WEEEKS AGO. MY DOC DEMANDED THE TISSUES BE SENT OFF AND HE WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AS MUCH AS I DID. I GOT A CALL YESTERDAY TELLING ME THAT CODY HAD DIED OF CARDIOMYOPATHY. HE HAD DEVELOPED HEART DISEASE THAT WAS ONLY A WEEK OLD AND VERY SEVERE. THE HEART DISEASE WAS IN THE WORST PLACE POSSIBLE SOMEWHERE ON TOP OF ELECTRICAL THINGS IN THE HEART. THE AUTOPSY WOMAN SAID THAT SHE HAD NEVER SEEN A DOG DEVELOP HEART DISEASE THAT FAST AND FOR THAT MATTER THAT SEVERE IN THAT SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. I CAN’T HELP BUT BLAME MYSELF BECAUSE I LISTENED TO MY DOC INSTEAD OF MY GUT. SHE ALSO SAID THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO WAY TO SAVE HIS LIFE EVEN IF THEY HAD FOUND IT THAT WEEK. I MEAN WITH ALL THE OTHER PROBLEMS HE HAD A THOUGHT HE WOULD DIE OF SOME PROBLEM RELATED TO HIS CONDITION. SHE SAID THAT SHE CANNOT SAY WITH MEDICAL CERTIANTY THAT HIS OTHER PROBLEMS AND WEAKENED BODY, AND ALL THE MEDS HE HAD TO TAKE DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE HEART DISEASE FORMING THIS FAST. I AM SO HEARTBROKEN, THAT DOG MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME. I AM ON MEDS JUST TO BE ABLE TO FUNCTION SO I CAN GET TROUGH HIS MEMORIAL. MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER LOVED AND CARED FOR AN ANIMAL LIKE THIS EVEN MY OWN FAMILY DO NOT UNDERSTAND. CODY WAS MY LIFELINE BECAUSE I HAD EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS ANYWAY, NOW I SUFFER FROM BIPOLAR AND TWO FORMS OF PTSS. I DEVESTATED, CAN YOU HELP ME ANY WAY TO UNDERSTAND? HIS LIVER WAS ALSO AGING VERY RAPIDLY. CODY WAS ONLY SIX AND A HALF AND HAD THE LIVER OF AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD DOG AND THERE WERE NEW SPINAL INJURIES ABOVE THE INITIAL ONE. SHE SAID HE COULD HAVE BEEN HEADED FOR SOME BAD TIMES. I ALWAYS SAID I DID NOT WANT TO HAVE TO PUT HIM TO SLEEP I WANTED HIM TO DIE FAST AND PAINLESS. BUT THIS IS NOT AT ALL HOW I EXPECTED IT. PLEASE EMAIL ME OR POST SOMETHING. I NEED ANSWERS BADLY. DEVESTATED IN NORTH CAROLINA, LAURA

  54. Doc says:

    Hello, Laura,

    It is obvious that you are really hurting now, as all of us are when we lose a friend.

    There is no real way to give you a certain answer. Your doctors have been as thorough as anyone could be, and (it sounds to me) have been very straightforward with you. Sometimes we just do not know.

    There is no question that animals who are partially paralyzed go on to develop other health problems as a result. They don’t void normally, they don’t exercise normally, and their body is just under stresses that it wouldn’t be under normal circumstances.

    While I know it is little consolation to you right now, you should be proud of the effort you made to give this dog a real quality of life during the years of nursing you gave. Most people would not be able (or willing) to cope with this. Your dog got extra years of life ONLY because you cared.

    Best wishes,
    Everett Mobley, D.V.M.

  55. havingaball says:

    Is it possible to overexert a dog? I’m concerned about the 4 year old belonging to my son & daughter-in-law. Sophie is indoors most of the day, but is taken outside at intervals. My son plays frisbee with Sophie & runs her ragged, to wear her out. Yesterday, when I was visiting, following one such frisbee free-for-all, I saw Sophie, laying down, panting, tongue hanging out, heart racing. She needed a good 10 minutes to recover her breath. She alternately stood up & layed on her side, unable to be comfortable. I am concerned that my son is over doing it when exercising Sophie. I don’t want to say anything unless I know for sure, lest I be chastized as a buttinsky mother-in-law. Sophie is such a sweet dog……..

  56. Lisa says:

    Hello:
    I was reading some of the comments on your page. We recently lost our family pet, she was a 12 year old malteste mix. She showed no sign of being ill, my mom came home, she saw that the pup threw up, Lucky (our pup) greeted her at the door, went outside & my mom found her lying there. They rushed her to the vet, but it was too late. It’s terrible not knowing, but I’m thinking maybe it could have been an anerysym from her straining to vomit? Can that me the case?

  57. Doc says:

    In re OVEREXERTION:

    It is possible for a dog to over-exert. This is less likely to occur in cold weather, but in hot weather dogs can get heat-stroke and die from over-exertion.

    I have had one patient die from heat-stroke who was running freely along with the owners who were riding 4-wheeler ATVs. There were numerous ponds to cool off in, but the dog just kept running, having such a good time, until he collapsed.

    He was in a deep state of shock and hemorrhaging internally by the time they got to my clinic.

    If the dog wants to take some time to rest, by all means let him, even in cold weather. If the weather is hot, be sure to take frequent breaks and drink lots of water. Large dogs cannot get rid of excess body heat easily.

  58. Doc says:

    Hello, Lisa,

    I would say that aneurysms are uncommon in the dog, but we really don’t know, as most dogs who die suddenly don’t get post-mortem exams. We also don’t routinely ultra-sound older dogs to look for aneurysms.

    If you had an aneurysm (a weak place where the blood vessel is ballooned out like a “bubble” on a tire), certainly anything that increased blood pressure might cause it to blow out.

    However, it is not uncommon for a dying animal to vomit, have foam in its mouth, etc. no matter what the underlying cause of death was.

    Sad to say, often we have a hard time determining the cause of death even when we do perform a post-mortem (“autopsy”). When we send tissues to the pathologist, you pretty much have to send a piece of all the vital organs, and the entire heart, and sometimes you STILL don’t know.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  59. Dog Ramps says:

    Hi,
    I am sorry for your loss. With the cold hindquarters, we could suspect that blood clots were forming. This could partially block circulation to the hind legs, resulting in the cooler temperature…

  60. Dawn York says:

    My 5 year old rottweiler, Max, collapsed and died Tuesday, Jan. 20th. He was 145 pounds, but a real active and friendly dog. We did not see this coming at all. Two days before this happened my family and I and Max went snowshoeing. Max loved doing this. Only he was acting very strange. He would stop and go under a tree and not want to go. We would call him and he would get up and eventually continue. We got worried because he kept on doing this so we brought him home. As soon as he got in the house he didn’t make it far and laid down. A few minutes later he got up ate, drank, and was fine. He was having normal bowel movements, he was not crying or moaning, and did not have any trouble breathing. We thought he may had injured his leg or hip. The next day he seemed fine. On the day he died, he played outside with my husband while he shoveled. When I got home from work, he seemed fine so he walked up to the bus stop with me to get my son. He was very playful, biting at his leash, playing with another dog, interacting with everyone at the bus stop. On the way back, he made it about halfway home, he collapsed, had what seemed to be a seizure and died within a few minutes. We were completely shocked and devastated. My kids witnessed it also and we are left with many unanswered questions. What caused this??? Was the episode in the woods and indication that something was wrong? We feel guilty that we did not go get him checked out the next day. He was eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, he didn’t appear to be in any pain, so did we miss something? We didn’t ask for an autopsy, should we have? We are all still very distraught about this and wish Max was still with us. Do you have any ideas or thoughts about what might have happened?

  61. Doc says:

    Hello, Dawn,

    I am sorry for your loss. Without a post-mortem (and, unfortunately, even with one, sometimes), it is impossible to say what caused Max’s death.

    Certainly, his previous episode of weakness seems more significant NOW, but at the time, I don’t think I would have taken it any more seriously than you did.

    Such a sudden death certainly suggests a cardiac arrest, but does not suggest the cause.

    While giant breed dogs have generally shorter lives than smaller ones, still seven to nine would be expected. I doubt that there are many veterinarians (or owners) who would be routinely doing cardiac ultrasounds, ECGs, and chest X-rays as part of a yearly check-up on a dog who seems fine, and is not contemplating surgery.

    I wish that I could give you some kind of answer, but I cannot.

    Sincerely,
    Everett Mobley, D.V.M.

  62. Takumi Gerharz says:

    My 12-year old dog died suddently yesterday. He was a Retriver/Pitbull mix, we adopted him 6 years ago. He threw up 5 to 6 times through the night before he died and we just thought he had a stomach problem or virus since his behavior was not abnormal. He was a very hyperactive dog and we took him to the vet regularly with no major health problem. He could not get up by himself yesterday morning and all of sudden he stretched his body (with tongue hanging) after he threw up last time and stopped breathing shortly after. Our vet told us that vomitting prior is not related to his death. We keep thinking there was something we could or should have done to prevent our loss. Is it possible that the dog suffers from heart attack for being too nervous or anxious? Thank you.

  63. Peak says:

    My poodle just died last night. He was 12 years old. We have 3 poodles and 1 golden retriever. He’s the most healthiest, strongest, and active among the four. He was still playing around yesterday and my mom just gave him a bath on the day he died.

    I’m still in shock that there’s no sign of him being sick at all. We were told that he had a heart attack as well.

    At the hospital, the vet gave him oxygen and had to do cardiac bypass pump twice (not sure if this is the correct word). At the end, we had to let him go because we don’t want him to suffer.

    If he’s the most healthiest one among four dogs, how can I prevent something like this for my other dogs.

  64. Doc says:

    I am sorry for your loss. It sounds like your veterinarian was doing heart massage, as part of CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation).

    Without an extensive post-mortem ( and sometimes even with it), it is very difficult to determine the precise cause of death in a situation like this.

    As far as preventing the death of the other dogs, we all have to go sometime. However, there may be sub-clinical disease that could be treated and you may be able to prolong your pet’s life in that way.

    Ask your veterinarian about a good senior-care diagnostic workup. This would be the best thing to do to find conditions that can be treated. Usually, we would include a complete blood count, blood chemistry profile, chest X-rays and possibly an ECG.

    Best wishes

  65. Doc says:

    Hello, Takumi,

    I wish that I could help you. I doubt that there is anything you should blame yourself about. A twelve-years old Pit Bull is pretty old. This type of sudden death is always hard to understand and accept.

    It is easy to succumb to the temptation to “Monday Morning Quarter-back” and try to figure out how you could have foreseen and prevented disaster.

    Don’t beat yourself up. I know you miss your friend.

    Sorry to be so late in replying, but we are still without power. I’m visiting a friend and trying to catch up a little.

    Take care

  66. janie says:

    Dear Dr. I have read your article with great interest. I am a dog groomer and I lost a dog on my table yesterday..suddenly and without explanation. She was a 4 1/2 year old Shih Tzu who I groomed every 6 weeks since she was 4 months old. She was bathed, blow dried by hand, brushed and she was fine. My bather put her on my table to do her nails and I noticed a bit or urine come out of her and then she went limp. She fell down, tongue to the side and eyes wide open. My customer and I did CPR for 15 minutes and we could not revive her. It was all in the course of 2 seconds. I am devastated and the owners are in shock. I have hoped that they opted for a necropsy as I need some closure. Now that you have ruled out heartattacks what about idiopathic cardiomyophathy or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or a brain aneurysm. God, do you have an ideas? I have to work again on Tuesday and don’t want to go to my shop.

  67. Doc says:

    Hello, Janie,

    All of your speculations are possibilities, as is a heart attack (though they are not very common in dogs).

    I agree that the necropsy would be the best course of action, but often clients don’t want to. They know it won’t bring back the pet, and they don’t like thinking about them being dissected.

    I understand how you feel. Once a little puppy was snarling and snapping at me and I took him by the scruff, gave him a little shake and told him to be quiet. He collapsed and died. TOO quiet. Intellectually, I know (and confirmed by the pathologist) that he had a congenital heart defect and would have died playing or something. On a gut level, I felt like I killed him.

    The up side of this is how very unlikely it is to ever happen again.

    Good luck.

  68. Lynne says:

    Hello, three weeks ago today, our beautiful Rooney, a 2.5 year old male AKC yellow labrador died with no warning. He was fit and full of life.

    He excercised playing fetch at the park nearly everyday and would run and run until we made him stop.

    We were scheuduled to go to Florida on a 6AM flight the next day, and I dropped him off at the farm where he was born, to stay the weekend. He LOVED the farm where he was born and we had taken him there several times when we went on vacation. They have 5 acres and 5 huge fenced play yards.

    Two hours after we dropped him off the breeder called to say that he was playing in the field and “dropped dead”. We are just devastated.

    When talking to the breeder, several days after this horrible event, she said that they were getting ready to put the dogs down for their 2:00 nap and when she and her assistant, approached the barn all of the dogs, including Rooney, came up the the fence and he was wagging his tail. Then they went into the heated barn and were preparing their beds and when they came back out 5 minutes later to get the 10 dogs that were in the yard, all the dogs were up by the fence and Rooney was laying in the field.

    They called him and he didn’t get up. They ran out to him and checked to make sure he wasn’t choking and there was no blockage. He let out a last gasp and died in our breeders arms. They put him in her van and rushed him to her vet but he had already died.

    The breeder then took him to our vet and there was no sign of trauma and his stomach contents were fine so he did not ingest anything and he did not have bloat. There were no signs of snake bites.

    His gums were pink and his eyes were clear. There was just a little bit of blue under his tounge the breeder said. Is it possible that even though it was only 30 degrees out that he over excercised? He was out for 2 hours in the cold, not something he was used to.

    Also the breeder said he was playing tug-of-war shortly before dying and is it possible that the other dog was stronger and snapped his neck? Would this be obvious with a visual check? Our vet seems to think that he had a blood clot that dislodged to his brain. We did not want to have his skull cracked to find this out.

    We cancelled our trip and have been researching this for about three weeks now. We were just wondering if you had any insight on this and if it’s possible he was born with this defect.

    He was the picture of perfect health and had his heartguard and frontline faithfully. He was just tested for heartworms 5 weeks ago and had his heart checked as well. He was 64 pounds and VERY fit. When lying on both VETs tables, they both said they have never seen such a young fit dog die so suddenly. After reading other people’s stories I see this is much more common than I thought but not so many listed as young as Rooney.

    One strange thing, although there was NEVER any sign of trouble before this day, when I awakened that Thursday morning, I came downstairs and normally Roo would get off the couch and greet me at the bottom of the stairs while I sat on the bottom step to put my socks on. That morning I came down stairs and he was laying on the couch with his feet up in the air and his head cocked back. He had a distant look in his eyes and I opened the curtains and he looked so funny lying there upside down that I was able to get my camera and take a photo of him. It took him a few minutes and then he was up and normal. Do you think that was a pre-cursor?

    We are greatful that we did not have to see him die, but at the same time we can’t help but blame ourselves that if we didn’t take him to the farm that day, we would still have him.

    My biggest question is the tug of war snapping of the neck and the over exertion in 30 degree weather. I am SO sorry this is so long, but any insight you might have on this would be greatly appreciated.

    Your website has been VERY helpful and informative. Thanks you SOOO much for your time. Oh, also does over breeding lead to these problems too? She is a very reputable breeder and has been around since 1980. She breeded our Rooney and he was the most perfect dog, great personality and sweet as can be. Never barked, and SO FRIENDLY. But I was just wondering if over breeding is an issue. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

    • Gloria says:

      Hi I know this post is really old but maybe someone will answer me. My family is absolutely heartbroken and lost and we desperately need some answers. About a week ago a similar situation happened to us. We lost our beautiful baby boy, a 2.5 male chocolate lab named Ranger. He was not just our pet but he was our child. Very spoiled and healthy as far as we know. He had just been playing out in the snow and acting a goofball the day before with my daughter. But the next morning was extremely traumatizing. I got up early for work and let him out to do his business like always but when he came back inside he went to his bed and before I knew it he was kicking his legs in the air and gone!!! It was so fast, sudden, and unexpected. We couldnt bring ourselves to do an autopsy and we were in so much distress as it was. I cant stop grieving and the pain is so bad. He was way to young for this. Someone please help!!

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Gloria,
        I can Understand your feeling. It does sound like this might have been a cardiomyopathy. They can be a “time bomb”, with sudden death with no preliminary signs. I wish there was a way to determine this without a post-mortem examination.

        I am sorry for your loss.

        • May says:

          So my puppy (of 4 months old) just recently passed last night out of no where. She was perfectly fine all day and when I let her outside at night to use the restroom I went outside to get her and she was laying down, when normally she’s jumping on me. I had to physically pick her up because she seemed so fragile to walk. I put her on the porch and she was barley able to use her back legs and she stumbled to walk everywhere and her tail was tucked. She was drooling from the mouth uncontrollably and later on about 30-40 mins after that she had a seizure and after her seizure her body basically went completely paralyzed. She didn’t move anything along with her head. She then proceeded to grunt really loudly and then it turned into her howling like she was in pain. Also when she was having her seizure there was steam coming from her mouth.. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it. After about 2-3 hours I moved her to a more comfortable area and her breathing started to get slower and she never moved an inch.. later on last night she had her last seizure and stopped breathing.

          I’m very baffled at how or what caused her to break into seizures and suddenly pass. Please help me find some type of answer.. she was too young..

          • Doc says:

            Hello, May,
            That is a very unusual story. It is certainly not something that I have seen.

            I can only speculate that she had something like a brain-bleed type of stroke. That sort of thing is rare, but I’d be more likely to suspect it in an older dog. It would be even rarer in the young, but it happens in people, as well. St. Jude’s hospital is full of kids with cancer.

            I am sorry for your loss.

  69. Doc says:

    Hello, Lynne,

    I wish that I could be of more help to you.

    I sincerely doubt that the tug of war damaged your dog. Dogs are pretty tough in that regard and the likelihood of that happening approaches zero (though I guess nothing is impossible).

    Even if it had broken his neck and paralyzed him, it is unlikely that it would have killed him. I just would quit agonizing about that.

    If by “over-breeding” you mean in-breeding (where sisters are mated with brothers or fathers), then that does increase the likelihood that genetic defects will show up.

    If by “over-breeding” you mean indiscriminately breeding dogs, regardless of whether or not they are outstanding, healthy individuals, then again we may see more problems crop up.

    In the case of a young, apparently healthy dog who looked great, I just don’t have an answer for you.

    In the past, when I have spoken with pathologists about these cases, they ask for a sample of each organ, and the entire heart to examine. Without a complete post-mortem and microscopic examination of the tissues, this is just a non-productive guessing game.

    Sadly, even with that type of post-mortem diagnostics, we are sometimes unable to give an answer.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  70. Lynne says:

    Thank you for your reply. Would the tounge be a little blue underneath and the upper tounge and gums pink if it were a blood clot? Just curious. I know I am grasping at straws. But it is just my final question for you. Thank you again.

  71. Doc says:

    Lynne,

    That discoloration would not be specific enough for anything to give us a diagnosis.

    Blue generally means lack of oxygen to the area, but can also reflect the color of underlying structures, such as large blood vessels.

  72. William says:

    We just lost our 8 year old Alaskan Malamute, Jasper, 2 days ago.One minute he was running around playing with his toys,and then he went and layed down in the bed. We heard a crying noise and we went to see what was wrong. He was gasping for air only about every 5 seconds and his heart was absolutely racing.This went on for about a minute and then he died in my arms. I asked the Vet what might have happened and he said it sounded like acute heart arrhythmia. Does that sound correct? Jasper has never been sick, injured, or had any health conditions. My wife and I are devestated, he was our son. My wife did not want Jaspers body violated by an autopsy so we will never really know. I am just personally looking for some closure. Thank you for your time.

  73. Doc says:

    Hello, William,

    “Arrhythmia” means abnormal rhythm (pattern of heartbeat), and “acute” means that it happened in a hurry.

    These things you already knew – it happened in a hurry and the heart was “racing”.

    The question is: why?

    Unfortunately, without a microscopic examination of the heart muscle, this is a question that we cannot definitively answer. You and your veterinarian have both described what happened outwardly.

    Your dog could have had a long-standing weak place in the heart muscle. He could have developed a problem with the heart’s electrical system, like someone who needs a pacemaker (though those individuals usually have slow and irregular heartbeats).

    Though it is unusual, he could actually have had a coronary artery blockage. [Why? Blood clot?]

    I wish that I could give you a better answer. Like your regular veterinarian, I can only speak in general terms.

    I do think that you can rest assured that this was NOT something that you did or failed to do.

    “Stuff happens” is not a very comforting explanation, and I hate it when it’s the best I can do, as it is today.

    Best wishes.

  74. teresa says:

    I have a 15 year old cavalier who is being treated for a bad heart with vetmedin frusemide, vasotop previcox etc, she is eating well and not incontenent but her breathing is laboured and she is panting continuously. I just don’t know what to do, she is my best friend and still has some good periods but at night its awful. does there come a point when you know the right time i was praying she would die in her sleep

  75. Doc says:

    Hello, Teresa,

    This is a super tough time. It sounds like your veterinarian is doing everything possible for your dog, and maybe it just isn’t enough.

    There’s only so much we can do to assist a failing heart. The disease is progressive and one day, we just can’t do enough.

    The “when is it time?” decision is a terrible one to have to make. It’s difficult for every one, even those of us who deal with it almost every day.

    Can your dog enjoy life? Can he do some of the things he likes to do? Does he have more good days or more bad days? Does he have ANY good days?

    These are the questions we start with.

    Good luck and God bless.

  76. Chan says:

    My 7 year old Pekingese passed away 9 days ago.She had been given Telazol IM where she could get her nails done.She has had this done several times before.They said that her heart just stopped within 3-4 minutes after the shot.We tried for 1 hour and 45 minutes to get her back.She was my baby girl i had her since she was 4 weeks old.She was in perfect health.Her results came in to day and a sample of tissue from her heart showed that she had previously had a heartattack.And that the Telazol could have been what made her heart stop beating from the heart attack in the past damage.She wasnt obese nor was she diabetic.Do you believe that this is possible.Please help me,I need to know what happened to my baby girl

  77. Doc says:

    Hello, Chan,

    I feel your pain, and your veterinarian’s pain.

    There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that is harder for me than the loss of a pet in an elective procedure. They seemed fine, it was something we didn’t HAVE to do, and now the animal is gone.

    For the owner, it is even worse. Not only have they lost their friend, but they often feel that they made a decision that caused the pet’s death, that it is somehow their fault.

    Sometimes, despite our best efforts, bad things happen.

    While heart attacks (as we think of them in humans) are relatively rare in dogs, they are certainly possible.

    I think that it would be okay to ask your veterinarian to go over the test results with you and explain it to you some more. Just say that understanding it as well as you can would really help you to feel some closure and take some of your own bad feelings away.

    Best wishes.

  78. David Evans says:

    My jack russel (aged 6) did something very strange today, he was one minute just sleeping on my settee, but then i looked over at him and his eyes were rolled back into his head and he was twitching, his tounge was also visible and sticking out. I shook him alot to try and get a response he was lifeless and limp for about 2 minutes. But then all of a sudden he was fine again. and now two hours later, hes fine. what could this have been , and should i be worried?

  79. Doc says:

    Hello, David,

    It sounds to me as though your dog has had an epileptic seizure.

    Some dogs have one seizure and never have another. However, most seizure disorders are gradually progressive.

    Step one is to have your veterinarian examine your dog for any obvious medical problems, including blood tests for liver disease, kidney disease, and blood sugar levels.

    If these are all normal, and the dog has had only the one, brief seizure, many doctors would then recommend keeping a seizure log. You write down what happened before, during and after, what the seizure looked like, how long it lasted, and how long it takes to recover to a normal condition.

    The next seizure could be months or years away, so it would not be appropriate to start anti-convulsant medication twice a day for life at this time.

    If the seizures become worse and closer together, you will want to work with your veterinarian to decide when it is time to begin anti-seizure medicines.

    Call your veterinarian for an appointment. This is probably not an emergency, but I would not delay unnecessarily.

    Good luck.

  80. Elizabeth Santiago says:

    I lost my 4yrs old shihtzu a couple days ago suddenly. I dropped him off to get groomed and I was called to meet the groomer at the vet because my dog had just died. I was in complete shock and wanted to know what went wrong. According to the groomer, who took him the vet, he just “acted out” which he has never done with her before. He got aggressive and then began to release gas and urinated everywhere before he went limp. At the vet clinic, he was pronounced dead. the vet told me it could of either been a heart attack or an aneurysm. I’m still at a loss for words and I cant stop thinking about what really happened to him. Earlier in the morning he was playing, running and was perfectly fine. What are the symptoms for an aneurysm and heart attacks for a dog. Could this have been prevented. Please help me!

  81. Doc says:

    Hello, Elizabeth,

    I wish that I could give you an explanation. Sometimes we are unable to find the cause with a complete post-mortem examination and sending tissues to the pathologist.

    With the history you have given, I do not believe that this was in any way something that you did or didn’t do.

    Could it have been detected earlier? This is very hard to say. When animals act just fine we don’t routinely do chest X-rays, electrocardiograms and ultrasounds as part of their ordinary check-ups.

    With a heart defect or aneurysm there are often no signs to warn you before sudden death occurs.

    I know you are hurting and I wish there were something I could say to make it right.

    These things are hard to bear. I know you will miss your dog.

    Sincerely,
    Everett Mobley, D.V.M.

  82. Danielle says:

    I just got home from visiting friends and was called this morning by my dog sitter and informed my 6 year old dog had passed unexpectedly. I am completely devastated and doing the blame game. See, my dog always had severe separation anxiety and didn’t always do the best when I boarded her. She’s gotten a little better over the years but I just switched kennels and this was only the second time there. They informed me she was fine all weekend, doing her hyperventilating as always, but nothing extreme. When they went in to let her out this morning they found her! I just don’t understand it. Could her anxiety have caused this? Could she have had heartworms and I not know? I missed her last 2 months of heartworm treatment, could that have caused this. I just miss her so much I can’t stop crying and I have no idea how this happened! I left on Thursday and she was a healthy happy pup and now she’s gone!

  83. Doc says:

    Hello, Danielle,

    I wish that I could give you a definitive answer as to the cause of your dog’s death. Unfortunately, even with a complete post-mortem examination and sending tissues to the pathologist, we sometimes cannot give that answer.

    Oddly enough, it is possible for a dog with a congenital heart defect (present from birth) to finally one day “go over the edge” with something that has been there all along.

    Since it takes six months for heartworms to develop, the two missed doses were not in any way responsible for the loss of your dog. Quit beating yourself up over that, anyway.

    As to her anxiety being a factor, she had been anxious before (several times, it sounds like), so I wouldn’t be guilting over that.

    I know you are hurting, and I am sorry.

  84. larry says:

    My welsh corgi just died Friday and my mother found her dead in the bathroom. She was not quite 10 years old. When she really young, she had to have an operation on her kidney to fix something. they put a stent in it and she was healthy for years. No known problems. She was overweight and did not get the exercise she needed. my question is this, I was also told by the vet that she probably had a heart attack. After reading many things on the internet and this site also, i have come to the conclusion it might of been something else. Unfortunately the doctor said that a autopsy would cost at 1000.00 and of course my parents declined that. I am at a loss what could of killed my dog so suddenly besides a heart attack. She displayed no signs outwardly of illness. No loss of appetite or lack of water.nothing. Could of been a clot? Her kidney that was repaired when she was young? I guess i will never know. Do you have suggestions as to what it might have been? thank you

  85. larry says:

    I want to revise my post. it was her liver that was operated on, not her kidney. I was also told today that even though she was overweight that probably didn’t kill her. The person said is more than likely a blood clot or sudden stroke.Not a heart attack. I read dogs don’t have those. she was only 10. Very sad

  86. Doc says:

    Hello, Larry,

    I am sorry to hear about your loss.

    Sudden death in our dogs is one of the most frustrating things we see. Even when we do a complete post-mortem (“autopsy”) and send tissues to the pathologist we are sometimes unable to make a determination.

    A “heart attack” in people is essentially death of heart muscle tissue caused by the blockage of the blood vessel that supplies it. In people this is usually a cholesterol plaque chunk, but a blood clot can certainly do the same thing.

    A blood clot could stop up a heart vessel, or a brain vessel (a stroke). A blood vessel in the brain (or elsewhere) could develop an aneurysm (like a “bubble” on a tire) and burst. That would kill you in a hurry.

    The bottom line is that it is very unlikely that you did anything or neglected anything that brought about the death of your dog.

    It’s hard to lose a friend.

    Best wishes.

  87. Marina says:

    Hello! My dog died yesterday. She was s boxer, 13 years old. My family went on a 3-months old vacation to another country, so we had to leave the dog with my husband’s parents. She was perfectly happy there for the first 1.5 months. After that, according to my mother-in-law, she started to loose wait and was sad most of the time. Then, about a week prior to her death, my dog started to refuse to eat. She wanted to drink all the time, though. She drank so much she could not keep her urine and peed inside several times. She was very sad all this time, just sitting in her armchair. Her last two days, they fed her with a spoon, she could not bring herself up to eat. They say her mouth was really, really dry. Finally, on her last day, she got up, drank water and was getting ready to go for her walk. Suddenly, she collapsed and died.
    I am really upset, and have questions.
    I know she was an old dog already, but, still, do you think that she had a sudden death, or was there anything they could have done seeing she was not eating? They took her temperature, it was fine, the vet looked at her and did not see anything wrong. Mind you, they suspected heartworm as she has been coughing for a year or even more. The vet also guessed she just missed us and that is why she was refusing to eat occasionally. Do you think her emotions may have infuenced her so much? Do you think the dog was in much paying prior to death? I am sorry if my post is messy, I am just so upset, I cannot speak clearly. But I really, really need closure! Please, help me to understand!
    Thank you!

  88. Doc says:

    Hello, Marina,

    My heart goes out to you in your loss.

    I have to tell you that 13 is really a phenomenally old age for a Boxer. So many of them die of cancer at a much younger age. You must have done a great job of caring for her.

    The excessive water drinking, urination and weight loss could have been tied to a number of underlying diseases. Kidney failure often begins with an inability to save water by concentrating the urine. You lose too much water in the urine, so you have to drink large amounts to replace it.

    Cushing’s disease is an overproduction of cortisol (the body’s natural cortisone) by the adrenal glands. This also causes a dilute urine, causing excessive secondary water consumption to compensate. It also affects muscle tone, skin, hair, and carbohydrate metabolism.

    Neither of these diseases cause sudden death, but this really doesn’t sound all that sudden.

    It is also not uncommon to have a slow-growing cancer internally that finally affects enough organ function to put the patient “over the edge”. The body has lots of reserve capacity. For instance, you could get by with one half of one healthy kidney, but you have two whole ones. If something were gradually destroying them, you’d feel okay until they were more than 3/4 gone.

    In a case like this, it is easy to get confused. I am sure that your dog DID miss you, and she WAS old and it’s really easy to use those things as an explanation when the patient first starts to deteriorate.

    While we cannot know without a complete post-mortem examination, I strongly suspect that your dog had been developing an internal problem for some period of time and it finally got to the “tipping point” while you were gone. If you had been home, it’s possible that you would have sought aggressive medical intervention sooner. However, considering her age and breed, I suspect that her time had come.

    Probably you would have been more attuned to her changes and feelings and handled it differently if you had been there. The ultimate outcome would likely have been the same.

    We can’t turn back the clock and get do-overs. We just have to do the best we can, while we can. I know you will miss her, but now it’s time to remember the good times, honor her memory, and be glad that she’s not dying a slow death.

    Best wishes.

  89. Marina says:

    Thank you very much for your thorough answer! I really appreciate it as well as the other articles on this website.
    Best wishes,
    Marina

  90. Robert Geary says:

    My 7 yo lab/golden retriever passed away tonight not sure why. He had developed diabeties we were told that 3 weeks ago, statred him on insulin and a special diet. Took him to the vet this morning to get checked and came this afternoon and the vet said he had died about 10 min before we got there to pick him up. They told us it was a heart attack. Is that ture. Pls email your comment

  91. Doc says:

    Hello, Robert,

    Heart attacks, as we understand them in people, are also called myocardial infarctions (MI). This means that something has stopped up a blood vessel that supplies the heart muscle itself. That spot in the heart then dies, and this can kill you immediately, or just make the heart really sick and working poorly, and you can gradually recover.

    This occurs most often in people due to piece of cholestrol plaque breaking off and floating downstream. It could also occur with a blood clot.

    Since dogs do not have cholesterol plaque build-ups, a true “heart attack” is rare in dogs. They certainly can occur, but the only way you could know for sure would be to either be running an ECG while it happened, or send the entire heart to a pathologist for examination.

    That being said, there are certainly times when the heart just stops, and we do not know the reason why. It is often easier to say that the dog had a heart attack than to say that we don’t know, or that we need a complete post-mortem (“autopsy”).

    There is nothing as distressing as walking in to find that an animal who seemed to be doing well has just died. It happens more often at home than in the veterinary hospital, simply because a pet spends most of his time at home. If you have read the comments on this thread, you find that many people have found their apparently healthy pet dead without warning.

    I sincerely doubt that your dog was mistreated by your veterinarian, or that they are intentionally trying to mislead you. Sometimes we feel compelled to offer some explanation, even when we don’t really have one.

    If a post-mortem has been performed, then pathology results may (although they frequently don’t) tell you more.

    If no post-mortem was done, then in the interest of obtaining some kind of closure, I think it might be helpful to just ask your veterinarian to tell you about what they saw when your dog passed away. “He seemed to be just taking a nap, then quit breathing.” or “He was walking around, seemed okay, then just fell over”. I don’t know what happened, and it’s possible that we won’t ever know for sure.

    I’d just say to the doctor, “Look, I’m just having a little trouble dealing with my loss. It would help me to know some more details.” There’s no point getting confrontational. You’ll get less information, and, again, I sincerely doubt that anything wrong was done.

    Best wishes.

  92. Bill Hunt says:

    my 7 year Black Lab died suddenly the day after Thanksgiving. The vet called it a heart attack and described what happened to a tee. She started panting, let out a loud yelp,threw-up,then started seizing. We rushed her to the vet but it was to late. The unfairness of this is that this happened to another Black Lab we had 10 years ago. We miss that dog tremendously. I’m sure we will eventually get another. But, are deaths like this common to labs? Or, could it be something were we live?

  93. Doc says:

    Hello, Bill,

    I am sorry for your loss.

    Are deaths like this common to Labs? I would not say that it is some kind of regular occurrence, no. Seven years certainly is not very old, either.

    Without a complete post-mortem exam, and letting a pathologist examine the entire heart, it’s not really possible to say that both dogs died of exactly the same cause. If they were blood relatives, one might be concerned about some type of genetic problem. Again, without examining the tissues, there is really no way to tell.

    I doubt that it is “something in the water” where you live. There are certainly diseases that can be endemic in the soil, like the systemic fungus, Blastomycosis. However, it is unlikely that there would be anything in the environment that produced such a sudden onset of illness and rapid death.

    Best wishes for the future.

  94. Christina says:

    My best friend died 2 days ago. She was old…14 to 16 years (she was my grandma’s dog first and no one seems to know for sure how long she had her before I got her 11 years ago.) I watched her die and it was the most horrible and beautiful thing ever. Horrible because I did not want her to go and beautiful because I got to be there with her in her time of greatest need and she was on her warm, comfy bed. I had just taken her for the slowest walk of our lives. When we came back she went to lay down and I knelt beside her and petted her. Then she suddenly looked up to the ceiling and started breathing quickly and then wimpering while her eyes fluttered. After that her head fell down and she let out 2 hard breaths. I miss her so badly. I guess what I want to know is, is it possible that the centrine shot the vet gave her for diarrhea killed her? I’m not blaming him because I did not have the money to run all the tests he needed to really evaluate her. I just wanted her diarrhea of 4 days to stop (and it did–she didn’t poop for 3 days!) It just seemed like she got a whole new set of problems after the shot…panting, occasionally coughing, occasional heavy breathing. Oh, and she had a heart murmur. I know she was old and was going to leave soon sometime, I just hope I didn’t make her go sooner than she would have. Thanks in advance for any wisdom you have on it. And thank you for keeping up this site and taking the time to answer questions. God bless you.

  95. Michael Wus says:

    On sunday, Dec 13, 09 I lost my 14 year old shizu. It was normal during the morning, i placed him out back to go to the bathrom and he came in. He does not do steps well so I carry him up or down. I placed him in the living room and went back to close the back door. When I came up to the living room he was laying down.
    I called him but he stayed in the position. I went upstairs to get my cell phone and when i came down he had moved several feet towards the kitchen as if he wanted to find someone.
    I layed next to him and petted and talked to him at least ten minutes. He did lose bowl control and I cleaned him up. His breathing was shallow and his extremiteis were getting cold. I called my daughter and she came and took him to the vet hosp. He had expired during the trip. I loved the dog and still grieve over him. No autposy was performed and he was a health 14. I need closure and would like to know or have a resonable explanation of what could have happened.
    Thank you for understanding.

  96. Doc says:

    Hello, Christina,

    I am sorry for your loss.
    I sincerely doubt that the Centrine did anything to worsen the dog’s condition. Being less nauseated would be a plus, I think, if you were lying there in your final moments.

    Best wishes.

  97. Doc says:

    Hello, Michael,

    Sorry to be slow in replying, but my internet was down.

    While some Shih T’zus do live longer than that, fourteen is pretty old. Old age is not a disease, but you are surely more likely to have diseases when you get older.

    For your dog to go from apparently normal, to super weak, then cold, and then dying in such a short period of time, I would suspect internal bleeding. A tumor in the spleen could rupture and bleed out inside his abdomen. You wouldn’t see a thing on the outside.

    I understand that many people do not want the post-mortem exam. Even if it were free, it’s hard to think about your friend being opened up that way, and you know it isn’t going to bring them back.

    Sometimes we just have to focus on the memories of the good times. You did a pretty good job if your buddy was looking good at fourteen, so well done on that.

    I’m sorry for your loss. I know you will miss him.

  98. Tim Maheras says:

    We had a 3 year old very active 45lb standard poodle. On monday she’d been playing in the snow with other dogs and came back looking very out of it. She laid down and her legs had muscle spasms and her breathig was rapid and short. We brought her to the vet and she said it was probably exhaustion and it should clear up in 48hrs. She put her on rymadyl because shou thought that she may have pulled a muscle in one of her back legs because she didn’t want to bend it. We brought her home and she wouldn’t eat but would drink excessive amounts of water and would urinate frequently but couldn’t squat all the way. We thought this was due to her leg. Sometimes she couldn’t hold her urine and other times it wouldn’t come out all or in dribbles. We thought it may be a urinary infection and return to the vet the next day with a sample. She found nothing in the urine but did say it sounds like there was a little water in one of her lungs. She gave her a antibiotic 2 week shot and told us to see how she does after another 24hrs before running more tests. That night she started acting like she was drunk and was very restless. She would lie down and for a few minutes and then move to another spot, not being able to get comfortable. At about midnight she finally laid down on her bed next to mine and appeared to be sleeping. About 2:00am I woke up to her very loud short breathing. It sounded like she was a little congested. I went over to pet her face and while I was petting her which she really didn’t acknowledge, her legs went straight arched her back, groaned and she was gone. The vet said it was cardiac arrest. Could she have over done it playing the day before and stressed her heart or weakend it? The vet listened to her heart twice but didn’t mention anything.

  99. Doc says:

    Hello, Tim,

    I am sorry for your loss. As I follow the narrative of your dog’s sudden mysterious illness and untimely death, I am in sympathy with both you and your veterinarian.

    As events developed, each action taken seems reasonable and appropriate, but in hindsight it is obvious that we were missing something. In cases like this, we always have a tendency to “second guess” or “Monday Morning Quarterback” — what should we have done differently?

    If one knew that the dog were going to nose-dive and had unlimited resources, would electrocardiograms, C-T scans, echo-cardiograms, blood tests, every test known to man… would we have been able to find and successfully treat the problem?

    I have been so frustrated with cases where pets have died suddenly (no apparent problems, no treatment). Even with a complete post-mortem and sending all tissues to the pathologist, we sometimes cannot determine the cause of death.

    Cardiac arrest means that your heart stopped. Well, that always happens when the body dies. Why did it stop? I cannot even speculate.

    Despite the unhappy result, I cannot look at what you tell me and point out any specific spot where I would have done things differently.

    I wish I could offer you more help. I know that you will miss her.

  100. Tim Maheras says:

    Hello Dr. Everett,

    thank you so much for the quick response and for your kind understanding of
    the situation. We understand that given the information you have it is very
    difficult to provide a sure fire answer as to what could have been. We are
    understanding that we did what we could given what we knew, as did our vet.
    The dogs personality as invincible and the fact that she never so much as
    yelped or showed any outward signs of discomfort other than her posture and
    slight fever (which peaked at 39.9 Celsius), made us and the vet think that
    exhaustion was the culprit. While we cannot change what happened we have
    become familiar with dog cpr and know better what to do should this happen
    again.

    We have another male standard 4yrs old and a 10 year old chiauau to take
    care of now, do you think they understand and do they mourn, if so any
    advice

    thank you again

    Tim and Valerie (spouse of Tim and person writing this response)

  101. Doc says:

    Hello Valerie and Tim,

    I’m not sure that “understand” is the right word in a case like this. I have no doubt that the other dogs know their friend is gone, and that they miss her. Dogs are very social animals, with the human pack, dog pack, or the mixed human & dog pack. Maybe “friendship” isn’t the right word, but one certainly sees special buddies or hunting partners within a larger group of dogs.

    It would not be surprising to see the remaining dogs looking for their buddy and being a little anxious or upset when she does not appear. I suspect they will make the adjustment on their own in a week or so.

    Good luck.

  102. ken richards says:

    We had a Cocker Spaniel 10years old who for 3 years
    was on medication for a Heart Murmer Vetmed/Fortecker/Fusamide
    sadly he passed away 4 weeks ago
    he had been fine all day and sat on the chair we called him for his food but could not move,and did not eat when offered to him
    he jumped off the chair took a few steps and collasped and lost control of his urine & poo.
    we called the emergency vet who said he could not get there for one hour.During this time he had 4 heart attacks (yelping & stiff limbs etc)
    and died just as the vet arrived
    given his condition over the last 3 years would we have saved him if we could get a vet to him more quickley

    ken

  103. Doc says:

    Hello, Ken,

    I am sorry to hear of your loss.

    Given the long history of heart disease in your dog, I doubt that a more timely examination would have made the difference.

    When we have an unhappy outcome, we always look for what we could have done differently. We “what if”, wishing that things could be better.

    When my father died with his third heart attack, I was glad that my brother was with him, that he ambulance arrived in five minutes, and the best doctor in town was working the emergency room. Even though we lost him, I was thankful that there no “if only” items to worry about till the end of time. Everything that could have been done, WAS done.

    When you feel that perhaps more could have been done, it tends to haunt you. You would probably feel better if there had been a doctor right there performing heroic measures, knowing that nothing was being left undone.

    Even so,as hard as your situation was, I doubt the outcome would have been changed.

    We just have to remember the good times and go on. It takes a while.

    Best wishes.

  104. Greg Allen says:

    Similar story to others, but I’ll tell it:

    Two weeks ago on the day after Christmas, I came home and my 3 dogs were all fine and perky. My 100lb 12yo Shepherd/mix was fine. I let them out to do their business, which they all did normally. She came back up to the door thinking she might be going on a walk and was fine. I decided not to walk them, but took them out a treat and came in for one minute.

    When I came back out, she was laying upright on the ground taking very very deep, slow, long breaths. A slight amount of drool was coming out. She would not drink water or look directly at me. She was not choking as air was going in and out – just very deep, long, and slow breaths.

    I came inside to call the after-hours vets and looking out of the window, saw her attempt to stand up. She did so very wobbly. Took 3 steps, “hunched” her rear, and her bowels emptied out a large amount of stool (not liquid, normal, but lots of it). She then wobbled over the middle of the yard and laid down upright, and then fell over on one side. When I got to her, she continued the slow labored breathing for around 3-4 minutes, but she then passed away. There was no apparent sign of pain – just her staring forward and tongue was sticking out and oddly twisted to the side.

    While she was 12, she was according to her recent yearly, an extremely healthy and active dog for her age, with no outlying medical problems (at least visible).

    Over and over here I keep hearing that without a necropsy nothing can be determined, but with decades of modern veterinary medicine history today, I find it hard to believe that there isn’t a “short list” of “most likely” causes. After reading various boards, it’s apparent this is happening somewhat frequently, so one would think enough data has been collected to at least have reasonable theories aside from always saying that a necropsy has to be done to figure anything out (if it can even be figured out), such as “7 out of 10 times based on this description it usually comes down to being a stroke”, etc etc. I mean, decades of data and a necropsy is still needed to even narrow the causes down?

    I’m grieving more than I have over human losses, but I’m also angered that while some vets are being accused of being lazy and just saying anything, others have the “we have no idea at all, unless we dissect your dog” answer as well.

  105. Doc says:

    Hello, Greg,

    I am sorry for your loss. Your pain and frustration are obvious, and understandable.

    The body is an incredibly complex piece of machinery. You want a “short list” of most likely events. Okay: Stroke, ruptured tumor on the spleen with rapid internal hemorrhage, aneurysm that ruptures with internal hemorrhage, the old reliable heart attack.

    There’s a short list of things you’d never notice on a physical exam. You’d have to do full body MRI to anticipate some of them.

    Is there anything in your history to point us toward the actual cause of death? Not really. We don’t have psychic powers. We can speculate, but we don’t “just know” without looking.

    It surprises me that the majority of clients do not wish to have a post-mortem performed, even on those occasions where I offer to do it at my expense. “It won’t bring him back.” It won’t, that’s for sure. “I don’t want to put him through that.” Well, you wouldn’t be, because he’s gone. This is just the body he left behind. Makes no difference: they don’t want the body cut open, which is their choice and I respect it.

    Again, I am sorry for your loss and wish you the best.

  106. Greg Allen says:

    “Doc”,

    I should point out that while I wasn’t keen on having a necropsy done on Lucy, in the Atlanta area no vet ever offers to do it “free of charge”. If you had done that with me, I probably would have changed my mind and taken you up on it.

    I called various places that I could reach that night to try to figure out what to do. Everyone kept discussing transportation fees, tissue tests, necropsy, and then cremation – and then quoted anywhere from $750 to $900 for all of it.

    This was not something I could focus on just 2 hours after my dog passed suddenly, and to be honest, it would have put me in debt for over a year to pay for it. None of them offered any kind of reduced fees or to do any parts of it at no charge. In Atlanta anyway – pet death is apparently a profitable business for some.

    I didn’t expect solid 100% answers. It’s just that some of the post answers on here made it sound like vets have “no clue” unless a full necropsy is done, and to me, based on MY own experience only, that just sounded like a way for people to make some extra money off of it. If you have offered free or reduced-fee work for some your grieving patients, then I honestly then do applaud you, and I would have taken you up on it, myself. Too bad others don’t always feel the same way.

  107. Doc says:

    Greg,

    A complete post-mortem can be a big job, especially on a big dog. It would take 30 to 60 minutes. If you find something obvious like a big hemorrhage, you’re done. If there is nothing visible to the naked eye, that’s another story. It’s no funny project to open the skull for even a “naked-eye” look at the brain.

    If there is nothing visible to the naked eye, then you take specimens of tissue to submit to pathologist. They charge by the tissue, so you could spend $90 to $300 with the pathologist (my cost).

    Our local (50 miles away) crematory charges $200 plus for most pets. I am fortunate in having some farm ground outside of town. We periodically do group burials there for the cost of the back-hoe operator. This enables me to do a pet’s burial for around $30. I am sure this is not an option in Atlanta.

    I don’t do freebies very often. Mostly I offer when a pet has had an apparently mysterious death, or an illness that did not respond to treatment, and the owner is a long-time client.

    I feel pretty comfortable in saying that nobody is offering post-mortem exam as a “way to make money off the pet’s death”. The plain fact of the matter is that if you want to KNOW, you have to look.

    I do understand that it’s a little difficult to focus on comparison shopping when you have just lost a friend. That’s how funeral homes make the big bucks. I bought a hell of a nice coffin for my father. It’s buried now and nobody will ever see it again. At the time, it made me feel better, so that’s what I did. You just do the best you can.

  108. J. Maggs says:

    Hi Doc, we’ve just lost a four year old St Bernard very suddenly. He had dry retched just a couple of times the previous few days, nothing much. Then on Friday he was a little off his food although drinking plenty. We kept checking his stomach and it was normal size and shape, no bloating or distension.

    On Saturday morning his tail was down, he was restless and wouldn’t eat anything (although he was still drinking.) We called the emergency vet ambulance and put him on the lead waiting for them to come. Before they even arrived, he reared up on his lead and crashed to the ground. He let out one cry and that was it, he’d gone. He was a very fit, lean dog, always full of fun and we miss him terribly.

    Do you think being on his lead (he wasn’t used to it, but I put the collar on him about twenty minutes earlier and he seemed fine with it then) helped cause his death? We couldn’t afford an autopsy – and nothing would bring him back. But we wish we had some idea why he died. It was so sudden and so awful.

  109. Doc says:

    Hello, J. Maggs,

    I wish that I could give you some closure, but I am as mystified as you.

    I certainly do NOT feel that putting the dog on his leash had anything whatsoever to do with his death. This is hard enough without feeling guilt about something that absolutely was NOT the cause of death.

    I know you will miss the guy.

  110. Greg Allen says:

    Doc,

    I’m going to ask just one more question and I won’t bother you any more since there are many others who need your advice on here, but you should hopefully be able to answer this as it’s kicking me in the head.

    When Lucy (described a couple of posts above) had her cardiac or “whatever case” event that caused her to pass quickly in our yard, I was frantically on the phone trying to reach after-hours Vets in my area to see if any of them could tell me what to do, or what it might be. Deep down, I guess I should have known this was “it” due to the collapse and all, but I guess my brain wouldn’t accept it and I was trying to get phone help instead.

    I have one roommate, and he’s been around Lucy much of her life, so she was really close to him too. He was able to get out there in the yard with her immediately after she collapsed, and stayed with her until she passed. But I’m kicking myself mentally every day thinking that it should have been me out there instead of on the phone trying to get help that didn’t exist for what was happening. She should have been looking at me during her final moments – not anyone else, even though it was someone she cared about regardless.

    Ok, that was more shrink 101 than veterinary, but here’s my question: A coworker suggested to me that by the time she collapsed, even though it appeared she was awake and conscious, that by this stage that maybe she was already mostly “gone”, in terms of awareness, and that it really wouldn’t have mattered (to her) if it was me or him or anyone else out there with her. I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not, but are they right? If a dog is experiencing an end of life event whatever the cause, by the time they collapse and are taking their last minute of breaths, are they fully “aware” of their surroundings, or already technically gone by that time? Last question. I won’t bug you more after that one.

  111. Doc says:

    Greg,

    This is a difficult question. In people, those who have experienced “near-death”, or even been “clinically dead” have a variety of recollections or lack thereof. As with those who have been “in a coma” or under anesthesia, some individuals have clear and complete memories of what went on during their period of apparent unconsciousness, while others have no recollection whatsoever.

    So this comes down to: what is the nature of consciousness? And the answer is that we don’t know. If you believe (as I do) that people (and to a lesser extent animals) are spiritual beings, then the spirit may or may not hang around a failing body, and who knows for how long?

    So, I don’t know. Do dogs go to heaven, or pick up a new puppy body and start over here? I don’t know.

    Stop beating yourself up. When we teach first aid to Scouts, sending someone for help or calling 911 is the first thing you do, even before assessing the pulse and airway. That’s what you did.

    Take care.

  112. Michael Moore says:

    I had a 6 month old Maltese named Parker. He was my little boy. I left him with a friend while I went to college that day as I had many times before, they have a 5 month old mini snousher. While playing with his girlfriend he simply yelped, fell over and quit breathing. I recieved the call about what happened and had them take Parker to the vet. The vet said that he probably had an aneurysm, is that possible? Thinking back on the situation my friends told me that he was “hacking” outside when they took him to go potty. Parker liked cigarette butts and would always pick them up, but I would awlays make him spit them out. I did some research and learned that the lethal dose of nicotine in a dog is 4mg per pound. Parker was 3 lbs and the amount of nicotine in a half smoked cigarette or a cigarette butt is more than enough to kill my dog. I read that, “nicotine toxicity can cause paralysis of the breathing muscles and your dog may die from an inability to breathe, sometimes within a few hours” after consuming the cigarette. Do you think this is more likely in my situation than an aneurysm?

    Thank you.

    -Michael

  113. Doc says:

    Michael,

    I sent your question to a specialist.
    Here is the toxicologist’s reply:

    “Cigarettes can contain up to 20-40 mg nicotine per piece, so a long butt might contain a lethal amount for a 3 lb dog. Nicotine would cause muscle fasciculations [tremors, twitching] followed by paralysis, which doesn’t really sound like the scenario here (yelped, fell over, stopped breathing).

    Given the history provided, I don’t think this is nicotine. A necropsy [post-mortem, “autopsy”] might shed more light on the potential cause.”

    Note that she said a necropsy “might” shed more light. A post-mortem is the only way to really tell what happened. Sometimes,however, despite our best efforts, we are still unable to 100% determine the cause of death. Guessing and speculation are not very rewarding, for sure.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  114. mari says:

    My australian bulldog died suddenly. I came home from work and I saw him standing, staring at us with excessive saliva on his chin and neck. He was ok and was a bit playful but he seemed to look a bit unusual. Couple of times he became wobbly hitting his body against the door. Then he was ok, had his food and went inside his house to sleep. The following morning we saw him outside his house in one corner of the garden which was not really his usual spot. He was still warm but a bit stiff. We took him to the vet but too late. I am sooo sad and depressed. I am so scared of losing a loved one. I want to know what happened to him while we were at work. I feel guilty that we were not there when he needed us. I want to know what happened and why it happened. He was a healthy dog. Walked everyday and complete vacc. I wish I could have done something that would have prevented his death. He was a happy and loving dog. Very sweet. I miss him so much.

  115. Kris R. says:

    Shelly,
    What you described with your 12 yr old bulldog is exactly what happened to my 11 year old bulldog last week. It was as if you were in my kitchen with us. I am so sorry for your loss, but am comforted that we got to spend so long with our loving bullies. You must have cared for her very well, since she lived so long.

  116. DAWN M. says:

    Hi! My 9 1/2 year old Border Collie was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma. She had a mass on her spleen and four small masses on her liver. Her doctor would not operate to remove the spleen because the cancer had already spread to the liver. So I took Lady to a Holistic Vet for help. Unfortunately Lady passed a couple of days ago but I am not quite sure if it was the cancer that caused the death. Her gums were not pale but her breathing was very labored. She actually got up to walk into the kitchen and then wanted to go outside but decided not too. She turned around and laid in front of the fridge. I was petting her and talking to her the entire time. Then in a minute she stretched out all four legs and her head craned back……I moved her head back to normal position cuz she scared me. After this happened though she took a few breaths and then stopped. Does this mean she had a heart attack? And if so…..was she in pain…cuz that would kill me if she suffered. Thank you!

  117. Doc says:

    Hello, Dawn,

    Hemangiosarcoma is malignant cancer composed of blood-vessel cells. They are basically big blobs of abnormal blood vessels. They generally spread throughout the body very easily. Small tumors (like half the size of a BB) can be spread all over the body, and they would not be visible on ultrasound.

    When I lost my own dog with this cancer, he had a big mass on his spleen, but when I opened him up for an exploratory (and removal of the spleen), I could see hundreds of small tumors all over his abdomen. The specialists at that time had no treatment recommendations whatsoever. Three weeks later, a tumor in his throat prevented him from swallowing, and I euthanized him.

    Today, they do treat some cases with chemotherapy, but the success rate is not good at all.

    Cause of death in these dogs is usually a rupturing of one of the tumors. The dog then bleeds to death internally. You usually don’t see any blood unless you do a post-mortem. If it were in the lungs, they might cough or spit up blood, might not.

    This internal bleeding isn’t painful, you just get really weak, really fast.

    The stretching out with head back is a frequent occurrence when a dog dies, whether from this type of blood loss, or from being euthanized. It doesn’t really mean anything in particular.

    I suspect that there was nothing that could have been done to significantly extend your dog’s life.

    I am sorry for your loss.

    • James O’Kane says:

      My pomchi aged 8 suddenly died a week ago and completely devastated the family, I woke up to to him lying on the top of the stairs breathing loudly as if he had a cough stuck in his throat, I immediately rushed him down to the vets however unfortunately he died on the journey, he had saliva coming from his mouth that had a pink tinge to it, he also had foam around his mouth, the vet said he most likely could of had a heart condition, in the coming weeks leading up to this I noticed he was coughing/wheezing, I looked it up online when it was happening and thought that is was reverse sneezing because that is exactly what it looked like and I saw with reverse sneezing there is nothing to worry about so I didn’t do anything, now I am completely kicking myself that should I of taken him to the vet earlier maybe this would of never of happened and I need closure :(, is there anything you could tell me of what he could of had by the description I have just mentioned?

      • Doc says:

        Hello, James,

        I understand how you would have been reassured by the statement that reverse sneezing is nothing to worry about. Reverse sneezing isn’t usually accompanied by wheezing.

        Both Pomeranians and Chihuahuas have a high incidence of airway problems, with weak bronchial tubes, weak tracheas (windpipe). This usually shows up as chronic cough and wheezing. It does NOT usually cause fluid buildup or bleeding.

        The outward signs you observed sound like fluid in the lungs. This can certainly be the result of heart disease. It can also be a primary lung disease, like lung cancer.

        With such a rapid decline, I have to be concerned that even if you had gotten chest X-rays when he fist started having the cough, you may very likely have found something untreatable.

        I am sorry for your loss, and I don’t think you should be beating yourself up.

        T

  118. Kelly says:

    My greyhound who was nearly 10years old, passed away suddenly on Saturday morning, I heard him get up, he would do a moan to say “I’m up” and go down the stairs, where he did the usual moan of “get up, it’s walk time” then I heard a loud bang where he had fell against the table downstairs, I jumped out of bed and I heard him cry out in pain, I got to him and he was laid still, weeing, his eyes fixed, and as i lifted him head he let out a breath, and he was gone. My heart is broken cos he was my best friend and companion for the last 6 years. I keep thinking about the cry of pain, and thinking if I had climbed out of bed before he went down stairs maybe he wouldn’t of tired himself and died. I know he died quickly, but the pain at the end makes me ache for him, as well as the fact I think he was gone before I got to him, so he would of felt alone, thank you.

  119. Doc says:

    Hello, Kelly,

    I am sorry for your loss. Sometimes those final cries are less about pain than they are about low oxygen to the brain in the final moments.

    When my father had his third and fatal heart attack, my brother (who was upstairs) heard him cry out. He rushed downstairs and found Dad unconscious. I doubt that there was any great or long pain. He never recovered consciousness and died later that night.

    It’s always hard to lose a friend.

    Best wishes.

  120. theresa payne says:

    Hi i just lost my 3 month year old golden retriever puppy that we have only had for about a month but were already in love with her. She yelped then fell to the ground we took her to the emergency animal hospital and she didn’t make it, they told us she had an aneurism. Was there a way we could have saved her because it has been bothering me if there was something we could do. The aneurism was in her head.

  121. Doc says:

    Hello, Theresa,

    An aneurysm is like a “bubble” on a tire. It is a weak place in an artery wall that has ballooned out. It is just waiting for a little more pressure to burst, causing a serious (often fatal) hemorrhage.

    The only way you could have known ahead of time would have been to have a full body MRI, and nobody ever does something like that. It’s tough to lose a puppy in the fullness of life like that, but it was a birth defect, and there was really nothing you could have done.

  122. angie barnhart says:

    Hello I lost my 3 year old english bulldog last april and I’m still trying to get over him. We took archie camping with us we were starting to set up camp and ui noticed he started panting real hard and acting restless. I tried to offer him water and he just kept moving away from me. I even sat in the grass trying to get him to come to me. Then I noticed he had was vomiting white foam. I put him in the car to rush him to the animal hospital and when I pulled in the parking lot I jumped out opened the back door and his tongue was hanging out the side and he kooked at me and fell in the floorboard of the car. We couldn’t save him. They wanted to do an autopsy but I felt like that wouldn’t bring him back. Can u please tell me what happened to my archie? All this happened within an hours time. Thank u!

  123. Doc says:

    Hello, Angie,

    I wish that I could be more help to you. While we know that English Bulldogs have a lot of breathing issues, it doesn’t sound like your dog had been over-exerting himself or getting too hot.

    While the post-mortem certainly would not have brought him back, it was really the only way to find out more about his cause of death.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  124. Candy says:

    My 6 year old papillon mix died in December. She was pacing a bit one day, and then just quiet. I called the vet and nobody seemed worried (she had luxating patellas so sometimes would act weird due to pain from that). I didn’t know anything was serious, I went to take her to the vet the next morning and she fell over as she walked to me to get the leash. They said she was critical when we got there but never told me with what. X rays and bloodwork didn’t indicate anything. She had just been there days before for a bladder infection that was clear. They gave her fluids and oxygen which seems to me treats some symptoms but not the problem. A few hours later they said she was stable. Then an hour after that they called and told me to come and she was gone. They said she stood up in the cage and then fell over. I was too distraught to ask for a necropsy. The vet then asked if maybe she had been poisoned but wouldn’t that have showed in the test? English was not her first language and I felt like I got no answers, the only thing she said was her heart looked slightly larger than it was 2 months prior. I don’t know what to think. The main vet who speaks English called me after I wrote asking what was the problem, how can they treat if they don’t know what they are treating? All he said that by looking at the charts, she maybe had an embolism or aneurysm. I don’t understand and I’m mad that they didn’t know. She was alive and fine just days before. She was eating up to the night before she died. It was the weekend before Christmas. I wish I took her Saturday but I was busy getting ready and when I called nobody sounded concerned about the pacing and it didn’t happen all night and she ate dinner and everything. I can’t get over it. I wish I knew what happened.

  125. Doc says:

    Hello, Candy,

    I wish I had an answer for you. The circumstances of your dog’s death don’t really give me any more clues than do the speculations of your veterinarian.

    I know that is heart-breaking for you and terribly frustrating. You can’t keep from wondering “What if I had taken her earlier?”. If she had an aneurysm or embolism, it would have made no difference. We are really not able to detect those things with physical examination or routine tests.

    If you had taken your dog to a university veterinary teaching hospital, they might have been able to make the diagnosis using the more sophisticated equipment that is not available in a private veterinarian’s office. With the earlier signs that you describe, I cannot imagine any veterinarian thinking the illness was life-threatening. Thus, I can’t see how anyone would have considered sending you to a referral institution.

    Given the rapid deterioration of your dog’s condition, it is possible that even at a teaching hospital the only way to make the diagnosis would have been post-mortem.

    As with so many of these cases, when the owner is distressed and doesn’t want to confront the necropsy being done (on top of losing their pet), we don’t press for it. Unfortunately, when answers are demanded later, there is then no way to provide them.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  126. Meg says:

    Hello,

    Thank you for all of the good info you offer here. My 12 1/2 year old miniature schnauzer died suddenly yesterday. I am completely devastated as she had no serious problems health-wise. Yesterday evening, I went out to check on her and could not find her. I called her and finally saw her lying over in a corner of the house next to a central air conditioning unit. I had to get right up on her to get her to wake up. When she finally did wake up, she slowly walked about half way and then just stopped and could go no farther. I knew something was wrong with her at that point, so I carried her into the house. She was very weak and very despondent. I called my husband out and we felt of her heart, which felt a little funny – erratic, so we decided to take her to the emergency vet on call. The vet listened to her heart and said she had an arrhythmia and would need some blood tests and medicine. This was not her normal vet. But, she seemed competent, nonetheless. Her lab work came back okay with only an elevated liver enzyme. She gave her some heart medicine that did not work, to which she found her with a more severe erratic rhythm than before, so then she gave her another heart medicine called digoxin. It was shortly after this the vet said that she went into a seizure and died. She tried to do CPR, but couldn’t get her back. I know as part of the grief process it is common to wonder “what if” and “why”, and I have already buried her because I know an autopsy would not bring her back. My question is – do you think the vet was thorough enough in her examination? Should not an EKG or ultrasound have been performed before giving the heart medicine, or can a vet make a diagnosis by listening only? Also why would she be fine yesterday morning and suddenly weak with a heart arrhythmia last night? I am just confused about the whole thing. I had worried that maybe she got to hot yesterday, as it was in the low 90’s (we have plenty of shade in our back yard though), and the vet assured me that she was not overheated from checking her temperature, etc. She feels that she had an underlying heart defect that just worsened because of old age.

    Please give me your opinion on this. I am not blaming the vet. I know she probably did her best. And, I am trying not to blame myself. But, do you think there is anything else that could have been done to help her? If she was misdiagnosed, could the heart medicines have killed her? On a side note, she had been rather hard to wake up recently. Could this have amounted to anything?

    Thanks for your help and listening ear.

    Meg

  127. Doc says:

    Hello, Megan,

    I’m sorry that I missed replying to your comment. I don’t know if the veterinarian had access to an electrocardiogram or chest x-rays or consultation with a cardiologist. All of those would have been ideal.

    It is possible for medications used in heart disease to exceed their margin of safety. In other words, a little is helpful, and a little more can be harmful.

    From what you have said, it sounds like your dog was deteriorating very rapidly, going from feeling pretty decent to being down and out in a very short period of time. With that sort of progression of signs, I have to feel that even if you had been able to go directly to a cardiologist at a veterinary college teaching hospital, you might still very well have lost your pet.

    Even with as much information as we can gather, sometimes it is difficult to know exactly what has happened. It sounds like something may have been going on for a while, with her being hard to wake up and so forth.

    It sounds like the veterinarian who saw your dog did as much as could be done. It doesn’t sound like you had a very big window of time.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  128. Jennifer Schneider says:

    Hi,

    Our 11 year old yellow labrador died on the morning of July 4. My husband found him lying in his kennel when he went to let him and our other lab out. He had his head through a hole in the kennel door that he had made weeks before (due to anxiety with storms), but it was not tight around his neck. We were able to move his neck, there was no hair missing, no blood, etc. so we do not feel that he had choked himself. There was nothing around him except for a lot of drool, and 1 or 2 drops of blood. We feel that he had been like that for possibly and hour or so. He was laying very peacefully on his side (no looks of struggling to free his head, which he had done in the past). His stomach was already a bit hard, his mouth was locked tight where I couldn’t even open it (I had wanted to check to see if he swallowed his tongue due to a possible seizure) and his legs were already stiff from rhygamortous setting in.

    Even though he was up there in age this was very unexpected for us. He was just at the vet at the end of May and everything checked out great for his health. He did have a severe issue of anxiety with thunderstorms, and the anxiety was getting worse with every storm. He was on pills for his anxiety, but they didn’t do much for him. The week prior to his passing we had a storm almost every day, so we had thought that maybe the stress from that week had wore on his heart.

    He was acting normal up to that morning when we found him. Eating normal, no blood in his stool or urine, playful as always. It had been hot that day, but no hotter than it had been in previous days and we didn’t do anything to over-exert him.

    Our veterinarian feels that he might have suffered from heat exhaustion.

    Any thoughts that you can give us in regards to this would be greatly appreciated. We miss Hunter very much and it is just so much more painful not having answers. We continue to wonder if the outcome would have been different had we found him sooner.

    Thank you,
    Jennifer

  129. Billy and Ginny Graham says:

    we lost our baby this week he was only 8 years old and had just been to the vet last week for his allergies and an ear infection we didnt know about the vet gave him 2 shots antibotic pills and drops for his ear he stopped itching did everything as usual stuck his tounge out if was hungry when you ask him had chicken for dinner late after noon my husband always feed him by hand each and every bite we went for a golf cart ride together came home and had vanilla ice cream together he’d eat right from our spoon bite for bite one for me one for him and he played with my husband with a little stuffed toy like always then laid down at his feet like usual to rest till we took him to bed with us and all the sudden we heard this primal sounding sound and he deficated we both got up to see what was wronge and i thought maybe he had had gas and had pooped but the sound was like nothing we had ever heard and his toungue hung out I looked at him and he didn’t look like he was breathing and his eys wide open I gave him mouth to mouth there was a little slobber and I thought he would come back I listen to him and I ran to get a stephascope to listen to him I thought maybe I just couln’t hear him or see him breathing or his heart beating and my husband continued to give him cpr nothing helped I wrapped him up after we cleanded him up from the poop and I just held him and cried for around and hour and ahalf when my husband came in from outside and said it was time to bury our best friend a 20 lb pekeense wonderful little guy I can’t stop crying about him when we come in the door I still look for him to be there to great me with a big kiss like he always did what do you think could of happened to him the vet said his heart sounded good he wasn’t overweight he never showed any signs of anything wronge before that moment

  130. Doc says:

    Hello, Jennifer,

    I wish that I could give you a better answer.

    All the cases of heat exhaustion or heat stroke that I have seen were in very hot weather, and involved one of two situations: a dog that is caught or tangled up in something and struggling to free itself, unable to do so, no access to shade or water, (and that is almost all of the severe or fatal cases I have seen) OR a dog that is so excited and happy to be running and playing with the folks that it just ove-rexerts and over-heats, just as people can do when working outdoors in severely hot weather. I have only seen one dog die in this way.

    With an eleven-years old Labrador, there are too many possibilities to narrow it down without a post-mortem exam.

    Most people with an older dog don’t want to deal with the euthanasia issue, and start hoping their deteriorating friend will just die in his sleep, so they don’t have to make the decision.

    I wish I could tell you why this happened, but it doesn’t sound like he suffered at all from your description.

    Best wishes.

  131. Doc says:

    Dear Grahams,

    As so often happens in these circumstances, we really have no information to go on. The terminal events you have described with the strange sounds, drooling, and emptying of the colon — these are not specific, and commonly occur when an animal’s spirit leaves the body, regardless of the cause.

    Sometimes we are unable to determine the full cause, even with a thorough post-mortem examination. Of course, many folks decide that the best way to deal with the pain is to hurry up and bury their friend, and start the grieving process. Few pet-owners want to contemplate their friend being cut open, even though later they find they really want the closure the information might have brought.

    I wish that I could tell you something helpful, but I cannot.

    Take care.

  132. Jennifer Schneider says:

    Thanks for getting back to me.

    Based on what I shared with you, about how we found Hunter that morning, do you have any other ideas of what else it might have been, if not heat exhaustion? I know that you said it could have been a lot of things, especially with him having been an 11 year Labrador, but just curious as to if you have any other thoughts in regards to our situation with Hunter.

    We do feel that he did not suffer, as you had mentioned, but it is always hard not knowing for sure and wondering if you could have done something to help one of your best friends.

    Again, thank you for your time and responses.

    Jennifer

  133. Doc says:

    Jennifer,

    Older dogs can have internal tumors that rupture and bleed. They can have aneurysms that rupture and bleed. They can have failing hearts.

    I really don’t have any way of making a meaningful speculation.

  134. Ccpetcare says:

    Hi there,

    While taking my 7 1/2 year old dog out for his afternoon business yesterday he started to look like he wasn’t feeling well as it was hot and humid out we immediately started back for home after wetting him down with some water. At this point we weren’t out more than 10 minutes. I turned to find my cat who was following us and when I turned back around I witnessed my dog stiffen up and fall over sideways. I ran to his side and he let out the most heartwrenching screach and moan that broke my heart. Upon starting to carry him him he began having trouble breathing and first his gums turned real pale white and then his tongue and gums turned blue as my hubby ran to get the truck. By the time we got to the E-vet he was really struggling to breathe.

    We were told he had a massive cardiac event and they were unable to stablilize his vitals and said he kept having heartattacks while they were treating him and going into rigor. He was unable to breathe on his own and there was no circultion going on in his body and he was ice cold and his organs were starting to shut down. There was no way his body could fight the event and we had to have him PTS. He had no history of heart problems and had just had a clear physical and good bloodwork one week earlier.

    We are devastated that such a young dog could enter into such an event after just having been running around and playing the day before.

    I am disturbed by the article saying pets don’t have heart attacks it certainly looked and acted like one.

    Why can’t we do more to help a dog survive such an event in this day of modern medicine my faith in vets is starting to be lost.

  135. Doc says:

    I would not say that dogs cannot have heart attacks. It is just that they rarely have the type of myocardial infarction that people have. They CAN have one, but since they don’t generally have atherosclerosis and fatty plagues, it is rare.

    At the E-clinic, they would have the necessary instrumentation to really see what was going on, and I would trust their diagnosis.

    The thrust of the article is that I object to folks just casually tossing off “heart attack” whenever there is a sudden death of a pet, and no exam has been done either pre or post mortem.

    I am sorry for your loss. I do not believe that the emergency clinic has misled you.

  136. Ccpetcare says:

    I am sure they did not mislead me as I was there and saw the distress he was in and watched him turn blue and had to listen to him do the I’m dying squeal when he collapsed. It’s just that they called it a heart attack. For all I know it was an aneurysm or other event either way his body shut down and didn’t want to come back. I didn’t see the point of putting my baby through an autopsy when it wouldn’t change anything.

    I have just finished becoming a pet first aid instructor so realized he was in serious trouble and knew it was really bad but am wondering if it is possible to give baby aspirin to your pet like they do with people when they have a cardiac or clotting event?

    Thank you for your sympathy.

  137. Doc says:

    I doubt that an aspirin would make much difference with such a severe and sudden event. For people that’s more when you’re having chest pains, rather than being on CPR.

  138. Ccpetcare says:

    Is there any reasearch or in you experience has giving a dog with an underlying undiagnosed medical condition vaccines resulted in sudden death of the pet within a week or so?

    I seem to be reading a lot of stories where pets collapse and die a short time after having vaccines?

    My Sonny had lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever last year which was treated and from which blood tests showed he’d recovered it was to the point where we had to watch him for spontaneous bleeding because his blood count was so low.

    he tested positive for lyme at the exam this year and they placed him on Doxycyline although they said it could just be from last years exposure and he seemed to feel a little perkier starting a few days after starting the doxy. He had really started slowing down and not wanting to walk around the neighborhood as much the past six months and we never pushed him beyond what he was comfortable with.

    Is it possible that these diseases could cause a heart problem that went undiagnosed? I have read that sometimes there can be viral infections that cause heart issues.
    His bloodwork and -x-ray showed nothing on the day he collapsed.

    it is not that I don’t realize the importance of making sure our pets are immune to deadly diseases but am left to wonder if our older pets who dont come in contact with other dogs on a daily basis and arent kenneled need to continue to be vaccinated on a once yearly or every three year basis.

    He did however once when he was about 2 have an event that seemed like a small seizure where he was pacing and panicky and then layed on the floor with twitchy muscles for about and hour and a half. he was completly responsive to calling his name and asking him to lay down. I called the E-vet who said just keep an eye on him and if he became worse to call back. I layed on the floor talked to him and rubbed him and it finally went away. At this time an exam showed nothing either.

    He also did this same type of panic/twitching when stung by bees and benadryl cleared it right up and then again on a couple of other occasions over the years but they never lasted as long as the first.

    I am now left to wonder if maybe he had an undiagnosed congenital defect and those small episodes were a sign of things to come but I know we willnever really know.

  139. Doc says:

    I am sorry to hear about your loss. I think it is very unlikely that there is any association between recent vaccines and sudden death.

    In your case, I would be much more likely to agree with your speculation that his previous illnesses produced some lasting effect.

    To have found that type of heart damage previously would have required ECG, Echochardiogram, and probably an angiogram (where dye is used to outline the blood vessels that supply the heart). These are not things one would be doing on any kind of routine basis.

    These situations are always traumatic. We feel that if we had just “noticed something sooner”, maybe we could have saved our pet. It’s hard not to blame ourselves, or at least to look for someone to blame.

    The body is incredibly complex. It is amazing that it works so well. There are so many things that could go wrong.

    When that happens, it’s hard for us to face the fact that there things we don’t understand and cannot fix.

  140. Ccpetcare says:

    “These situations are always traumatic. We feel that if we had just “noticed something sooner”, maybe we could have saved our pet. It’s hard not to blame ourselves, or at least to look for someone to blame.

    The body is incredibly complex. It is amazing that it works so well. There are so many things that could go wrong.

    When that happens, it’s hard for us to face the fact that there things we don’t understand and cannot fix.”

    I think you’ve explained my moral dilema perfectly there. I am aggravated that I could not “fix him” despite all the pet first aid & cpr training I have been taking. I hoped by learning more I would “notice things sooner” with my pets but they are so hard as they are good at masking symptoms or just plain don’t show any symptoms until it is too late.

    Would you recommend when a dog has lyme/rocky mountain spotted fever to such an extent that their blood cell count is really low an ecg or angiogram be done afterwards? When he was retested it came up alright but without symptoms one would not know if such a disease caused damage.

    I try to at least learn from each traumatic experience.

    Thank you for your answers

  141. Tara Soule says:

    Hello,
    So 3 days ago I lost my 9 year old dog. She was the best dog in the world. I’m very upset and broken hearted about all of this. About a month ago I took her to the vet she was dragging her butt and had some bleeding. They said she had an abcess anal gland and put her on medication for that. The morning she died she acted fine I let her out to go to the bathroom she did her business while I loaded the car to head to my sister’s house. Everytime she saw me with a bag other than my purse she would assume she was going “bye bye” She acted like she did any other time bouncing around getting excited all that jazz. I called for her and had to fight with her to get her back in the house. She came, although very dissapointed that she couldn’t come with me. I put her back in the house and closed the door behind me. My husband called about an hour later and said she had passed away. I don’t understand. He said he heard her yelping and opened the back porch door (which is inside) and she was on the last stair. She was headed into the basement. When she took her step down the second set of stairs her legs gave out and she fell. He said she was moving really weird and it sounded like she was gasping for air. He immediately ran to her and was petting her telling her to calm down. He said within 30 seconds she had gone completely limp and stopped breathing. There was a small trail of blood from the top of the stairs (where she always layed) going into the basement. Where she fell and layed gasping for her last breaths there was a small pool of blood. She was bleeding out of her mouth. There is no possible way she got into any kind of poision and EVERYONE in my neighborhood just loved her. Not to mention I was outside with her the whole time. Poision just doesn’t make sense. For about two weeks prior to this she would always go outside and try and eat the grass and throw up. Other than that being strange there was nothing else. She acted everyday as though she always had. Playfull, alert, excited, etc. My husband said within 3 minutes it was all over. She had passed. Can someone please help me. I’m not looking for an exact answer because I know that’s not possible without an autopsy but if someone could please point me in the direction of what things it may have been that would be very appreciated. Thanks

  142. Doc says:

    Hello, Ccpetcare,

    I guess if money were no object, you’d run every test you could think of to assess the health of the animal.

    In an animal that seemed to recover well from the disease, I cannot imagine a doctor making a blanket recommendation for ECGs, much less an angiogram (not a job for an amateur, by the way – referral institution needed there).

    Stuff happens. Not a comforting conclusion, but there it is.

  143. Gina says:

    My westie of 6 years old died suddlenly at 2am this morning. He wasn’t himself , vomitted a few times but this happened often after he spent the day looking for the bone he had buried, he normally got an upset tummy, vomitted a few times and then was back to normal. After I noticed he was a bit unwell at approx 7pm,I rang the vet who said becasue of his history of getting gastro from digging up old bones, its probably what it is and to just monitor him. We went to bed but was checking on him every half hour, then we heard the dog next door barking like crazy at 2am and we went out to find our dog Beau dead. The guilt that rips through me is killing me. Why didn’t I just take him to the vet to be sure??? I loved him like one of my children and now I will never forgive myself.

  144. Doc says:

    Hello, Gina,

    I understand how you feel. When we have a bad outcome, we always look for something we could have done differently.

    Would it have been better, or just different?

    While we cannot know what was the cause of your dog’s death, I must say that if he died in such short order, it is likely that the doctor at the emergency clinic would have been unable to save him anyway.

    We’ll never know for sure, but beating yourself up won’t bring him back. You made the best decision you could make with the information that you had. That is all we can ever do.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  145. Ray says:

    Hi,
    My 5 1/2 year old border collie died last month and I’m still devastated. In the morning he woke as usual to go into the kitchen to get some food. When I left for work he was still his usual self. My mom told me she took my dog out for a walk. She then started playing fetch with him. After several throws. She heard a yelp and my dog ran up to her and collapsed. He started trembling and died shortly after. My mom was crying hysterically. Some bystanders saw what happened and one man actually felt my dog for anything unusual when he was trembling. They saw a bee dead bee next to him and they think he might have gotten stung in the mouth and died from anaphylactic shock. When I got home, I was in complete shock and felt responsible for his death. I felt like I should’ve seen some symptoms. I primed my nasal spray in my room, could he have inhaled some? I googled the nasal spray I was using. They apparently did animal testing on the nasal spray I was using but the results indicate a very large dosage to kill a dog and he didn’t symptoms of poisoning. I also was rough playing with him several days before and accidentally punched him in the face. But he was fine, he didn’t even yelp. Could these factors have caused it? I did however notice him breathing very loud in his sleep like a week before but I thought that was normal for dogs to have different breathing rhythms during sleep, but his heart was beating really fast. He was so loyal, he would follow us off leash everywhere. He never wandered far. I always thought he thought of us as his sheep. He was still his usual self til the moment he past. We didn’t get a necropsy, but I really wished I did now. We had him cremated and his remains are in a wooden box above our fireplace.

  146. Doc says:

    Hello, Ray,

    You can rest easy on both your rough play and the nasal spray. Those nasal sprays can be a problem, but not with a mild spritz. We have trouble when the dog bites the bottle and eats a lot of the drug directly. The effects would also be immediate.

    Anaphylactic shock with bee stings is not a common thing in dogs, but is certainly possible. As with people, if you don’t have epinephrine available immediately, the results can be fatal.

    I regret that I cannot offer you a good explanation of what occurred.

    I am sorry for you loss.

  147. Ray says:

    Thanks for the response doc. I talked to my mother a little more about it and she said the hairs around his neck rose and his neck was really tight. At first she thought he might have swallowed the ball, but they found the ball next to his thigh. When he passed, he had no blood anywhere. Normally when I hear about dogs dying from a heart attack or stroke people usually see blood coming out of the nose. Also he did not collapse after he yelped, he was able to run to my mother and collapse at her feet. I felt that if I were there, I could have possibly saved him because there was a veterinary hospital only 10 blocks away and was told he was trembling for around 5 mins before he stopped. But my mother was panicking and she would’ve had to carry the dog 4-5 blocks to my house and drive there. Does the hair standing around his neck and his throat being tight indicate he could’ve died from asphyxiation? When I came home from work, his gums where really inflamed. The thought he could’ve passed that way makes it harder for me to cope.

  148. Dianne Dilena says:

    Two days ago I lost my magnificant Black Lab/Great Dane mix. We made him human, and took him everywhere with us. He couldn’t walk down the street without people stopping to ask about him.
    Bailey was my soulmate and best friend, he gave love 24/7.
    He was only 8yrs old, healthy, he ate his breakfast, and I was taking Bailey out for his morning walk, he got up to come to me, collasped into the table, his legs stretched out,took two difficult breathes, and wailed two crys, lost his bowls, and was dead with his soulfull deep brown eyes open.This took two minutes. I was hysterical, I closed his eyes and put his tongue in his mouth, and my husband and I have cried ever since. We called the his vet and she said it was probably a heart attack. I know Danes don’t have a long life span, but I thought being half Lab we had more time with our Big Boy. I couldn’t anything to save him except scream there’s something wrong with Bailey.

  149. Doc says:

    Hello, Ray,

    The signs that you describe are really not specific to any particular cause of death: raised hairs, neck, blood in mouth or nose. They just don’t really tell us much.

    Quit beating yourself up.

  150. Doc says:

    Hello, Dianne,

    This sudden loss is so difficult to deal with. It’s like you couldn’t “get ready”. The thing is, you really can’t “get ready”. Watching a loved one deteriorate slowly, seeing the end coming — it’s not easy. You don’t get ready, get prepared. You know it’s coming, but I don’t think that makes it much easier.

    My father died suddenly with his third heart attack. You could say that it being his third one makes it sound like it wasn’t very sudden. I suppose I should have been expecting it “someday”, but he enjoyed every bit of his final day. One of my good friends watched his father die slowly and painfully with esophageal cancer over a six month period. Plenty of time to get ready, but not a good time.

    It’s just hard to lose a loved one. No good way to do it.

  151. Lindsay Fortney says:

    Two nights ago our nearly 3 year old CKC rottweiler refused to go on a walk. I pulled him because sometimes he would be stubborn and we wanted to get him going for his exercize. After a block he started frothing uncontrollably at the mouth…we were concerned but thought it was half from the heat. He would not continue home and seemed out of it so I got my husband to run home and get the car. Ivan tried to jump in the car but half fell on the way in. My husband lifted him in. We got him home and I tried to give him some water. I saw that his tongue was blue and ran to call the vet (after hours cell phone) and by the time I got back I knew he was dying. My husband tried giving CPR but our beloved dog passed away. 2 days before this episode Ivan was prescribed antibiotics for hotspots, given heart worm medicine without an up to date test and given some Chinese herb medicine for dandruff. We are trying to have his heart preserved for testing because are breeder requested this. I feel awful because I pulled my seemingly fine dog down the street and 10 minutes later he ended up collapsing and dying. Could the heart worm have had anything to do with this? My vet gave the option that he possibly died from a heart attack… yet she had never noticed any irregularities in his regular visits…

  152. DOC says:

    Hello, Lindsay,

    In sincerely doubt that the heartworm preventive had any ill effects on your dog. In the rare case where a reaction occurs, one would expect it to happen within hours (if not minutes).

    Allergic or anaphylactoid reactions to antibiotics, again, with something so severe, one would not expect a delayed reaction.

    Herbal remedies are no safer than any other type of drug. One must obtain them from a reputable source, as there are many products on the market that do not contain what the label purports. Some products tested have been found to contain nothing but caffeine and inert ingredients – no herbs at all. One can overdose with herbal products, just as once can overdose with drugs.

    If your doctor prescribed this remedy, that should not have been a problem.

    While a myocardial infarction ( MI -what we call a “heart attack” in people) is rare in dogs, it can occur. There are other problems that are just as sudden, and just as frustrating. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a congenital condition that has no warning signs until the dog just suddenly dies. I lost a 3-years old Great Pyrenees patient with this just today.

    The dog is mostly in the house, shares the home with other dogs, goes outside to exercise and potty. At noon today, he didn’t come back in, and the owner found him dead in the yard.

    Post-mortem results are consistent with the cardiomyopathy. If your dog’s heart is examined by a pathologist, they will be able to tell if there has been an MI or some other type of heart muscle problem.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  153. steve says:

    My 13 year old female Collie passed away today in the morning. Most likely due to a heart attack or stroke. My mom was in her presence this morning. She was breathing heavily. When my mom came out of the shower she had passed away with a grimace look on her face along with her tounge sticking out.

    Over the past year she was breathing heavily when going outside and going upstairs.

    Do female collies normally live shorter or longer then male collies?

  154. Doc says:

    Hello, Steve,

    I am sorry to hear of your loss. Thirteen is a pretty advanced age for a large breed dog like a Collie.

    Generally speaking, as in humans, females live longer than males. Studies have shown that this is more applicable to intact females. When the ovaries are removed (as they usually are during the spaying operation), the difference between females and males is much less.

    The upside is that when the ovaries are removed, you generally don’t get breast cancer and you don’t have “female trouble”.

    So, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  155. Rita Duke says:

    I am writing about my 7 year old Beagle. He systems at first was fast breathing. I took her to my vet and she did x-rays and said it was a cold or allergys, gave her meds and she did’nt get any better.
    A week later she went blind, then the vet said she had a brain tumor. So anyways I took here to a different vet and she look at the xrays and notice that she had an enlarged heart. That was 2 years ago she is now on durics and enalapril. She’s not very active and sleeps alot. But yesterday she was alright the first couple of hours after she got up. I gave her atopica (allergy med) her water pill and her enalapril> About 30 minutes later her eyes look glassey, she was standing but it was like her body was swaying and breathing rapidly. I looked in her mouth and her tonuge and gums were purple. So I lay her down on her bed and start calling vets because mine was closed and in about 30 minutes she was waging her tail, her tonuge and gums were pink and she’s find. Was that a mild heart attack, stroke or what. It don’t make any sense to me.

  156. Doc says:

    Hello, Rita,

    I understand your distress and confusion. This certainly does not sound like a simple case.

    When the gums and tongue turn purple or blue, it means that the dog is very low on oxygen. This could happen if you were choking, or not breathing well for some other reason.

    You could have some type of severe allergic reaction, like a person who is allergic to bee-stings, where the tiny breathing tubes deep in the lungs (bronchioles) spasm shut. Usually that doesn’t get better on its own, though. That’s why people with that problem carry an Epi-Pen to treat it fast.

    With the previous history of going blind suggesting a brain tumor, I would be concerned that this might be an unusual type of seizure. They usually do recover on their own relatively fast. It might be years before you have another, or there might be another one very soon. Seizures can often be controlled with medicine, but it depends on what is causing them. Sometimes you can’t see anything even with an MRI, though that is the best way to look for a brain tumor.

    It is also possible that you could have had a temporary cardiac arrhythmia, where the heartbeat gets so irregular that the heart might as well not be beating at all. This type of episode is often fatal.

    The difficulty is making the diagnosis if it is an intermittent problem. Sometimes the electrocardiogram is normal except during the episode. This requires renting an “event monitor”. The dog wears it all the time, and it continuously records the ECG, but only stores a couple of minutes worth. If the dog has an episode, you punch the button and the monitor stores the recording for that time period. Then you send it back to the cardiologist for a read-out.

    With this history, I would recommend that you call your veterinarian. He/she will probably want to repeat the chest X-ray, do an ECG, and get some blood-work to check for other possible seizure causes.

    I wish that this were something simple, but it may not be. Your description could cover anything from a mini-stroke to a dog who needs a pace-maker for its heart.

    Call your veterinarian and make an appointment for a check-up.

    Good luck.

  157. Christy says:

    I lost my rat terrier September 15, and ever since then I Have been crying. She was my life. It is very hard without her. She died of congestive heart failure. I just wish there was something I could have done differently. I still blame myself and ask the what if’s. I am so empty and lost without her.

  158. Doc says:

    Hello, Christy,

    I am sorry for your loss. Grieving is natural at a time like this. We can always think of something we might have done differently. The question is, would it have been better, or just different?

    Congestive heart failure is a progressive disease. It always gets gradually worse, never better. We manage it until we don’t have enough heart function left to work with. Then it’s over.

    We must strive to create a positive present and future, rather than dwelling on a negative past.

    You need not forget your friend, but remember the good times as you move into the future. Living in the past is not living.

    Best wishes.

  159. Kim says:

    We too are trying to find out what happened to our 4 year old yellow lab. We keep them in the garage they sleep in cages unlocked with patio cushions (thick) as their bedding. They have heartworm medicine and she had ear medicine. They are caught up on their shots. Holly our yellow lab always barks when any car or animal comes onto the property. Two big black labs were in the yard yesterday and she barked and barked, 20 minutes later my mom showed up she barked again. About 30 minutes later I left to go pick up my son I usually go through the garage but went through the front door. When I came back 30 minutes later she was dead. My husband and his hunting buddy looked around her every possible way. No foaming, no blood, no messes on the garage floor, nothing lodged in her throat, checked for broken neck, her stomach was fine. When she was found she looked as though she was asleep eyes were even closed. Unlike your other posts she was not an overly active dog never was. When playing fetch we were happy when she came back twice. For walks we often had to drag her back and with walks without a leash in the woods sometimes would take a break. They did not get that many table scraps because the older one cannot stomach them and so fair is fair she didn’t get them either. She was very good with the kids a bit bad about chewing on things drywall and wires on our quad replaced each items twice, but other than that good. We loved her as much as our older one just for being so different. Is it possible she too had some sort of heart disease?

  160. Doc says:

    Hello, Kim,

    I wish that I could give you some meaningful speculation or insight. This type of sudden death is really unusual.

    As you may have noted from the other posts, even with a complete post-mortem (autopsy), we often draw a blank. With no more information than we have here, it could be anything from some sort of congenital heart defect to a ruptured spleen (with no history of trauma – also unusual).

    We always want some type of closure in these situations and I really just don’t have anything for you.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  161. zach says:

    My 3yo kelpie male collapsed suddenly after retrieving a ball. I was scratching and massaging his neck and he just collapsed. I got him to the er vet within 3 minutes. He was healthy and was not doing anything different than what we do everyday. The vet said he had an enlarged right atrium (2x the size of the left). He said there was no shockable rhythm, but i saw v fib. what are the procedures for cardioversion, could the vet tried? I am just trying to make sense of what happened and if it could have been prevented.

  162. Doc says:

    Hello, Zach,

    I wasn’t there and really can be of no help to you.

    When we have a bad outcome, we always want to do something differently. Since your dog did not survive, it would be easy to say “what did we have to lose by defibrillating?”

    I think that is an oversimplification. I’m no cardiologist, nor do I even have a defibrillator in my hospital. I would be inclined to trust the judgment of someone who has been using the procedure on a regular basis.

    If you have concerns about what happened, I recommend that you start by sharing them with the doctor. Just tell him that the ECG looked like V-fib to you, and you don’t understand why that wasn’t a “shockable rhythm”. Don’t be accusatory, just tell him that you’ve been lying awake missing your dog and wondering about how all this happened.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  163. Trudi says:

    Tonight I lost my best friend of 11 years. My Red Cattle dog called Friday. She was eating her dinner, and stretched her front legs out and collapsed slowly. She was not choking, she simply died. I am devastated and her daughter Milly keeps trying to wake her up, so do I. I have never been so sad. I can’t stop crying. Tomorrow I will bury her but I don’t know how I will cope, as I loved her more than anything in this world.

  164. Doc says:

    Hello, Trudi,

    These sudden deaths are so devastating. The only consolation is that she did not have a prolonged illness and you didn’t have to make that so-difficult decision to euthanize.

    When my father died of his 3rd heart attack, he drove his convertible, rode his horse, ate dinner with his mother that day. His last day was a good one.

    I cried because I wasn’t ready to lose him. I didn’t “have time to get ready”. The thing is, you never “get ready” to lose a friend.

    I’m glad that Friday’s last day was a good one.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  165. Lori says:

    Hi Doc. I need your input. I chose to euthanize my beloved 15 yr old cat and I need to know whether what I did was justified in your professional opinion. For context,

    my cat was last seen for a check up in May, and I failed to schedule his next senior check up which should have taken place early last month. My cat was diagnosed with

    hyperthyroidism in 2008 and never regained the weight that he lost prior to his radioactive iodine treatment. Our vet wasn’t concerned about this and said it wasn’t

    abnormal. He noted that he had a 2/6 heart murmur, but said it was nothing to worry about since his labs were normal and he didn’t present with other symptoms. But in

    the last two weeks or so, he didn’t eat or play quite as much as he normally did, and slept more frequently. I thought his gait seemed a little off, but other members

    of my household disagreed. Then early on Saturday morning, we rushed him to the emergency vet because he wouldn’t put weight on one of his front paws, which he kept

    slightly curled. By the time we actually got to the emergency vet, his other paw had curled under, too. The vet explained that it was an aortic thromboembolism and

    that he likely had a very serious underlying heart condition. She also discovered a large mass in one of his lungs, which a radiologist suspected was cancer. She

    explained that cats’ bodies sometimes reabsorb blood clots, so we asked to take him home to give him a chance to do that. She administered a dose of aspirin at the

    behest of a feline cardiologist and sent us home with the strongest painkiller she could provide. At home, our cat – who was very stressed – walked out of his carrier

    and eagerly ate the tuna we offered him with one of his affected paws. Then I covered him with a heating pad (the vet recommended this because he was hypothermia) and

    I laid down with him, watching him for hours. He seemed uncomfortable but was resting, if not sleeping. He changed position frequently but never stayed on his feet for

    long. It looked to me like his paw pads were regaining warmth and color, and I was heartened by this. But four hours after we laid down, he stretched out and began to

    growl and yowl horribly. We rushed him back to the emergency vet. The vet set him gently on the floor, and he made a stiff-gaited beeline for the space under the

    chairs. She checked his legs and said that one of his hind legs was affected now. We could see that his paw pads were pale and feel that his leg was cold. I put his

    favorite bed down on the floor and he crept immediately into it. I’d also brought a can of food, which he scarfed down from his bed, even putting weight on one of his

    affected front paws. She told us that his “little heart was like a blood clot factory” now. The stool that he passed on the way there was black and when she pressed it

    open, she showed us a bright streak of blood. My heart sank because up until *that* movement his stool was always brown. She explained that if he had lung cancer,

    which she thought was likely now, that secondary tumors could have caused an upper GI bleed. She said it was highly unlikely now that he could be treated successfully

    for anything. Knowing that he was in pain and distress, and taking into account the vet’s assessment, we chose euthanasia. This decision haunts me now. If his front

    legs were getting better, why did his back leg become affected? Does that really mean that his heart was a “blood clot factory” or does it mean that a single blood

    clot traveled through his body to cause symptoms in all three legs? Could the bloody stool have been caused by the aspirin? Was it a red herring? If we had taken him

    home again instead of euthanizing him, is it possible that his body could have reabsorbed the clots, leaving us a window to investigate and treat the possible cancer?

    Could we have had his GI bleed surgically repaired? How could he have eaten and walked if he were really so critically sick? And if I had kept his appointment in

    November, or if I had taken him to vet a week earlier, could his life have been saved?

  166. Doc says:

    Hello, Lori,

    There was a recent review article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (maybe another journal, I’m not sure, but it was in the last month or so). They discussed the causes (frequently unknown) and treatment of these blood clots in cats.

    While they described a number of approaches to treatment, the summary indicated that these have a grave prognosis, and that recovery is extremely rare.

    The aspirin may have contributed to the GI bleed, but that was really a minor problem compared to the blood clot formation. You were in a no-win situation with that.

    The anatomy of the circulatory system makes it very unlikely that a blood clot in one leg would get to another leg. It would have to be small enough to go through the capillaries – the microscopic blood vessels that make the loop from artery leaving the heart back to vein returning blood to the heart. A clot that small would be smaller than a red blood cell.

    New limbs affected equals new clots forming.

    You can “what-if” yourself to death on these things, but I sincerely doubt you could have changed the outcome by taking your cat in to a referral specialty teaching hospital two weeks earlier.

    You were in a terribly difficult situation, and you did the best that you could have done.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  167. Lori says:

    Doc, thank you for your many kindnesses. Your frank, knowledgeable and conscientious reply freed me from a great deal of mental anguish that would have sent my grieving process on a much darker trajectory. And in your replies to the other anguished people here I find a model of calm, truly compassionate behavior to which I aspire. I can’t thank you enough and hope you fit into size 7 gloves again very soon.

  168. Marta Cordell says:

    Dear Doc,
    We lost our Lab/Chow mix suddenly yesterday, and I am very anxious to know what may have caused his death. He was very old – at least 15 (he was a foundling, full-grown when we found him, and we had him for 12 years). He had been having something like seizures, but not in the traditional sense. His back legs would go stiff, and he would fall over sideways. He would not convulse, with the exception of his legs stretching out behind him, and in a few minutes he would be OK. he had also begun moving slower over the past few months. Our vet said that the lining between a couple of the vertebra in his neck had degenerated, and he was likely experiencing a pinched nerve, and put him on an anti-inflammatory, which seemed to help greatly. His episodes decreased in frequency, and he seemed to move more easily, even running around the back yard with our other dog. Yesterday, he was panting and drooling, as if in pain, and we gave him baby aspirin as the vet had instructed to lessen his pain. He would not take water or food, and we were droppering water into his mouth to help him dissolve/swallow the baby aspirin pill. He suddenly had one of his episodes, fell over sideways and died instantly. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth, which made me wonder if it may have been an aneurysm. I am very sad to have lost him, but can accept it as he was a rather old dog for his breed. I would love to have a better idea of what caused his death, though, and if there are any suggestions as to how he might better have been treated to prevent it. Any insight is so very appreciated.

  169. Doc says:

    Hello, Marta,

    As you mentioned, fifteen is a phenomenal age for a Chow Chow. You guys must have taken super good care of him.

    While the signs of hind-leg stiffening are not a common type of seizure (usually it is an all-over stiffening, front legs, back legs, neck, etc), I would be suspicious that there was some central nervous system involvement.

    It is possible that it was just in the cervical spinal cord, but one would expect that to affect all four legs, ordinarily.

    I’m pretty suspicious of seizure activity. When this begins at an advanced age, most neurologists put brain tumor at the top of the list.

    If there were such a tumor, it wouldn’t have to do much bleeding to pretty-much short-circuit the brain and stop things pretty quickly.

    From your description, I don’t think that anything short of a full body MRI workup could have found out more about the problem. Even then, it is unlikely that it would have been operable.

    It sounds like your buddy had a pretty good quality of life right up to the end, and that’s the best any of us can hope for.

    Best wishes.

  170. Tim says:

    So many sad stories on here. My healthy Germain Wirehaired Pointer died yesterday morning. I let him outside first thing after getting up he played in the yard, everything perfectly normal. Absolutely no signs or symptoms of a problem. 10 minutes later I went to the door to let him back in and he was lying down in front of the door like he was sleeping. He was dead. I don’t understand how that could happen with absolutely no signs or symptoms. I now feel worse because I don’t think I gave him mouth to mouth in the correct way, I just didn’t know how, and he had only been there maybe 2 minutes.

    He was my best friend.

  171. Doc says:

    Hello, Tim,

    Don’t beat yourself up so much. Even in a veterinary school teaching hospital, CPR has a low success rate when a patient suffers cardiac arrest.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  172. Chelsea says:

    My German Shepherd passed away yesterday at the age of 10. He seemed to be perfectly healthy and he didn’t act like an old dog. Is it unusual for a 10 year old male German Shepherd to suddenly die like he did?

    The night before he died it was raining outside and he started acting weird but we didn’t think anything of it because he usually acts weird when it’s raining or going to storm. Then, yesterday my dad let him outside and a few minutes later he heard something fall outside and when he looked about 20 mintues later he found Duke lying there dead.

    Do you have any insight into this?

  173. Doc says:

    Hello, Chelsea,

    I fear that I do not have any very good insights for you. While ten is much older for a big dog than a little one, it is quite a shock to lose a friend so suddenly.

    Without a complete post-mortem and pathologist’s exam, it is usually impossible to sort these things out.

    I am glad that your dog’s last day was a good one. It is in many ways even harder to watch your friend slipping away from you, and having to make a decision about euthanasia.

    Best wishes.

  174. Gregory Coyne says:

    Last night our thirteen year old chow died after a six hour spell of restless discomfort, collapse and rapid, labored breathing that finally subsided entirely at 4:30 in the morning with my wife and I at her side. Her pulse was hard and rapid through most of the early morning hours before fading to a weak, rapid, flutter shortly before her death. She’d shown no previous health issues beyond nocturnal incontinence, removal of a bladder stone and arthritis. She was normal most of the day, eating a good breakfast, but little in the evening (not unusual). Her appearance and behavior showed many similarities to the second of two wolfhounds we had lost previously, the first to congestive heart failure at seven and a half, the other, at five and a half, undiagnosed, but with the unexpected and rapid progression evidenced by our chow.
    On a happier note, a response to your earlier comment on splenetic masses: A few months ago, our eight year old Airedale, Jack, was losing weight and growing increasingly lethargic. X-rays and an ultrasound showed a splenetic mass, but no evidence of other tumors. His spleen was removed a couple of days later. Jack’s rapid return to his active, vigorous, goofball self was nothing short of dramatic.

  175. Doc says:

    I am sorry for your loss. Those last difficult hours are difficult indeed. On the other hand, it sounds like her last day was a good day. We should all be so lucky.

    Great to hear about the good results on the splenic mass.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  176. julie sellenberg says:

    My dog of 9yrs jest went over to her bed and died.She was a blck lab/sheppard mix and pretty healthy.She had allergies we were trying to figure out and she developed a hematoma in her left ear and after two months it still was open after her surgery.
    Do you think it got infected and killed her even though it looked okay to us?
    We were going to do surgery again to close it but she died before we could do anything.
    She was out with the kids that eve. and came in sat on couch for awhile then went and begged my husband for a peice of pizza which he did not give her so she went to her bed and alittle while later noticed her dead.
    We are all sad and confused.Her eyes were open tonge out and fluids coming out her back end.
    Please try to give me a reason.I was giving her rimadyl for hip diplasia could that have anything to do with it?She made no sounds.

  177. Doc says:

    Hello, Julie,

    I wish that I could give a definitive answer for you. Even with a post-mortem exam it might be hard to say.
    With such a sudden death, a heart problem seems very likely.

    I do not think it likely that he death was related to the ear situation or the Rimadyl.

    I am glad that her last day was a happy one.

    Best wishes.

  178. catina werry says:

    i dont get it though.I cam hme one fine day and i went got me some milk, i spilled the milk as i went to clean it up i seen my 5 year old golden retriver lying on the floor not bretheing. but the thing is i didnt see any signs of anything that happend he was wild and healthy when i left that day i left at ten in the moring came back at two thirty in the afternoon and sam he was gone this happened on May,2,2011. I was devistated i thought to myself my big loving dog sam was gone. how could this be he was fine when i left. So if anyone had ths happen before please contact me at kboowerry@hotmail.com please help me find out what happened to sam?

  179. Doc says:

    Hello, Catina,

    I can imagine what a shock this was. Unfortunately, without a post-mortem exam, it is pretty hard to tell you what actually happened.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  180. Christine robb says:

    I just lost my 8year German Shepard the vet said it was a heart attack we found her beside my bed where she sleeps but her breathing was hard and she couldn’t get up so we rushed her to the hospital the vet said she needed to do some test so we left her there and went home. Not long after that we got the call she died of a heart attack they couldn’t save her I didn’t get to say goodbye I lost my best friend I feel so guilty what did I do wrong I looked after like a queen she was never sick I am so sad could I have saved her ? Loving owner chris

  181. Doc says:

    Hello, Christine,

    When these sudden deaths occur, it is difficult to decide to have a complete post-mortem performed. It is an emotional time, and often we (as owners/parents) don’t even want to discuss it.

    Unfortunately, there is no other way to truly determine the cause of death. Sometimes even a complete pathology exam cannot give us a satisfactory answer.

    These sudden death cases are devastating to all concerned. I sincerely doubt that there was anything that you did or didn’t do that contributed to your dog’s death.

    While this is very hard, I can assure you from personal experience that it is no easier to watch them die slowly from a debilitating disease. You never really “get ready”.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  182. Scott says:

    My 4 year old dog died suddenly yesterday. She had been to the vet for an ear infection, and I had just put an ear cleaner in her ear when she just yelped, fell down, and urinated and defecated. She was gone in about 10 seconds. I looked at the ingredients on the ear cleaner and it looked like a routine ear cleaner. She had a few seizures (which the doctor had diagnosed as epileptic), but I’m now wondering if those seizures weren’t more than that (perhaps a tumor). The first time we took her in for a seizure the vet said that unless she has them frequently to not worry about them (obviously, take care of her and follow the proper protocols but nothing other than that). Her last seizure was a few weeks ago and seemed to last a little longer, but was over before we got her to the vet. Now I’m kicking myself for not taking her anyway. When she died it wasn’t like a seizure, she just basically keeled over and died in a matter of seconds. Any thoughts? It is terrible to lose a 4 year old dog – that is too young.

  183. Doc says:

    Hello, Scott,
    Quit kicking yourself. This wasn’t anything that you did or didn’t do.
    This is just my best guess, but with that kind of history, I would guess that your dog had a brain aneurysm. Swelling in the area could have produced the seizures, and then a sudden rupture of the blood vessel could have caused sudden death.
    This could not have been diagnosed without an MRI, or treated without radical brain surgery. Even then, the chance of successful treatment would have been far from 100%.
    I agree that four years is too young, but sometimes we just have to play the hand we are dealt.
    I know you will miss your friend, and I am sorry for your loss.

  184. Clive says:

    Hello Doc. What am amazing blog this is – I have been reading many of the entries.
    As for my question:
    I have a male St Bernard, a little more than 8 years old. He’s always had a problem with spondylitis, occasional attacks, that I’ve controlled with prednisone and meloxicam.
    Yesterday though, he had what looked more like a fit, but I couldn’t get a vet to come out at the weekend. 🙁
    The dog fell on his side, was stretching his front legs, panting hard, and with arched back. Foamy mouth; lots of slobber.

    I stayed with him and after several minutes was able to get him into a more normal position and gave him 5mg prednisone in a treat.
    At first I assumed this was another ‘wobbler’ albeit much more severe, but now I am wondering if this is a heart problem; overnight he was making retching sounds (but didn’t actually vomit). In the morning he was on his feet and ate a good breakfast, went into the garden for the usual.
    It’s pretty much impossible to get a vet to examine hime while he’s conscious because he is really ‘difficult’, a very strong personality. That’s why I am looking for advice.

  185. Doc says:

    Hello, Clive,

    First, it is not a good idea to give steroids (cortisone, prednisone) at the same time that you give NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, like Meloxicam, Rimadyl, Deramaxx, Previcox, etc.). The combination is quite likely to cause stomach ulceration and bleeding. Most folks recommend at least a 48 hours “wash-out” period when switching from one to the other.

    Second, this does very much sound like a seizure episode. When seizure disorders develop in older animals (and eight IS old for a Saint), it is usually not true epilepsy. It is more likely that they have some metabolic problem (liver, kidneys, blood sugar), or a brain problem that is anatomical, like a stroke or a brain tumor.

    Seizures can cause additional brain damage, making the next seizure more likely to come sooner, be more severe, and last longer.

    I am sorry that he is “difficult”, but he really should have some bloodwork done to rule out some of the seizure causes. Others cannot be ruled out without going to a referral institution for an MRI, and possibly EEG.

    Even when seizures are caused by tumors, then can often be controlled with anti-seizure meds like phenobarbital (at least for a time).

    You’ve got a tough situation there with such a large dog that is apparently unreliable when stressed.

    Good luck.

  186. Linda Novak says:

    My fifteen+ year retriever mix dog died suddenly yesterday. She had just come in from her last bathroom trip for the evening. It has been extremely hot here, and I have been diligent in limiting her exposure to the heat to the bare minimum. She had been outside in her fenced yard for approx. 10 minutes, and the sun was down.

    She came in and went to one of her dog beds. She was exhibiting the following: (1) increased closed-mouth respiration — approx 60 breaths per minute (no coughing, no gasping, no gagging, and almost no panting), (2) eyes open and fixed but with reactive pupils — almost like she was seeing something that wasn’t there, and (3) pale gums (they always ran pale). Despite this, she truly did not seem distressed — there was no vocalizing, no circling, no pawing. She lay on her bed quietly. Her heart beat seemed steady and strong.

    Thinking things might be heat-related, I attempted to cool her down using cool wet towels on her paws and body. This seemed to perk her up a bit. Over the next several hours, however, she could not hold herself up when I attempted to stand her up, her head would intermittently loll to one side, her temperature dropped to approx 98 degrees, and her gums became tacky. Her breathing continued to be about 60 bpm. I finally put her in the car to take her to the emergency clinic, and she stopped breathing on the way.

    The doctor at the emergency clinic intubated her to provide her oxygen and discovered that she still had a slow heart beat. The doctor administered a bit of epinephrine. After several minutes however, her heart stopped. Since she was not breathing on her own, I decided that it was time to let her go.

    She had just received a clean bill of health at her annual exam one week ago. This dog went out for her final bathroom run of the day happy as a clam and was dead hours later. I realize that with older pets, bad stuff can happen very quickly, but I’m questioning whether I did everything I could have.

    As described, does this sound more stroke-like than heat-related? The lack of panting with increased respiration seems to be unusual. What could I or should I have done differently? Do you think a post-mortem exam would yield anything useful?

    Thank you in advance for your response.

  187. Susan Ryals says:

    We were coming home from a 10 day vacation, and recieved a call from the kennel where we put our 3 yo Great Dane, Vader. The kennel staff was very worried and said Vader just was limp and they wanted to take him to the vet.

    As we were boarding the plane to come home, we told him to take him. We thought heat exhaustion, since it had been so hot. Vader was very attatched to me, and whenever I would leave would mope for a couple days, so we also thought he was upset since we left him.

    We drove straight from the airport to the vet hospital, thinking we would see Vader and all would be alright. We got there and he was so unresponsive, eyes not focusing, couldn’t hold his head up, no movement of his legs or anything.

    We got him in our car, and was going to take him home to watch him and see how he would respond in the morning, as the vet was thinking vestibular ear issues but wanted us to take him to a neurologist but after seeing him I was thinking stroke.
    On the way home, he started making partial barking/whining noises. So we got him home, he was making all sorts of noises, but you could tell that his jaw and tongue just weren’t working. My husband decided to take him to the emergency care hospital, which was about 25 minutes away. On the way, he was making the same type of noises and then just stopped.
    When they got to the emergency care place, they wheeled him in and said that he had no pulse, and that they could do CPR but he had a very small (2%) chance to survive. Plus they said he would have some brain damage. We didn’t want to put him through that, so we just let him go.
    They said that they couldn’t really explain how a healthy 3 yo dog could get a stroke, and nothing else was wrong, they checked his heart with the ultrasound. We are not going to get a necropsy done. I am glad our whole family got to see him before he passsed, and I feel like he knew were were there (the vet said he wasn’t making as much noise before we got there). I know strokes are a recoverable issue, but could he have had a massive one, and that is why he went so fast? Our family is distraut over his quick passing, but glad that he didn’t seem to suffer! Thank you for any response!

  188. Doc says:

    Hello, Linda,

    Sorry to be so late in replying, but I have been out of the country for two weeks visiting my daughter. She is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, and we had not seen her for 17 months.

    This does not sound heat-related to me. I think most people would feel your response was reasonable and appropriate. It seems more likely to me that there was an age-related organic failure.

    It is frustrating to get a “good checkup” and then lose a friend in such short order. It reminds me of a friend who had a heart attack and died in the hospital parking lot after getting a “good report”.

    A complete post-mortem exam is always our best chance of finding the cause of death. Sometimes even this is not definitive, though.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  189. Doc says:

    Hello, Susan,

    Sorry to be so late in replying, but I have been out of the country for two weeks visiting my daughter. She is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, and we had not seen her for 17 months.

    These sudden losses are always devastating and hard to understand. It reminds me of a friend whose athletic, beautiful daughter was found dead in her dormitory room at college. A brain hemorrhage “out of nowhere”.

    Even with an MRI, these things can be hard to define. Without one, I don’t know how you could have narrowed it down.

    It sounds like you and everyone involved worked very hard to help Vader, but his problem was just too severe.

    Best wishes in this time of loss.

  190. Mauricio Perez says:

    Today September 6th my only 11 months old Mountain Bernese died suddenly. He was only walking and suddenly fell down and died immediately. I do not have a clue of what happened and did not authorized to open him. This is really something very strange and very very sad for our family. He was just a healthy and happy puppy.

  191. Doc says:

    Hello, Mauricio,

    I am sorry for your loss. These cases are so frustrating. Sometimes we cannot find the cause even with a complete post-mortem examination.

    Best wishes.

  192. karen town says:

    yesterday my 13 year old tibetan spaniel, didnt greet me. i heard two yowls and rushed to him in his basket. he was arching his neck and straining his body as if trying to get up. not knowing what to do, i tried to help him up, but he flopped back on to the floor. there was a small wet patch in his basket where he had urinated. he carried on straining his neck, his eyes were glassy,he was unresponsive and his bowels opened. we sat with him and about half an hour later, he tried to get up. we didnt want to restrain him and he moved across the floor using only his front legs. while he was doing this his bowels opened again. he got to the water bowl and had a long drink, we put him in his bed and he slept. a couple of hours later he was up and walking around, but one of is back legs was held up high in an unnatural position. i fed the other two dogs, but skip did not want anthing. oh during all this he was sick several times. a little later i offered him a little food, which he ate, but he was sick again. this started at 3 in the afternoon and now it was about 7pm. in the evening he saw a cat in the garden and ran after it. his leg that had been forced in such a weird position found its way to the ground and it looked like he had a new lease of life. he came to bed with us at night and scrounged at me when i was eating a biscuit. glad to see some life in him i let him have it. he was not sick during the night and if i hadnt witnessed the trauma yesterday, it like nothing ever happened. he is going to the vet on monday but reading the other posts i feel extremely lucky as all the other dogs with the same symptoms appear to have died. its like a miracle, but could you explain why the legs (back) were so affected? also could seeing the cat have produced addrenalin enough to aid recovery? i know it seems random, but i cant explain how almost dead he seemed and an almost instant recovery a few hours later. im not so stupid to presume there is not a problem somewhere, and that he will probably need medication. but if the is anything we can do to stop this happening again til we can get him to our vet. thanks

  193. vicki buttray says:

    This morning my pug Lola woke up and did her morning routine. She went outside and did her business. True to form, upon returning inside she went straight to the food dish. She ate like normal, wandered around for a couple minutes to check things out the vomited a few times and laid down on the floor. Her breathing became very labored and she continued to dry heave for about 5 minutes. When she stopped heaving, she became completely unresponsive. She was still breathing so we gathered her to rush her to the animal hospital. Sadly, she died before we got there.
    She was positive for heartworms but the vet didn’t want to treat her until October when the temperatures dropped. (I live in Texas) Since pugs are especially sensitive to the heat, he didn’t want to add any more stress to her little body. At first, I thought maybe the heartworms had gotten the best of her, but I’ve been told that she would have shown other signs and not died so suddenly. She passed approximately 1 hour after waking up.
    Do you have any insight on what may have caused this? I don’t think she could have gotten into anything poisonous and we have 2 other dogs that are perfectly fine. I appreciate any input you might have. Thanks

  194. Doc says:

    Hello, Vicki,

    It is unusual for dogs with heartworms to experience such a sudden collapse. On the other hand, they are inside the blood vessels in the lungs, and sometimes in the heart chambers themselves. It is certainly possible for them to cause an embolism (a piece of junk that clogs up a vital blood vessel).

    That would be my guess, from what you have described.

    These events are always so hard to deal with.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  195. Diana Swisshelm says:

    After reading everything here, I don’t think there is an answer to what happened to my dog. He was fine, got up off the couch, let out a scream and fell over dead. He was 7 years old with no problems. The only question I have is I had given him his heartworm, flea and tick triple medication(tri something or other)2 hours earlier. It may just be coincidence as he had it before, but it was a Sunday night and vet was closed so I couldn’t take him for a post. I want to know if these medications can cause sudden death. I got on the website and no adverse affects had been reported, but what could cause this?

  196. Doc says:

    Hello, Diana,

    As you surmised, I have no answer for you. Heart attack? Stroke? Aneurysm? Embolism?

    However, I do think that you can rest assured that the medications you administered had nothing to do with it.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  197. paul says:

    got the worst phone call on tues my parther rang me to tell me my 2yr old english springer had dead sudden it was out walking and running mad as usual fetching sticks from river then she says he never returned then my parther found him dead and says his gums where white what do you think happened could it of been a heart attack??miss him so much cant even face work at the moment!

  198. BriannaNicoleK says:

    I appreciate where this article is coming from, but dogs can have heart attacks, the vet probably isn’t “being lazy” vets dont go to school for so long and pay money to go to be lazy about animals’ health. my dog stopped eating and has been breathing heavily for the past few days so we took him to the vets. He doesnt have plaque build up but he has a tumor thats compressing his heart and esophagous, and if we dont put him down, sadly, he will have a massive heart attack. so its not impossible, and your veteranarian probably wasnt lying to you. it wasnt anything we, or the dog did. its just common with his breed(golden retriever).

  199. Doc says:

    Hello, Brianna Nicole,

    It is true that dogs can have heart attacks. I have documented it in a few patients. It is also true that it is not common, the way it is in people.

    What I object to is the casual dismissal of a patient’s demise with “he probably had a heart attack”.

    There are so many times when we cannot determine cause of death, even with a complete necropsy and full pathology workup. This frustrates the heck out of me.

    I hate to “not know” and I hate to have tell people that I don’t know. But that’s what I tell them.

    The “laziness” I object to is when we fail to talk the situation out with the client and just make something up, as though we have some psychic knowledge of the case.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  200. Doc says:

    Hello, Paul,

    While heart attacks like people have are uncommon in dogs, then can occur. There are other heart problems that can be congenital (birth defects) that don’t cause a problem until later in life.

    Sudden death cases are very frustrating. Sometimes a complete post-mortem exam (“Autopsy” or necropsy) gives us the answer, but sometimes not.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  201. Grant says:

    My dog died while I was on mini vacation. He was being kenneled at home, and apparently within 5 hours of my roommate being at work and coming home, he had died. According to my roommate, everything seemed normal when he left. It looks like my dog may have had some sort of seizure as there was vomit, urine, and feces… He was young, only probably 3 or 4, and showed no signs of anything being wrong. He did battle anxiety quite badly, he would scare easily (sounds and such) and always barked when no one was home or even if we went outside for a few minutes and left him inside. I always felt bad leaving him, but obviously we couldn’t be there 24/7 and had tried a drug and other techniques that never worked for him. Could he have literally worried himself to death?

  202. Doc says:

    Hello, Grant,

    I do not think that your dog “worried himself to death”. That is, I think it very unlikely that he died from separation anxiety.

    Seizures are caused by something having a bad effect on the brain tissue. While a stroke would be unusual in such a young dog, they do occur in dogs (have been documented on MRIs).

    It is always so difficult to deal with these sudden-death cases. We speculate on the cause, and second-guess and what-if ourselves while we lie awake at night.

    I can speculate that he had a fatal stroke and had a seizure when he died, but it’s just speculation.

    I wish I could be more help to you, but I think the outcome would have been the same if you had been home with him. Don’t feel guilty about your outing.

    Best wishes.

  203. Liz says:

    On May 31, 2011 my 12 or 13 year old golden retriever suddenly collapsed in our backyard. We’d had her for 7 years when she died. For several weeks prior to her death she acted lethargic and one of her front legs seemed to be bothering her. She often limped on it, even though we could find no evidence of any injury to her paw. Our veterinarian believed her to have arthritis, a diagnosis we believed even though it was only one limb that seemed to be causing her pain. When she finally collapsed, she became extremely stiff and had difficulty breathing. Within fifteen minutes she was dead. Although we never had an autopsy done on her, it has been my belief that Bailey died of a heart attack or stroke.

    To be fair, I’m hardly an expert on heart disease in dogs but I’m inclined to believe that the pain in her leg may have been a blood clot.

  204. Doc says:

    Hello, Liz,

    Certainly, any of those things are possible. Golden Retrievers also have a high incidence of cancer. I lost my own to hemangiosarcoma. Tumors could certainly cause an embolus of some type to form.

    It is always to hard to lose a friend.

  205. scott says:

    I am a groomer and had a dog die on my table yesterday with absolutely no warning. She was an 8 year old sheltie who came in every 4 weeks for a groom. She was a rescue dog that they had gotten 2 years ago and prior to that she was a breeder dog in a bad situation from what we understand. Now however she seemed to be in great health. They just had bloodwork done on her last month with everything in normal ranges. When she came in yesterday, I bathed her, blow dried her and had her on the table about 90% finished. She was acting like her normal self, she would always sit there giving me her paws to “shake” and she was always so sweet and calm that I never put her on a noose. All of a sudden she started to breathe heavily and vomited. I took her off the table and put her in a kennel to clean it, turned back around from grabbing a towel and she vomited more in the kennel. I got her out of the kennel, put her on the ground to get her a bowl of water and she whined a few times and collapsed. This all happened within 2 minutes. I got her to the vet in 7 mins, and she was gone. The vet gave her a shot of epinephrine and did compressions for 20 minutes and we couldnt bring her back.The vet told me that it was nothing that I did and there was nothing I could have done to save her, she just had heart failure. I feel so guilty and I dont understand why it happened, if it was stress induced or what? She was a happy dog when she got groomed I think she just liked the brushing and attention so I just dont know. This has just been devastating for me. Can you give me any ideas?

  206. Doc says:

    Hello, Scott,

    I can appreciate your shock and frustration. These events are always very difficult for all concerned.

    It is good to know that you didn’t do anything wrong and that there was no realistic way to predict this. On the other hand, it doesn’t make any of us feel a lot better.

    Truthfully, we just don’t do echocardiograms and ECGs and full-body C-T scans on a regular basis. Really, we can’t. Nobody does, even for themselves.

    For the stress of grooming to “tip her over the edge”, she would have to have already been “leaning over the edge”.

    You certainly don’t need to feel guilty. It sounds to me like you did everything that anyone could have done.

    Best wishes.

  207. Susan says:

    My almost 6 month old Rottweiler was playing like normal yesterday morning and was standing in the kitchen behind me while I was making breakfast, he made a relatively short howl and before I could turn all the way around he was stiffing his legs, and was dead. One of the most devastating days in my life. I read that Rottweilers tend to get subvalvular aeortic stenosis and I am wondering if this is what killed him. One of the litter mates did have a heart murmur as well.

  208. Doc says:

    Hello, Susan,

    I wish that I could give you a meaningful reply.

    When we try to determine the cause of a sudden death like this, a complete post-mortem is required. In addition, the pathologist usually asks for the entire heart, along with samples of other tissues.

    Any speculation I might give you would be nothing more than speculation.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  209. Kristine Moore says:

    Yesterday my beloved little girl dog Pepper passed on unexpectedly. We took her to the Vets with what I thought was an intestinal virus as she had vomited the day before a foamy phlegm. The Vet noticed she was very tender in the upper quadrant area and asked if she had fallen. She hadn’t. I brought her home with antibiotics and by night time she could not even raise her head to eat… I took her back to the Vet’s the next morning and we had to rush her to the Vet’s Hospital . They were going to admit her for further testing overnight, about 20 minutes later I received a call she had gone into cardiac arrest and after over 45 minutes of trying they could not revive her. Two days prior to that I had her out for a walk and she was lively and playful. I couldn’t imagine the thought of cutting her open for an autopsy so we opted not to have one. Since you are not convinced about What does this sound like to you? I know it would only be an opinion or educated guess, but it is better than living with , cardiac arrest for no apparent reason. Thanks.

  210. Doc says:

    Hello, Kristine,

    Dogs rarely have coronary arteries blocked by fatty plaques (or anything else, like a blood clot). This is what we think of as a heart attack in people.

    Cardiac arrest occurs in everybody who dies.

    With the vomiting and the tender abdomen, you could have had anything from a virus to a foreign object to a tumor to pancreatitis or liver problems.

    While unusual, diseases like these can cause tissue death, and the resulting toxins can certainly affect the heart function.

    I wish I had some way to narrow this down for you, but I do not.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  211. Aaron says:

    Hi, i had a Boston Terrier for about 8 years until last night. The night before, he was completely normal. And then yesterday I let him out in the backyard, and he peed, but then laid down in this spot, and wouldn’t move. So I left so see if he’d come back in the house on his own, and after about 5 minutes he wouldn’t come, so I went out and finally he came back in the house. Shortly after, about 15 minutes, he was laid down on his side and he had pooped on himself, and my brother tried to get him to move away but he wouldn’t. He was moving his head around, and looked sad. About 2 minutes later he threw up, and still wouldn’t move. I left the room and then heard him let out a loud wail, and about 5 minutes later he died. I’m not sure why, and I wish I knew because it was random, and sudden.

  212. Doc says:

    Hello, Aaron,

    As you have probably gathered from reading the other posts in this discussion thread, we all find these sudden deaths very frustrating and sad.

    I can only say that this is unlikely to be the result of any neglect on your part.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  213. Celia says:

    My 8 years old minature poodle died suddenly. She was fine this morning happy and attentive. I let her outside for 15 minutes. I heard her barking about 2 minutes later I go outside. She is lying on the ground like she is napping. I called to her and she didn’t response. I pick her up and brought her in the house. She was still warm and nose moisted. Her eyes were half cracked and mouth open a little. She didn’t look to be in distress. She sufferd with seziure. The last one she had was a month ago. It didn’t look like she had one this time because the way she was lying on the ground. There wasn’t any saliva around her mouth.There wasn’t any feces or urine she just died. I am wondering what could of killed her. I am shocked and sadden.

  214. Doc says:

    Hello, Celia,

    If you have read many of the previous comments on this thread, you know that others have had similar experiences.

    While we greatly desire closure when something like this happens, I really don’t have any way to give you anything other than random speculation.

    The best thing I can tell you with the story you have told is that I cannot imagine how this could be linked to any lack of care.

    Something internal was weak and failed – heart, brain, stroke, aneurysm – we don’t know what.

    You gave her a good life, and you will miss her.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  215. Lee says:

    My female boxer dog, started vomiting and having diarrhea eight days ago, I took her to the vets and they put her on a drip to rehydrate her. Next day, the vet wanted to perform surgery to see if there was anything wrong, so abdominal surgery was performed and a hole in the stomach was found, and then fixed. Anyway she stayed at the vets recovering for the next four days, the vet said she was very weak and might not make it. Her breathing seemed bad, like snoring and we asked the vet, who said it was normal after an operation. Then yesterday, Monday 26th, the vet phoned and said we could take our dog back home and care for her there, and that we should feed her liquid food and water in small portions every few hours, which we did and she was taking this fine. Her breathing was bad all of yesterday and again this morning. Anyway she died 1.00pm today, I can only assume of a heart attack, caused by lack of oxygen from her breathing difficulties. I feel like the vet was too hasty letting her come home so quickly after an operation when she was obviously not in any condition to come home and still needed expert care and attention. Saying that the vets have been closed over the holidays, so they were only popping in to care for the animals a few times a day. Anyway do you think this was a heart attack due to lack of oxygen that killed my dog in the end ?

  216. Doc says:

    Hello, Lee,

    I wish that I could give you some help on this, but I really cannot. It sounds like your dog had been very seriously ill to require such a major operation.

    It is really hard to say why the poor dog deteriorated at the end.

    I know this is heartbreaking.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  217. Dayna says:

    Poki died so sudden this morning just after he stood up and greeted my mom, then he stretched himself and suddenly he seems like seizure and just collapsed down for a moment, then held up his head and shriek out bubbles and collapsed again this time not waking up. This tragedy only takes about 5 seconds. I called our vet and they say Poki might have a heart attack or stroke. I adopted Poki from the pound for a year and had know little about his past. He was eating fine and healthy all along. Vet says he is only about 5 to 6 years old. I am devastated by this sudden death. It reminds me of how fragile life can be .

  218. Viktoriya says:

    Hello,
    Was wondering if you could help answer something. Our 10 year old Chihuahua Paco died less than a week ago. We knew it would be coming, as he had mitral valve regurgitation and a couple of weeks ago were told he now had heart arrhythmia. Were told it was the progression of the heart disease and we knew he was towards the “end”. He had a difficult night the morning before he passed. Was breathing really fast, mouth open, but not panting. My question is this – after he passed, which was very quiet and pretty quick, he had white foam come out of his nose. Is this normal? Does it mean he was in heart failure and had fluid in the lungs? Thanks for any insight.

  219. Doc says:

    “My question is this – after he passed, which was very quiet and pretty quick, he had white foam come out of his nose. Is this normal?”

    It is not uncommon, you see it every now and then.

    “Does it mean he was in heart failure and had fluid in the lungs?”

    That seems the most likely explanation, given the medical history. I have also seen the foam when there was no history of heart problem.

    Sorry I cannot give you a definitive answer.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  220. Debbie White says:

    Oh my god.my baby died two days ago.black lab mix.he just dropped dead.i called the vet he said he died of a heart attack.1mim he was here 10mims later he was gone he was healthy.im lost with out him

  221. Doc says:

    Hello, Debbie,

    I wish that we could give simple and realistic reasons for these devastating events, but often we cannot.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  222. John says:

    My dog Rusty died this morning. My parents had been awakened by a loud thud downstairs followed by Rusty’s yelping. He had done this previously after getting paws stuck in chairs. My parents thought he had knocked a table or chair over and had gotten a paw stuck in it. They rushed downstairs and discovered him laying next to his bed, his legs stretched out all facing one direction but not stiff. He was breathing heavily and had emptied his bowels. In less than five minutes his eyes had glazed over and he had died. His mouth opened, his lips became limp, and his tongue fell out of his mouth and rested against the floor. His eyes did not shut on their own. Around ten seconds after he died, his head snapped upward twice and his mouth snapped at the air. I believe this was the last of the energy stored in his body giving up through his nerves. I have questions I would greatly appreciate answered to the best of your knowledge, and I would be extremely pleased with any and all information that can be provided regarding his death. He had been drinking alot of water in the week leading up to his death, so much to the point that he had began urinating in the house. As a result, my father began limiting his daily water intake, as he was drinking much more than usual. My father is now questioning this action, and I would like to know if this could have possibly contributed to his death. My father also believes that he should have given Rusty a nitroglycerin tablet, as this may have been enough to counter-act the apparent heart attack. I believe that this would not have worked, as the dose was meant for a human and would have had too great of an effect on a canine. This action would also have resulted in my father believing that the tablet killed Rusty, which would have made his death even harder on our family. Furthermore, I believe that Rusty may have been dead even before my parents arrived downstairs. I find it probable that the yelping was not a result of any pain he was feeling, but simply an expression of the energy left in his body acting out through his nerves in a similar fashion to the energy that moved his head. Is it possible that he had died before even hitting the ground? Again, any and all responses you may have to this situation would be appreciated so much, and I thank you for your time and effort in reading this. Thank you.

  223. gail says:

    hi
    i lost my toy poodle yesterday and am devastated…i came home late to find her curled on the bed and i thought she was asleep….i went to hug her and found her cold. she was only 1 year old. she had vaccinations, heartguard and everything and a few hours earlier was the picture of health..there was no vomit or foaming at mouth or urine or faeces….she seemed very peaceful….i am so confused…she did have a very fast heart rate and was extremely excitable but a check up a month earlier said she was in best condition….her tongue was in her mouth not hanging out and her jaw closed tight…could she have just passed in her sleep….i pray so as i cant stop crying at the thought i was not with her and that she may have been in pain…..if she had choked would there have been a sign in her death state???i dont know if its something i left out and she choked on…..please help me find an answer….i am missing my Louie so much i cant get out of bed or leave the house….

  224. Doc says:

    Hello, Gail,

    In situations like this I suspect a birth defect of the cardiomyopathy type. This means that something has been wrong with the heart muscle since birth. There are usually no warning signs of any kind.

    A pathologist’s examination of the heart muscle under the microscope is the only way to confirm this.

    I really doubt that she choked on something and then just died in her bed.

    You should not feel guilty about this. You have done your best.

    Best wishes.

  225. gail says:

    Thank you Doc, this gives me some semblance of rest….and that there would have been nothing i could do…thank you for your kind words and god bless.

  226. Doc says:

    Hello, John,

    I wrote a reply, but it evidently did not “stick”.

    Nitroglycerine is a vasodilator. It opens the blood vessels. When the coronary arteries (the blood vessels that actually give nourishment to the heart muscle) aren’t letting enough blood through, you get chest pain – angina pectoris. The nitro opens those vessels and gives the heart muscle better circulation. It also opens other vessels, giving the heart less resistance to pump against.

    Given your description, I do think it likely that the dog was beyond help when they found it. The nitro would neither have helped nor harmed.

    The so-called “agonal cry” is a common feature of a dying animal, no matter what the cause. I do not think it necessarily represents pain.

    Excessive water drinking is usually the result of excessive water loss through excessive urination. This occurs with diabetes, kidney disease, adrenal gland problems and some others.

    Restricting access to water can put these dogs into a crisis. However, there would have to be a pre-existing problem. Without a lot more data (lab work, post-mortem, etc.) I certainly would not lay the blame for the dog’s death on the restricted water intake.

    This is a real problem, though. When we have the occasion to do a water deprivation test (can the dog concentrate his urine or can’t he?) in the hospital, we have to monitor them very closely. You can certainly make them sick. A patient with poor kidney function who become deprived of water will deteriorate quickly.

    I am sorry for your loss, and that I cannot give you a definite answer.

  227. Vee says:

    After reading the posts on this page, I feel so much better. I know now that there are so many people out there that are lost in grieving for their beloved pets. I lost my beautiful dog Cookie one week ago and I haven’t stopped crying since. He was amazing. But all dogs are amazing. I wish you all that your hearts will heal quickly and the pain will lessen with time. Dogs are God’s gift to us and I am so thankful to have had 12 wonderful years with Cookie. May he and all our pooches rest in peace.

  228. alyce says:

    We recently lost our 4 year old staghound x greyhound quiet suddenly. I had fed him at 6.30pm the night before and he seemed normal and checked on him again at 10pm and he was fine. The next morning when I got up to feed our 3 dogs he was missing which was unusual as it was raining heavily and he hated even getting his feet wet. I searched for him everywhere on our 5 acres and could not find him and knew instantly something was wrong. Finally at around 9am I checked and he was back in his bed he was breathing very heavily, had white foam all around his mouth which remained open, there was a small patch of vomit next to him but was just foam and he stared at the wall with glazed eyes did not respond to me at all. He was completely dry though apart from his legs which meant he hadn’t been out running because the rain was very heavy. I got him straight to the vet thinking it was a snake bite but he did not have one single mark on him and the vet seemed to dismiss this idea. The first thing the vet said when he seen him (and I can’t remember the word he used) was that the way his eyes were moving up and down that he had an onset of brain damage. We got him inside and the vet checked him over but could not come to any conclusion apart from seeing this in other deep chested dogs. He said that his body temperature was sub zero and that his body was in shock and shutting down. He eventualy said he couldn’t do much more then give him some antibiotics etc and see how he goes for 24 hours or put him to sleep. As my husband was away, I called him and asked what he wanted to do but he wanted to give him 24 hours as we could not bare to not try and regret this last chance. He went downhill quickly once we got him home. He could not close his eyes so we did this for him to keep them from getting dry, he kept shifting from the bed we made him but could not stand up and could only sit up for a few seconds at a time before falling back down. His lip on the right hand side of his face was drooping and he drooled alot from this side, it basicly poured out. His eyes were glassy and even though he was still alive I could tell there was nothing left. His breathing was very laboured, he seemed ok at breathing out but struggled to get a breath in. For a few hours on returning home he would swallow small amounts of water that we would drip into his mouth and try and drink from his bowl when we put it under his mouth when he sat up he stopped attempting to swallow around 3 hours before his passing. He tried standing twice but shook terribly and then fell down. He did start making a raspy sound when breathing and that lasted a few hours. He did not seem responsive to anything we did. Later that night he had what seemed like a fit when his muscles would all contract and get tight and he would make a strange grunting sound this happened probably half a dozen times and had a few smaller ones. My husband said that his skin felt very tight like rigamortis was already setting in but felt like this quiet early in the day also probably 4 hours after finding him. He went to pass probably 3 times and would stop breathing but then gain a breathe. He could not seem to breathe if he was standing or sitting up and would just continuously try to get air in but could only breathe out. Eventually after a long fight he passed away and I worked out he had basicly lasted exactly 12 hours from the time I found him til the time he passed away. We are both shocked as he is such a healthy loving dog and it happened so quickly. We found the next day that he had been laying under a tree when missing and kept dry and we found around 4 puddles of foam spew from where he had been making it back to his bed. The foam spew I found beside him had a slight yellow colour in it. I spoke to the vet yesterday (2 days later) and he told me he had been speaking to a vet friend and breeder of these dogs and they both thought it was a heart attack. What do you think. He was a very active, healthy dog but liked to comfortable in his bed most days and would take coaching to get him out but then he would run around like crazy ones he was up and more awake. He never had any health problems and was only 4 years old but apparently these breed of dogs aren’t uncommon to heart problems. Would love a response even just to provide some advice as I cannot keep thinking about it and what could damage such a healthy dog like him. If anyone else has heard of anything similar please email me at ajordan@live.com.au do these sound like symptoms of a heart attack or stroke?

  229. alyce says:

    Also he kept dry reaching and going to vomit but nothing came out he did this once or twice every few hours but did not bring anything up and I’m certain he did not urinate at all from the moment I found him until he passed away. I thought he had wet himself in the car but I think it was just from his drool

  230. Doc says:

    Hello, Alyce,

    Since you veterinarian felt that there were neurological signs, a stroke is certainly possible.

    There are a lot of things like this that you cannot accurately diagnose without being at a referral institution ( a veterinary teaching hospital) where they can do an MRI or other more sophisticated diagnostic testing.

    If he could not have been traumatized (hit by a car, for instance), and there was no exposure to toxic substances (weed killers, insect poisons, rat poisons, cleansers, etc.) then it is very difficult to pin down the source of the brain difficulty.

    Strokes can occur out of the blue. Meningitis or encephalitis are uncommon, but can strike quite rapidly. They are difficult to diagnose without a spinal tap and a good clinical pathologist to interpret it. Again, this is something that the average veterinarian is unlikely to be able to do.

    With the very sudden onset and rapid deterioration of your dog, I have to feel that it is unlikely he would have survived, even if you had taken him to a veterinary college and spent thousands of dollars.

    I am sorry for your loss, and sorry that I cannot add much light.

  231. Jen says:

    My papillion died today. She lost quite a bit of hair, had labored breathing, wouldn’t move. She got cold, and died within 15 min. We live out in the country (about an hour from town) so she died before we could get her to the vet. Right after she died foam and a little blood come out of her eyes. What could that be?

  232. Doc says:

    Hello, Jen,

    The labored breathing could certainly go along with the foam and blood. The tear ducts connect with the nose and throat. If there were hemorrhage or fluid in the lungs and windpipe, then you could see foam in the nose, mouth and eyes.

    That would, however, be more unusual to see it in the eyes, versus the mouth and nose.

    I wish that I could give you more closure on this. Sometimes we have a difficult time, even with a complete post-mortem exam (autopsy).

    I am sorry for your loss.

  233. Nancy Thompson says:

    Hi. We have a 14 year old mini schnauzer. Yesterday when she came back from her walk with my daughter, she literally fell over sideways in the doorway. Her muscles stiffened, and I thought she was dying although she was still breathing. She was unconscious and inert. No foam at the mouth, no loss of bowel or bladder control, no convulsive spasms like in a seizure. After several minutes of being out of it, she struggled back up and now seems fine although a little subdued (eating and drinking normally). We know it wasn’t poison. We’re awaiting results from a blood panel, but her blood panel last Sept. was normal. She has a grade 3 heart murmur, but her doctor doesn’t hear any sinus arrhythmia. Her doc doesn’t think it was a seizure. She hadn’t been stressed by the walk (no hills, no big stairs, no running). What’s a reasonable way to proceed with a geriatric dog? Thanks, Nancy

  234. Nancy Thompson says:

    Update on Sally the schnauzer: we got the blood panel back, and almost everything is within normal ranges. Nothing to indicate kidney or liver disease. However, her triglycerides were over 1400. It wasn’t a fasting blood test, and she had eaten 2 hrs before the test, but she eats low fat senior food and no table scraps except for occasional plain white rice. We’re not sure whether to wait and see or go the cardiology route…

  235. Doc says:

    Hello, Nancy,

    Sorry to be late in replying, but I’ve been out of town and trying to catch up.

    I have had one Schnauzer patient who suffered seizures due to high triglycerides. The condition of having really high fat levels in the blood is called “hyperlipidemia”.

    Here is a comment from one of the neurologists on Veterinary Information Network concerning a similar case:

    “It is possible if the triglycerides are really really high….my experience has been in cases over 1500 and most over 2000. But theoretically any case with values over 800 (assuming normals are under 300-400) could be at risk. But then again there’s lots of lipemic Schnauzers and other breeds that don’t seize and since this is an older dog, brain neoplasia is just as high (maybe even higher?) on my list as a potential cause of the activity. And keep in mind also insulinoma with hypoglycemic induced weakness/seizures.”

    Really, in a situation like this, you start by ruling things out. With her age, and heart murmur, she could also be having episodes of temporary irregular heart rhythms that could cause her to pass out.

    An electrocardiogram and echocardiogram (ultrasound) are non-invasive and pretty non-stressful. They are also relatively inexpensive compared to an MRI, which is what you would need to rule out a brain tumor.

    I’d keep the high triglycerides in mind, but I believe that your veterinarian is probably on the right track in working on ruling out one thing at a time.

    Good luck.

  236. Diane says:

    Last night my westie went out to use the bathroom before bed abd shortly after coming back in she atarted vomiting foamy slimey throwup. Then she had diahrea. This went on for over an hour so we put her in the bathroom to sleep thinking she just got hold of a frog, which she has before. I checked on her at 1:30 and she was stretched out on the cool tile floor, breathing, so I left her thinking she was asleep. the next morning my husband came to me and said.”she died” She was abouot to be 14 yrs old but was very healthy and active with our 6 yr. old westie. That day and night she showed no signs of a problem. She ate well and even had a anack. I am concerned about what killed her. Thanks, Diane

  237. Doc says:

    Hello, Diane,

    With the information that you had, I think that most people would have done exactly as you did.

    I wish that I could narrow this down for you, but I think of anything from eating something toxic to a weird form of stroke. Even with a post-mortem, it might have been difficult to say.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  238. Diane says:

    Two nights ago I let my 14 yr old Westie out to use the bathroom before bed. About 10 minutes after she came back in she started throwing up brown mucus like stuff and having bowels movements that looked the same. This went on for about an hour then she relaxed and I thought she was sleeping. The next morning my husband found her dead. She was such a healthy dog, more playful than our 6 yr old Westie. She was fine that day. Ate both her meals and had a snack. Was jumping up on the sofa before she went out to bathroom. I cannot afford an autospy, but would like to know if these symptoms indicate anything. This is really bothering me, because of the other Westie I have.

  239. Doc says:

    Hello, Diane,

    The only thing that occurs to me is the possibility of some type of intestinal blockage with internal bleeding. This would be the type of thing that would occur with a tumor most likely.

    This is just speculation, of course.

    I sincerely doubt from your description that this is something likely to affect your other dog.

  240. Jan McClintock says:

    My 7 year old Siberian Husky had her vet check up yesterday mornning. She was given her dpt vaccine and blood was drawn to check her blood chemistry. When we got home,I gave her a Trifexis heartworm/flea pill inside her usual peanut butter sandwich. This was a new drug as Sentinel has become hard to get. We then went for a 30 minute walk. I left her on the screened in back porch with her doggie treat. When I returned 2 hours later, she was in her usual sleeping position but had died. Other than her tongue hanging out, she looked peaceful. The vet said she died quickly and showed no signs of a struggle. She did a necropsy and heart, lungs, kidneys looked good. The blood chemistry was normal. What happened? She was so healthy. Was it the new pill? A reaction with her vaccine? Did we overexercise her? She had only one walk a day throughtout the winter.This past week with the warmer weather she had several walks a day and my husband also ran her a few times beside his bike. She seemed to wear out within a block so he backed off riding with her. Too much exercise too soon?

  241. Doc says:

    Hello, Jan,

    Sometimes even microscopic examination of the tissues fails to yield an answer for us.

    The drugs in Trifexis are a combination of milbemycin (same as in Interceptor and Sentinel) and spinosad (same as Comfortis). Milbemycin has caused no problems for your dog in the past.

    The spinosad usually has no visible side effects, other than the occasional dog that vomits it. I have had one patient whom the owners described as “having the shakes for a couple of days” after each pill. I assume these were mild muscle tremors, “mild” because the owners didn’t bother to tell me about them for six months.

    I think it is unlikely that this was a drug reaction, though some type of one-of-a-kind reaction is possible.

    I wish that I were able to give you some closure here, but I cannot.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  242. morgana te pauae says:

    Hello I lost my beautiful girl just a few days ago. She was a Rhodesian Ridgeback x Mastiff, 13 years old and approximately 58kg. I didn’t have the heart to send her off to investigate the cause of death but I am curious still.

    She was on my bed and let out a deep cry, I thought she had a leg cramp as she stretched out one leg kind of arching (I hope that makes sense) I massaged her leg she looked at me and then she was gone, I think it took about 30-40 seconds.

    I understand that its rare for dogs to have a heart attack (as we perceive a human heart attack) but I need to try to understand the nature of such a catastrophic event that could kill her so quickly. She had her vet checks just recently and all her blood and urine test came back normal, generally she was a healthy girl for her age, a little arthritic and a few benign lumps but healthy.

    The only clue I can give is that approximately 8 hours after death blood began to discharge from her nose although her mouth was also bloody. A little like a foam/froth that bubbled out but then it settled into an slow weep. 18 hours after death the blood was dark and clotted. Although there were pools of blood there was enough to soak through 2 thick quilts and into the mattress.

    Could this be an indication of aneurysm? What could have killed her so quickly? I know that I will never get the exact answer but I am hoping that someone could at least give me an idea of the physiological processes that might be linked to the bleeding. Could it also be just a natural process?

    Thank you for your time.

  243. Doc says:

    Hello, Morgana,

    Foam or fluid coming from the nose and mouth some hours after death would not be considered unusual.

    Large quantities of blood would certainly be considered unusual. At that point, it could be coming either from the lungs or the stomach.

    It does sound as though a blood vessel had ruptured, causing internal bleeding. This then led to collapse of the circulatory system (the blood vessels, and then the heart), which caused unconsciousness and then death.

    An aneurysm is a plausible explanation. Most people are unaware that they have an aneurysm until it is found with other imaging studies, or at autopsy.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  244. Ruth Dunbar says:

    Hello,
    I’m hoping you might be able to give some explanation to my friends dog dying. Trina was a 16 year old Bijon, we were at our cottage, it was very hot outside up to 28C.
    Nothing unusual, the owner of Trina carried her down to the lake, and set her in the water. As he was gently setting her into the water, she slipped out of his arms. Of course her got ahold of her right away out of the water, she started convulsing and died shortly thereafter. Of course the owner feels horrible and I’m wondering if the cold water would have triggered a heart attack?
    Trina was so close to her owners and this sudden death is devastating…Thanks for your time.

  245. Doc says:

    Hello, Ruth,

    I wish that I could give you a real explanation here, but I cannot. I would have to say that if a quick dip into cold water put her over the edge, she wasn’t very far from the edge.

    When a pet lives to be 16 years old, we think, “Why not 17?” Still, this is quite a long life.

    Knowing that a friend enjoyed a long life right up until the very end is a great thing, but not much consolation in one’s time of loss.

    Your friend must have been doing a lot of things right for his dog to enjoy a long and happy life.

    I doubt that her death is due to something that he did wrong.

  246. Shirley Fischer says:

    Our 13 1/2 yr. old Sheltie died 3 days ago very suddenly. She seemed completely normal earlier, but we found her dead and still warm. The only problem she had so far as I know was some arthritis. We, of course miss her terribly. But the thing that haunts me most is she was lying very near to where I had earlier backed my car out of garage, and I can’t help but feel maybe I did it. She had no marks at all, her mouth was closed and eys open, and no bleeding from anyplace. Is this possible if I had backed over her?

  247. Doc says:

    Hello, Shirley,

    I really feel you would have noticed it if you had backed over her. While there are often no visible outer marks with an auto accident, if you had mashed her body there would have been blood from the mouth, or wastes evacuated from her rear, or both.

    I think it was just her time. I know you will miss her, but I don’t think that you should compound your sorrow by blaming yourself.

    Best wishes.

  248. Janet Facette says:

    Molly died at 12pm on Wednesday evening, she had been fine all-day been out as usual had her tea sat on the couch with me for cuddles. At 1.45 she came up to bed with my husband as usual, lay down and gave out two horrible cries,I dived out of bed to find her unconscious, her breathing was laboured, within 15 minutes she had dies age nearly 11 years old. Within 15 minutes she had dies age nearly 11 years old. why

  249. Doc says:

    Hello, Janet,

    I wish that I could answer your question. Your pain is obvious. It could be anything from the very rare actual heart attack to the rupture of an aneurysm. Without a post-mortem there is no way to tell.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  250. mike says:

    Please help. Yesterday after washing and towel drying my 11 yo Akita mix she immediately became very lethargic and and vomited a small amount of soapy looking foam and also a little bit of bile. i had her lay down inside and she got up and moved from room to room with me and then she laid down and made a terrible painful sounding cry and then died. this all happened within 2 hours of her bath. Earlier that day she was fine-her happy over active self and everything was normal. i used baby shampoo on her because i was out of dog shampoo. i didn’t get any in her mouth. why did she die?? this is such a sad and difficult time for me. She was very healthy and loved to run and play.
    thank you.

  251. Doc says:

    Hello, Mike,

    Sorry to be so late in replying, but I’ve been out of email range since July 5.

    First of all, the bath and shampoo and so forth could not have been a factor. Don’t waste any time beating yourself up over that.

    Eleven years old is a lot older for a big dog like that than for a little one. Things wear out. You can have a blood clot, an aneurysm rupture, a stroke, even (though rare) a heart attack.

    We are never ready to give up a friend, but it was just her time, not something you did or didn’t do.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  252. Dianne Sealander says:

    I lost my 14 year old toy poodle yesterday. She was very healthy, had all her shots and teeth cleaned annually. Her blood work came back great last year. Yesterday morning she came to me standing with her neck stretched out in a stiff position with her nose pointing upward. I knew something was wrong and immediately called the vet and told them I thought she was dying. I had seen the stretched out neck position in my other poodle, I lost two years ago. Crystal started bleeding from the mouth and then went limp. My husband told me she was gone. We put a towel on the ground to wrap her up and she had three seizures and then began breathing again. After several minutes, she stopped breathing again; then more blood came out of her mouth, three more seizures, and then started breathing again. This went on for about 2-3 rounds. She had no movement in her eyes and her tongue was hanging out of her mouth. She then lifted her head, blinked and got up on her front two legs; then she went down again. We had a couple of rounds like that. After 90 minutes of on again off again breathing, seizures, and blood, she passed away. She just didn’t want to leave us. Even at 14 years old, she still acted just like a little puppy, with so much energy. I don’t understand where all the blood in her mouth was coming from. Could it have possibly been an aneurysm? She did have a little cough which sounded like she had a fur ball. I had two appointments with vets for that day, but she passed just before we could get her there. It was absolutely heart-breakening to watch something so special to pass away.

  253. Doc says:

    Hello, Dianne,

    I would be very suspicious of an aneurysm in the lungs. She would have basically been choking on her own blood. The seizures could have come from a stroke associated with the event, or poor circulation to the brain.

    This is the sort of thing that we are very limited in our ability to diagnose and treat. With people they sometimes do ultrasound screening, but this can only detect an aneurysm that is pretty huge, like one on the aorta.

    In the lungs, it wouldn’t have to be very big to be fatal.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  254. barbara v says:

    My amazing Jack was 13 and diagnosed a month ago with conjestive heart disease. Vet gave us all medication and we did everything for a month to try to improve his condition and quality of life. We ‘ve had 10 dogs all loved and missed but this boy was beyond special. I took him monday for a recheck and the xray showed about a 20% change for the better. Heart was smaller and the his lungs were clearer. I felt optomistic that we would have him with us for a while. Yesterday he woke very weak. His back legs were not steady and I was concerned about joint pain ( age related) . I called vet and they said they would give me something to help, like a glucosamine product. I had to do my errand running , kissed him and did my thing. When I arrived home a few hours later he was on his side near the water bowl. His beautiful body was warm, he had voided and there was a large amount of foam around his mouth. My boy was gone and I wasnt there for him. I’ve lost many dogs but never saw the foam around their mouth. Was he trying to breath, could I have helped save him if I was home? I cant stop feeling that I might have saved him. My heart hurts so much and the guilt of not being here is tearing me up. Can you please share your thoughts with me.

  255. Doc says:

    Hello, Barbara,

    Congestive heart failure is a disease that progresses. We can often slow the progress and help the dog compensate for the poor heart function, but it is not something that heals up and gets back to normal.

    It is more common for the patient to lose ground gradually, but sometimes they are so close to the edge that they have what appears to be a sudden problem. They have been compensating for a failing heart, and one day they can’t compensate with either their body mechanisms, or the help of the medicines.

    I sincerely doubt that there would have been anything you could have done to change things, even if you had been by his side.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  256. Jacob says:

    I was walking my 120lb 7 year old German Shepard yesterday and just a couple of blocks away from my house he died. Happy go lucky to dead in one second. I tried CPR for 10 min but it was apparent it was not working. That dog loved me more then anything. He waited by the front door everyday for me till I got home from work. He was more then just a family member. He was my best friend. I haven’t cried in 10 years and now I can’t stop.

    Sorry to you all

    Jacob

  257. Doc says:

    Hello, Jacob,

    I would be very suspicious that your dog suffered from cardiomyopathy. This is a genetic defect in the heart muscle. There are often no warning signs, just sudden death. It just quits working and down they go.

    It has been a “time bomb” since puppyhood. It is very unlikely that anything would have shown up on any kind of testing.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  258. Doreen S Gluck says:

    My Golden Retriever died to day. everthing was the same as all the 6 years that we had him. He had the best vet care . And he just layed down and died to day.We call the vet and she took blood and we have to wait to see what that shows. What happen?

  259. Doc says:

    Hello, Doreen,

    I hope that your veterinarian will be able to shed some light on what happened. Even with a complete post-mortem examination (autopsy) we sometimes cannot understand what happened.

    There some dogs with cardiomyopathy who are born with a defect in their heart. They seem fine for a long time, then suddenly it quits working.

    I wish that I could give you an answer that would help. I am certain that there was nothing that you did or didn’t do, or should have done, that caused this.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  260. Vanessa Faran says:

    Please please I need help I myself am very sick awaiting a kidney transplant and my best friend of 10 years just passed before my very eyes . My Dalmatian did have hyperthyroidism , but what happened was unbelievable all the sudden my Sam let out a screaming howel I could tell he was in pain so I ran to him then he started to shake vigorously howelled again and he was gone please help me know what happened

  261. Kathryn Herbst says:

    Please help give me some closure. My 12-1/2 yr old sturdy healthy female spayed chihuhua mix’s only ailment in life was quickly detected lyme disease when she was 2.
    On 8/12, she ate her dinner and within 5 minutes keeled over on her side, her legs out stiff, her eyes shut. I picked her limp body up and brought it inside. Pee and firm stools came right out of her. I laid her down and thought hey, she might have choked on her dinner. I stuck my finger down her throat in sheer desperation and her little eyes slowly opened up and she was actually better and breathing. I still rushed her to the hospital. An EKG and chest xray showed NOTHING.
    The vet asked if she had any other symptoms and I said none whatsoever. He said he was going to order a blood test, but since she appeared fine, he wouldn’t and we should chalk it up as a “mystery.” I didn’t press the issue. I watched her like a hawk after that and she was PERFECTLY FINE – eating, playing, long walks, yapping, the usual. Then, 8 days later she had the exact same attack. I sped to the vet 10 minutes away, but 20 yards before bringing her into the emergency vet’s office, she breathed out 3 heavy breaths and stopped breathing. Attempts by them to get her breathing failed. I feel like the first attack was a warning that I ignored. I should have realized that she needed testing done after the 1st warning attack to see what was going on, but my other dog is undergoing chemo and I have a huge bill from that and let that influence my decision. I am devastated because I may have been able to save her. So many of the others who write to you didn’t get the first warning attack like I did. 🙁

  262. Doc says:

    Hello, Kathryn,

    What you describe on 8/12 sounds like a seizure episode.

    Seizures can occur as a result of biochemical abnormalities, like liver problems or blood sugar problems. Those would be unlikely to appear healthy for days, then have a second seizure and die.

    Idiopathic seizures (also called epilepsy) are seizures that occur for no apparent particular reason, and usually begin quite early in the animal’s life. While they respond to medical treatment, we don’t really understand what is causing them, as all tests look normal: MRI, C-T scans, EEG, you name it. We also don’t really understand how the anti-seizure medicines work. We know how to use them, but not really what they are doing.

    In the case of an elderly dog (I know she looked great for 12 &1/2, but that’s still old) who begins having seizures, the top of the list is a brain tumor. A stroke-like event is another possibility. I would also consider an aneurysm (a weakness in an artery that causes it to balloon out, like a “bubble” on a tire).

    While a tumor might have been seen on an MRI, it certainly would not have shown up on a blood test.

    I really think that a brain tumor is the top of the list in considering the cause of your dog’s death. Chances of detecting it and successfully removing it would have been very small, even if you had unlimited resources at your disposal and had gone straight to a university teaching hospital.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  263. Doc says:

    Hello, Vanessa,

    I continue to be surprised by the number of stories like yours: dogs where there is no apparent reason for their sudden demise. In addition to the pain of loss, we also suffer the shock: no expectation, no preparation, no explanation.

    If you have read some of the other posts, you know that even with a complete post-mortem examination we sometimes have difficulty pinpointing the cause of death.

    While true heart-attacks like people have are rare, so are the other things that we think of in this context: strokes, ruptured aneurysms, internal hemorrhages, and so forth.

    I wish that I could tell you what happened. The only thing I can say with confidence is that I am sure this did not happen because of something you did or didn’t do.

    I know you will miss your friend, and I am sorry for your loss.

  264. Kathryn Herbst says:

    Doc, You are a Godsend.
    Thank you for giving me some plausible reasons as to the cause of death of my Rosy in your plain clothes language that we can all understand. You gave me closure when no one else could.
    Thanks for doing what you do – you are a very special human being! Kate Herbst

  265. Frank Caputo says:

    Hello, I’ve read through many of the posts and a lot of them sound like what happened to my son’s German Shephard, Laux. He passed away on August 22, 2012 and would have been 10 years old in October. He was a healthy playful dog who loved to be around people and was full of mischief. Aound 1:30 in the afternoon my son called me and said he needed to take him to the vet right away, he was just laying under the kitchen table and wouldn’t eat. I called the vet and got an appointment for 3:45. Shortly after 2 my son called me back and said he couldn’t get him up, I said I would be right down and we would wrap him in a blanket and put him in the back of my SUV and bring him to the vets. By the time I got there around 2:30 he had passed away. This was very hard to except as he had no signs of being sick before hand and had been out playing in the back yard with my sons other dog a Golden Retriver just an hour or so before this happened. I know you can’t give me an answer as to what happened, I did suspect a stroke or heart attack but in reading your responses I’m not sure. We took him to the vets for cremation and are waiting for his ashes to be returned. My son took his loss very hard as did I. There was just no time to prepare for it.

  266. Doc says:

    Thanks for sharing your story. It is certainly a shock when a pet dies suddenly. On the other hand, I’m not sure how much easier it is when we know it’s coming, especially if we have to make “the decision”.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  267. Jennifer E says:

    Hi…I don’t know if you could give me any answers…but I’m hoping. On Sunday April 29th, 2012 our 6 y/o Great Dane bloated with torsion. He had emergency surgery and lost his spleen but we caught it almost immediately and he recovered. We’ve always had issues with keeping weight on him he’d go on hunger strikes. He looked like one of those dogs on the ASPCA commercials. Ran all kinds of tests everything always came back normal. He was 95 lbs before his surgery. After his surgery he thrived. He gained 20-30 lbs within a couple of months and finally looked and acted like a healthy dog. Yesterday (9-9-12) was like any other day. He was happy, playful, he ate. We let him and his brother out they came back in and Thor was breathing heavy then started to kind of retch this was @ 8pm. Even though his abdomin wasn’t distended I thought maybe he bloated again (he was pexied the last time so I didn’t worry about torsion). We loaded him into the car, he was able to get in on his own. And literally within the 10 minutes it took us to drive him to the e-vet he was dead before we pulled in the parking lot by 8:15. The e-vet said it was probably pulmonary and/or respiratory failure. But we’d have to send him to Cornell University (3 hours away) for a necropsy to try to confirm. Which I can’t bring myself to do. He was never diagnosed with a heart murmur or enlarged heart. How could this have happened? What happened? What could we have done to have saved him?

  268. Doc says:

    Hello, Jennifer,

    Pulmonary refers to the lungs, and so does respiratory, so it’s possible that in the emotion of the moment you guys did not fully communicate.

    Without the necropsy, I fear we’ll never know exactly what happened. I would think that if your dog had a congenital cardiomyopathy (heart muscle defect), he wouldn’t have done so well with his previous surgery.

    I cannot give you any meaningful answer as to how this happened.

    I can say confidently that if your friend died in such a short time, it is unlikely that he would have had a better outcome if it had happened right in front of the doctor. There was some type of major organ failure.

    Unless you routinely had a full-body C-T scan and MRI (and nobody does), you just can’t predict these things.

    This certainly wasn’t something you did or didn’t do.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  269. kevin carroll says:

    my cockerspaniel was diagnosed with cushions disease last night he suddenly passed away i dont know if it was from the cushions or somthing else he just suddenly started panting hard his nose lips got cold his tongue turned white he still looked at you while talking to him but he finally passed away could this be from the cushions or could it have been somthing else it was a sad night such a bad feeling not bieng able to do anything for him he was truly my best friend and im going to miss him i just felt so helpless any ideas of what may have happened might help ease my pain

  270. Doc says:

    Hello, Kevin,

    Cushing’s disease refers to the adrenal glands over-producing cortisol, the body’s natural form of cortisone. It would be very unlikely for this to cause sudden death. Even when it goes on for long periods of time, the outward signs are things like thinning of the hair coat, and excessive urination and water drinking. More severe effects do not generally show up until the dog has had the problem for years.

    The tongue turning white suggests very poor circulation, which could be a failing heart, or it could be internal bleeding (no blood in the vessels, so the tongue turns pale instead of pink). You have to have the equivalent of 50% blood loss to start turning pale.

    A ruptured aneurysm (weak blood vessel) or a bleeding tumor in the spleen can present like this.

    I certainly do not think that it was anything that you did or failed to do.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  271. Alex says:

    I need help to figure out why my 9 year old German Shepherd died. I found two small puddles of throw up which looked foamy and clear bile. And found his body in our house crawl space. He was fine and never noticed any health issues. Just three to four hours before I found him dead my son saw him and he looked perfectly fine. Was he poisoned? Did he have a heart attack? Not knowing is killing me. Please help ….

  272. Doc says:

    Hello, Alex,

    I wish that I could give you some closure here, but I don’t know how.

    Poisoning seems unlikely. Insecticides and rodenticides are the most common poisons available. Some rat poisons are very slow-acting, causing the patient to be a free bleeder. Others act on the nervous system, as do the insecticides. These would usually produce convulsions before death. It certainly doesn’t sound like you have evidence that there was any struggle.

    The little spots of vomit don’t really indicate anything specific.

    This could have been anything from a ruptured aneurysm (weak blood vessel), to a stroke, to a heart attack.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  273. Singh says:

    Hi my 1.5yr old rott died last night. He was healthy and cheerful, he played around and as he stayed most of the time outdoors he was outside in porch and next morning when we saw him he had white foam in his mouth and was dead. Can you tell me what the reason could be, as I am very worried as this has happened to one of my rott earlier also like 2 years back the exact same thing. Is there a possibility of some one poisoning my dogs, as both of them were healthy as fit and cheerful.

  274. Doc says:

    Hello, Singh,

    We don’t have anything specific to go on here. With the young age of the dog, congenital cardiomyopathy would be possible. This means a defect in the heart muscle. These can have no outward symptoms at all until the day that the heart just fails.

    I share your concern about poisoning with the loss of two young dogs. A post-mortem exam (“autopsy”) is always recommended in a case of sudden death. Sometimes there is nothing to be seen, but sometimes there are obvious unusual stomach contents.

    Microscopic examination of the heart muscle by a pathologist would be necessary to confirm the cardiomyopathy.

    Testing for poisons can be extremely sensitive, but also extremely expensive. We are so used to hearing the detective on a TV show ask for the “tox screen”, but the laboratory examining your dog’s blood or tissues needs a clue as to what to look for. Given a substance to look for, they can say yes or no. To ask them to check for “poison” is like asking someone to check for “groceries” in a market. What kind?

    I am sorry for your loss.

  275. Dave B says:

    My 4 year old male beagle mix died suddenly yesterday. He had juvenile renal disease which was found in a routine blood test when he was a few months old. We put him on special diet and things were ok until Feb ’12. He started throwing up and had no energy and wouldn’t eat. We took him in and his counts were getting real bad and he was a low pack blood count. Took him to the vet hospital and they did the fluids flush and a blood transfusion. He was real sick for 4-5 days afterwards. After some research, I had my vet put him on Mirtazapin. That did the trick for curbing his throwing up and he regained a pretty normal appetite. I also had him get two courses of erythropoietin over the summer months. He did pretty well with mostly good days and some bad. Then in the recent 2 months, he started having seizures. Turns out that those were at least partially caused by calcium deficiency. Over a period of couple weeks he got IVs with calcium at the vet hospital. They prescribed Calcitriol. Also at the start of the seizures he developed vestibular disease and his balance was off, head tilted, walked like a drunk John Wayne. He still had seizures especially when he didn’t eat as he had good and bad days. I also had been giving him subcutaneous fluids daily for the past 2 weeks. Yesterday he came in from being outside and ran into the living room and began to seize up. then he ran like 2 steps forward and his mouth opened all the way, and he looked like he was struck by a bolt of electricity and his whole body went stiff and he fell over dead with foam coming out of his mouth. He did not breath nor did his eyes respond. He was dead when he hit floor. While I know he was in end stage renal failure and was nearing being put down, any ideas what finally took him so suddenly?

  276. Doc says:

    Hello, Dave,

    The thing that comes to mind are the problems he was having with his electrolytes: calcium, and probably phosphorous, sodium and potassium.

    An imbalance of these can really affect the electrical properties of the nerves and muscles.

    I would guess that a problem of this nature resulted in a cardiac arrest.

  277. Ashley says:

    Hi there,
    My dog passed away last night in her sleep. She was a 3 year old pit bull mix and seemed fine yesterday. She crawled closer to me and then I realized the sheets were wet and I tried to get her up to take her outside and she had passed. Do you think we should get an autopsy done? The only thing that had been strange but this had been for the past few months at least that when she fell asleep she had a hard time holding her bladder. I’m just very confused. Although my vet said he does not think that an autopsy would show anything I would love to hear a second opinion. Thank you in advance. Ashley

  278. Doc says:

    Hello, Ashley,

    These sudden losses are so frustrating and heart-breaking. Your veterinarian is being realistic in saying that an autopsy may not reveal the cause of death.

    On the other hand, it is the only approach we have to look for the cause of death.

    When the problem is not immediately obvious from a visual examination of the organs, then a microscopic examination is needed. The laboratory usually charges by the number of tissues that are examined, so taking “a piece of everything”, can be quite costly.

    More than once I have had the very frustrating experience of “checking everything” and finding nothing helpful. Many times we can determine the problem, but there is no guarantee.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  279. Daisy says:

    Hello,
    We lost our dear sweet Clifford Sat 12-29-12, He was a Rhodesian Ridgeback, had been adopted in 12/05 w/ no known history at that time the vet guessed His age to be 3 years. We choose 3/2002 to be his birth date…no health problems, very active, smart, friendly, every quality a family wants in a four legged member, just the best! With out prior warning (eat, drinking, pottying, playing normal) he passed away. We were visiting family, he was enjoying time playing outside with the other dogs. Prior to us leaving for the park I noticed Clifford was laying in the yard on his side (as he does when he suns himself during summer) which I found a bit odd as it was in the 40’s & a bit chilly. I called His name, He lifted his head & wagged his tail so we left. Sadly upon returning home my Husband found Clifford had passed away, He had moved to a different spot & appears to just went in his sleep (in his normal laying position, on belly, head resting on front legs). We are DEVISTATED! Racking our brains as to what happened…only a few odd things in hindsight. Last month he limped for about 3 days, keeping back left leg up or straight, no apparent injury. I was not to concerened as he had a habbit of spraining his ankles (kind of a clumbsy guy)after that 3 days he was fine. Now to december, three days before he died a family member picked him up like a baby (yes, big dog, yes big man, yes Clifford did not like it but always tollerated it) and he let out a yelp & was put back down, a bit later I saw bubbles from his mouth & snot from his nose as he napped (thought it was maybe a cold as we all had one). Two days before he died he licked a vomit bucket of another sick family member (quick & sneaky) but never got sick himself. The night before he died he kept wanting to lay by me (he normally sleeps on the floor) and kept getting on the bed, so I would tell Him to get off, that happened multiple times. That morning he got up w/ my husband & went out to potty, barked to come in, ate breakfast as normal, had a drink & went back out. My Husband told me (after the fact) that a while after that He went out & found Clifford laying on the cold cement so he called Him over to lay with the other dogs in the hay on the dog beds, Clifford came but seemed wobbly, disoriented & slow to respond, as if moving was VERY difficult for him but my Husband figured maybe Clifford was just tired from playing. One last thing…Clifford did pilaties (as we called it) always stretching, back legs out, front legs out, head stretched forward, etc. Also did other types of stretches, we always figured it was just a quark bt Him & was another reason we loved Him (now I have read it may have been a sign of undiagnosed heart problem/pain). Any thoughts from you would be greatly appreciated, we are feeling really guilty bt not seeing Clifford’s death coming, we are still in shock & miss his every day presence in our lives. Oh no vet visit nor autopsy, he is burried on my in-laws farm. Thank you

  280. Doc says:

    Hello, Daisy,

    Clifford sounds like one great dog. No wonder that you feel his loss so keenly.

    I doubt that Clifford had been suffering. It really sounds like he had a major organ failure, whether it was a failing heart, a stroke, or a bleeding spleen tumor.

    This really doesn’t sound like you should have been able to see it coming and prevent it.

    Ten years is a lot older for a big dog than a small dog. I am sorry for your loss, but I am glad you were all spared the ordeal of watching a friend slowly deteriorate until euthanasia is your only real choice.

    Best wishes.

  281. Daisy says:

    Thank you for your reply. Time will heal & we will love Clifford for ever as He lives on in our memories. Any advise on helping our two cats? Zeek the older one (6yrs)keeps looking for Clifford around the house & meowing, Zane the kitten was Cliffords cuddle buddy…His aggression has esculated, especially biting. Sadly they are not the best of friends with each other, maybe this will change in time. Thank you

  282. Doc says:

    Hello,again, Daisy,

    I would be sure that the cats have room to be “safe” from one another. Places to hide, separate litterboxes, and so forth.

    You might also look into Feliway diffusers. It is also available in a pump spray. This the feline “comfort pheromone”, and it can really help relieve anxiety in cats.

    This is a terrific resource site for indoor cat owners:

    http://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats/

  283. Marianne says:

    A few months ago my Lab had a check up and all was good and normal. Yesterday my 10 year old Lab had a normal day. Ate normally and took her strolls outside as she does every day. She came in from her afternoon stroll and climbed up on the couch as normal and laid down. My husband went into the other room and instantly heard her yelp and whimper. He instantly went to her and found that she wasn’t breathing and jaw seemed to be locked with her tongue barely out of her mouth. I immediately rushed home which took me 15 min, she was still warm and limp but her tongue was pale and slightly blue and cold. I couldn’t see any breathing movement and when I tried to close her eyes they wouldn’t stay closed. I called the vet and they asked if I was sure she passed and informed them was she looked like and they presumed her passing away. Never said anything of possible severe seizure or congestive heart failure. After reading all these blogs – I am feeling so heavy. By the time I reached funeral home she was still warm and limp but no movement etc… Even funeral home said her long warmth was unusual and dbl checked eyes and gums for discoloration. Could my dog have Ben saved?

  284. Doc says:

    Hello, Marianne,

    With a sudden and complete collapse like that, it is unlikely that your dog could have been resuscitated. Even if she had collapsed in an emergency clinic, I doubt that anything could have been done.

    CPR has its greatest success rate when the animal is basically healthy, but suffers some insult like trauma, bad drug reaction, etc.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  285. Marianne says:

    Thank you for your response. My heart is so heavy because I wanted so much to save her. She was such a happy joyful dog. After reading all these stories my heart breaks for them to. I recognize now that over the past couple months some of the things Shelby was experiencing were symptoms of CHF. I wish the vet would have diagnosed her when they were told of these small things she experienced. I know I can not change that but I have better knowledge of it now and know what to look for to care for our two smaller dogs. Again – I just wished I could have done more for our Shelby and saved her. 🙁 thank you again.

  286. Todd Bryant says:

    We lost our dear sweet boy “Meatball” less than 48 hours ago, and it is still very painful.

    He just turned nine on Valentine’s Day (10 days before)…he was happy, active and healthy the last time I saw him. My wife let him out to sun bathe, and checked on him as I came home for lunch from work.

    I was bringing a new appliance into the garage as she ran to me teared up exclaiming, “There is something wrong with Meatball!…he’s not responding!!!”…I ran to the backyard to find my boy laying motionless with no response…I looked at my wife as she stood there covered in tears holding our 1 year old daughter. “He’s dead!”…I lifted his head as his eyes stared off, tongue limp in the dirt…and no sign of breathing. This dear beautiful 9 year old pit bull had been our little boy since he was 5 weeks old…I had to try.

    Adrenaline kicked in..I hopped the 6 foot fence in a single jump, unlocked it from outside…”What are you doing?” my wife asked, I responded, panicked and in shock…”I have to try!”…I felt a very faint pulse under his arm, with no breathing and the look on his face, I knew his fate, but I just couldn’t stand there. (Perhaps I should have tried CPR, but mouth to mouth with a full grown unconcious pitBull may not be the best idea.)

    I threw his lifeless 70 lb. body over my shoulder, threw him in the back seat and tried multiple vets…my 24 clinic had converted to a Mon-Fri recently w/o my knowledge…as we drove he got colder and colder…after 5 closed vets we went back home, and my dear sweet boy is a permanent part of our garden. His favorite place.

    We’re not sure whether it was heart failure, stroke, the following day snake bite came to mind since I am in Austin, rattlesnakes, as not super common in the ‘burbs…is still possible.

    He apparently had vomited some dog food…dug threw it with nothing abnormal, and no blood. No frothing at the mouth, and first thing I did was check his throat for an obstruction. We’ll never know what happened to him, even if we did, it wouldn’t bring dear “Meatball” back.

    It’s still very surreal, as for split moments I’ll turnaround to look for him, or go check for him snoozing on the bed…it just is what it is…at moments there are zen moments where it’s all accepted, and then moments when it’s a little harder.

    We just have to love them while they’re here, and remember them for those wonderful shared moments.

  287. Doc says:

    Hello, Todd,

    Thanks for sharing your story.

    If you take a CPR class, you will learn that patients with heart problems are the least likely to respond to CPR. You are more likely to be able to re-start when some other type of trauma or shock has caused the heart to stop.

    This is true even for trained first responders, even for emergency room doctors.

    So don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t do the mouth-to-mouth. It wasn’t likely to have made any difference.

    These sudden collapses are such frustrating cases – no warning, no explanation (often even with a complete post-mortem we don’t get the answers that we want).

    Now you just have to remember the good times with Meatball.

  288. Todd Bryant says:

    Thanks for your quick response. That definitely helps on looking back on my part in the situation. I try not to allow myself to play “what if” games with myself, and just remember him for the wonderful, sweet boy he was and all the times we shared together. Reading some of the stories here helped in some weird way with the little steps of grieving, perhaps just the connection, and just felt I needed to share mine too, perhaps just for myself…but maybe it will allow someone else to relate one day, and know that others have been there….and in someway that can feel like a needed hug of support.

  289. Jessica Ekbatani says:

    Our dog named Honey was the sweetest pitbull terrier that you would ever meet she was only 8 and 1/2 years old. She protected me through both of my pregnancies and was my 2 yr olds best friend! We were looking forward to having our 4 month old daughter be her best friend as well. Last night my husband discovered that Honey had a deeply cut paw when he came home from work around 10pm. He had to wait till I got home from school at midnight (radiology night school and hour from where I live) to be able to take her to the after hours emergency pet clinic. She received a local anesthesia and a minimal amount of opioids for the pain of getting stitches in her paw. My husband brought her home around 2am and she went potty outside and seemed a little lethargic. We went to bed but heard her wimpering around 4am as if she needed to go potty. My husband checked on her but she would not get up or move. He tried to give her water but she would not take it. She stopped wimpering so my husband went to sleep cuz he thought it was just some pain she was having. He woke up at 6am to check on her and found that she had gone potty where she was sleeping and was making funny noises and breathing difficultly. He cleaned up the mess and came back in to lift her head up to check her breathing and pulse because he noticed her drooling clear liquid and slow labored breaths. She died in his arms at that moment. He rushed her to the ER down the street where they pronounced her DOA, there was no heart activity. We are devastated because she was our best friend and protector and worst of all she was our 2 year old sons best friend. He taught her how to give high fives and would give her treats where she would delicately take the treats out of his hand! Our question is could it have been possible that she passed away from the minimal amount of anesthesia/opioids that were given to her for getting her paw stitched up? We wish we could have realized she was in trouble when we check on her the first time but we had no idea that her reaction to the procedure was or wasn’t normal. When she was fixed a few years ago, she was just as lethargic and she was actually put under that time and not this time. Please help ease our mind.

  290. Doc says:

    Hello, Jessica,

    With the amount of time that had passed, I would doubt that the medicines would be the problem. Opioids have their best effect for a couple of hours(usually lasting just a few hours) and the local usually lasts less than 2 hours, even with long-acting ones.

    It is certainly not impossible that it was the drugs, but it would be some sort of weird one-of-a-kind reaction.

    Since there had been some trauma and bleeding, it is possible that she threw a clot and complications from that.

    I really don’t have a good explanation for you. It doesn’t sound like there is anything that you neglected, or that the emergency clinic neglected.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  291. Jessica Ekbatani says:

    Thank you for your response, I didn’t mention before that my husband had given her 1 antibiotic pill and half of a pain pill as instructed. Honey had thrown up the pain p pill as we discovered in the morning after we took her to the ER. I know it’s rare that she could have had a reaction to either of those pills as well. It seems possible she had a clot or a rare reaction to the anesthesia or drugs, we’ll never know. Again, thanks for your quick response and for your condolences.

  292. Shay Walsh says:

    Hi, this last Sunday morning, I took my dogs out for their morning feeding and their bathroom. They all ate and I let them back in. Everything was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. about 20 minutes later they wanted to go out again. So I let them out. My porch and steps and a portion of the front is fenced in, so I left them out to enjoy a little of the nice weather that we rarely have. My Pyrenees mix always had her spot she would sit on top of one of the doghouse crates I have on my porch. She would always sit up there on guard. Well when I let them out, and went to the back of the house to continue what I was doing. I heard my Pyrenees, (Cuba) bark. I thought nothing of it because I didn’t see anything unusual when I let them out. My other dogs weren’t barking so I figured she had seen a car pull over or something. Then instantly right after that, my worse nightmare. I heard her yelping really loud. So I ran outside and seen her lying on the porch on her side and shaking, she had defecated also. when I ran to her she looked up at me while her yelping slowed and she laid her head down and let out a wimper then she was gone. I panicked and screamed and tried to do CPR on her. I looked across the street and noticed there was a car now parked on the side with a for sell sign on it. I noticed it was not there earlier, so I’m assuming that’s what she was barking at. While I was crying and trying to give her CPR, I noticed a gold SUV pulling over and just watching me try to revive my baby. They did not even offer any help. I shakily called my friend and she sent her daughter and her daughters friend over to help me. When I tried to breath into Cuba’s mouth, it’s like her eyes still had the beautiful color in them and was as if she was looking at me still. By the time my friends daughter had got here, the SUV had driven away. I went into the house and got a sheet for us to roll her into and carry her to the car. Her body was still loose. I also noticed scratch marks on the porch next to where she laid. We got her into the car and drove 25 minutes to the nearest vet that would do emergency. The vet helped us get her onto the table and she had checked her heart beat twice and told me that she could find no heart beat. She checked her mouth and tongue. Her tongue was blue and loose inside her mouth. The vet did a necropsy on her and could find nothing bleeding internally. She told me, she could see that she had just ate because her belly had food in it, but the only way to really know was to take tissue samples and send them to a lab, but it would be very expensive. I couldn’t afford it. So they asked me if I wanted to take her home to bury, or have her cremated. I chose to have her cremated, so I could keep her with me. I called them today to see if she was ready and they ruled it a brain aneurysm. I do not understand how there was no sign of anything minutes before that happened. I cannot rest without knowing exactly what happened. Could she have been poisoned? Could she have jumped off the dog house and broke her neck? She was a very active girl and she was only 5 years old. She was a very well behaved girl, So sweet. She was also, always smiling and funny. I feel sick to my stomach wondering if I should have done more for her. Had I not let them out at that time, would she still be alive? Had the drive to the vet been shorter, could we have saved her life? Had I known how to actually do CPR to an animal right, Could I have saved her? I can’t rest without answers. My other 2 furbaby’s are having a hard time dealing with her gone too. They continually want to occupy the spot Cuba lied when this happened. Do you maybe have any reasonable answers as to why or what has happened and could I have prevented it?

  293. Doc says:

    Hello, Shay,

    An aneurysm is a weak place on a blood vessel (vein or artery, usually an artery due to the higher pressure there). It is like a “bubble” on the side of an automobile tire. One day, the weak place breaks. If it’s a tire, it goes flat. If it’s an artery, blood leaks out of it.

    If that happens in the chest or belly, you get weak as you bleed internally. If it happens in the head, the brain ceases to function normally, due to the dramatic increase in pressure on it as blood keeps pumping in.

    Nobody knows how these develop. Unless it were spotted ahead of time on a C-T scan or MRI, there would be no way to know of its presence. Brain surgery would be required to fix it.

    No matter what the actual underlying cause, I sincerely doubt that a hospital full of trained emergency veterinarians could have saved her in a situation like this. Too much happened too fast.

  294. Bob R says:

    Our 13 y/o Dachsy died suddenly and unexpectedly two days ago. Molly had a full blood work up last month for her annual dental cleaning and was told by her vet that she was in remarkable health. Molly has been getting very grey, and has been experiencing slightly diminished sight and mobility, but she remained remarkably active for her age. She had a great appetite and showed no outward sign of any medical issues. Thursday night and Friday morning she was perky and behaving normally. At 8 am she coughed a couple times, walked to the center of our living room, stood there looking directly into my eyes and suddenly, and abruptly feel over on her side. After three shallow breaths she ceased breathing and I began CPR. Her body convulsed three times within the first three minutes of CPR but never recovered. I feel that she was dead the instant she fell. She did not even let out a whimper, lose any bodily fluids, or show any signs of distress prior to her episode. The suddenness of her death concerns me. Literally one second she is standing looking at me, and a split second later she falls over on her side dead. We miss her terribly, especially due to her sudden, unexpected death but find comfort that she didn’t experience fear or pain.

  295. Doc says:

    Hello, Bob,

    While true heart attacks are rare in dogs, this would certainly fit that picture.

    The convulsive movements are common in an animal who has been pretty robust prior to death. There is a lot of electrical activity in the muscles. I do not believe that it indicates any pain or suffering.

    I am sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your story.

  296. Terri says:

    Hello

    I ask if you able to advise me please as I feel at my lowest at the moment, I live in France and not fluent in the language which makes things sometimes difficult to understand.

    Here goes we decided after a lot of thought and thinking of her to let our old 16 year old Sasha our golden retriever go as she was having various problems related to old age we put her to sleep on Monday march the 11 th, Exactly one week later my 7 year old Rottweiler Bernie had a very bad turn, the morning stated normal went out with our other dog poppy, at about 2 pm I was feeding my 16 month old baby and could smell poo looked and saw Bernie he appeared to be sleeping poo behind him but he eyes seemed strange within minutes he was breathing very fast like panting but harder, no energy to move , I some how lifted Bernie and got him to the vets in time.

    once there the vet found a lot of blood in his lungs he took him away to give him a blood transfusion, we waited unsure if he would make it through the night, next day he was still with us thank god, he stayed at the vets for a few days having blood tests (Came back (Un-confirmed)but i noticed his UREE is 0,54 g/l and ALBUMINE very low 24,7 g/l I have the rest if you like can put these on to , x-rays etc. I was asked had Bernie coughed a lot, he had never but remember him vomiting a little foamy stuff thought too much water but he had been like this since he was young he eats food very quickly and drink quite quickly. Appart from this a very healthy dog, he could swim for miles.

    we was told the attack was caused by a aneurysm, Thursday 21 st March (3 days at the vets) we came to collect him appeared normal just a little tired, the vet said I had acted quickly and he would have only had minutes without my help and also theirs.

    He was put on PRILENAL (English ENALAPRIL MALEATE) 15 MG ONCE A DAY and FUROZENOL (english FUROSEMIDE) 40 MG TWICE A DAY AND A HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE NOT SURE OF THIS 5 ML ONCE A DAY, informed he has a heart problem with irregular heartbeat, and fliud building up in his lungs We were due for a check up next Tuesday.

    Friday 22 nd March Bernie ate well and drank well and took all medicine due to start today, all went well .

    Saturday 23 rd March Bernie had really got a bit more energetic still eating and drinking well, I felt so happy, then about 6 pm he looked at me eyes seemed really droopy and almost clsing telephoned the vet he said cut the Heart meds to half for tomorrow any problems call tomorrow.

    Sunday 24th March, Bernie both eyes were tightly shut with yellow gunk similar to eyes infections, I tried to clean them with boiled water and salt it appeared his eyes were rolled inwards and he was scratching at them still eating but not drinking so well gave him my hand to lick until he drank normal, so decided to call vet a thought maybe a allergy to the meds rushed back to the vets he put something into his eyes and gave him a shot between the shoulder blades, about a hour later eyes started to open a little thought great stuff, as the evening came I noticed his right eye was completely white totally covering the pupil and eyeball, and his over eyes almost the same but slight brown eye at the top.

    Monday 25th March back again think maybe a kidney problem diabetes of something else, The vet confirmed he is Bernie is completely blind in his right eyes left some vision, done a diabetes test, negative, he believes Bernie had a hemorrhage in the brain.

    The vet to put his heart medicine back up to 15 mg as previously to Saturday.

    I do not know what to think and cannot make no sense, if you can advise me in anyway I would be most grateful. In Bernie physical way he is doing well stump wiggling getting around normally. I do not know if he will live for much longer as no-one seems to know just making his time happy is the best I think for all of us.

    Is there anything you think may help of any other ideas please?

  297. Doc says:

    Hello, Terri,

    If your friend Bernie has had a blood vessel burst in his lungs (a ruptured aneurysm), then it is not unreasonable to think he has also had a similar problem in his brain (a bleeding “stroke”).

    This is beyond my capacity to advise you. It sounds as though your veterinarian is working very hard to help you.

    To find out more about Bernie’s problem, and confirm the brain bleeding, I think you would have to take him to a referral institution. He would need an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging study) to actually look at what is happening in the brain. At a teaching hospital, they would also have specialists in internal medicine who may have more insight into the problem.

    This sounds like a very difficult situation, and I wish you the best.

  298. Steve says:

    So I’m at a loss for words rite now my 3yr old golden retriever/lab mix passes away tonight no warning she was sick, nothing. She was outside playing with kids. She came inside drank some water and layed down and fell asleep then it sounded like she was having a nightmare ( whimpering & whining ) so I go into kitchen ware she was laying to go to frig and noticed she didn’t get up didn’t think nothing of it cuz she’s done that befor then as I was walkn out of kitchen that there was something wrong called her name and she didn’t move so went up to her and noticed she wasn’t breathing and was gone ;’-( could she have died because of a nightmare I’ve heard it’s happen to people but dogs she seemed to b I’m good Heath I don’t know wat happen or if could have been Prevented she was happy go lucky 30 minutes befor. could the playing with kids and a nightmare givin her a heart attact ?

    Would love to get feed back for this one I’m lost right now on how this could happen she was way to young to die 🙁

  299. Doc says:

    Hello, Steve,

    I do not think it likely that the spiritual disturbance of a nightmare would have proven fatal to your dog.

    I do agree that three years old is way too young to die.

    One thing that comes to mind would be a cardiomyopathy. This is a birth defect in the heart muscle that is like a “time bomb”. There is no way to predict when the heart will just stop. They don’t suffer, they aren’t sick. The heart just stops. We don’t understand this very well.

    The only way it is diagnosed would be a cardiac ultrasound, which we typically do not do unless the dog is showing signs of illness. More commonly it is diagnosed when the heart tissue is examined microscopically by the pathologist after the post-mortem exam (autopsy).

    I am sorry for your loss. I sincerely doubt that this was caused by any neglect on your part.

  300. Scott B. says:

    I have a 17 year old dog that shows signs of dementia. . He paces around at night, hours on end, forgets where he is, ect.

    Last few nights he’s been waking up and just falling over and making a high pitched whine. . It comes and goes (sometimes with some urination and bowel movements occurring), what would the vets first thought be? Should I try Arocept?

  301. Doc says:

    Hello, Scott,

    Hill’s B/D diet has been helpful for some of these guys. Seligiline (Anipryl) has been helpful for some, as has trazodone.

    I am no authority on this particular subject. I would recommend having your buddy checked for medical problems as the first step. If none are found, then your veterinarian can help you with some therapeutic trials.

  302. rob says:

    As to being new to these forums, reading about what others are experiencing as well seems to maybe help ( a little.)My condolences go out to all the others who have lost a loved pet.

    Last week our 7.5 year old, absolutely wonderful golden doodle Murphy, who appeared to be in Perfect Health, passed away suddenly while at our vets ofice waiting to get his teeth cleaned. Our vet (who has done this same prodcedure on Murphy probably 5 times in the past), who we have used for over 20+ years, told us he gave murphy 1 mg of acepromazine (enough for a 4 lb dog, Murphy was 60 lbs.)to take the “edge off” prior to gas, 30-45 minutes prior to when he was going to start a teeth cleaning procedure. Told us he let Murphy out of a holding crate and he took a few “happy” steps and collapsed. Vet immediately started cpr, bagged O2, endo. tube, epinepherine without success, and Murphy passed away quickly. Also, complete blood work was done with “just fine” results right after a dropped him off.. My wife and I (who do not have children)are devistated to say the least, are having a hard time understanding what really happened?

  303. Doc says:

    Hello, Rob,

    I am sure that your veterinarian is having similar feelings. When we lose a pet under such inexplicable circumstances, it is devastating to us, as well. We don’t feel the loss like you do — Murphy was your family — but it drives you nuts.

    In similar cases, I have offered full post-mortem examinations at no charge, because I want to know myself. It’s one thing when an animal has obvious risk factors, or has suffered a heavy trauma. Quite another when an elective procedure that should be routine results in the loss of a patient.

    Having said that, I have gotten back pathology results that were completely uninformative. We wind up speculating after all of that effort and expense.

    You never know when a patient has an aneurysm waiting to break, or a clot waiting to clog up something vital.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  304. Kathy says:

    I wonder if you can help me , my much loved little dog died this morning. She went outside to do her morning pee and a few mins later I went out to find her on the ground , dead , with a lot of blood from her mouth ( nowwhere else). I live in a little cul de sac in an unmade lane and the only cars are my two neihbours whom I feel sure would tell me if they had had an accident involving my dog . There were no signs of any accident or any marks on her . She was thirteen years old and a small mixed bread. Could she have died of natural causes as I am distraught that I may have been able to avoid this by keeping her in .Just to reiterate that safty of the area , she went out every day for thirteen years and came to no harm. She was puffing a bit lately and coughing but no other problems.
    Thank you for any help you may be able to give me.

  305. Doc says:

    Hello, Kathy,

    Blood from the mouth could occur from a ruptured blood vessel in the lungs. While a chest trauma (like being hit by a car) could certainly do this, at the age of 13, you could also have an aneurysm (a weakened blood vessel) that broke. You can also have even a small tumor that can eat into a blood vessel and cause hemorrhage into the lungs.

    In my area, we also see this with heartworms, though this would be largely in outdoor dogs.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  306. Kelly Francis says:

    Dear Doctor,

    I have been so upset the past month, spending hours and hours researching sudden death in dogs. My little Coton died, seemingly suddenly one night. On Monday, I walked my girls half hour after work as usual and everything was normal. She pulled at the end of her leash the whole walk and did not want to go inside when we got home. Tuesday, I got home late, but sat with them from 7 until 10 or so, watching TV. At six years old, they tend to just sleep on the chair or in my lap in the evenings. Not a lot of activity. Everything seemed normal. Wednesday, I got home at 9 pm as I had a late meeting at work. My mom sees my dogs throughout the day periodically, and she said everything was normal all day. Kaeli was always a finicky eater and that day was no different. My mom always put meat toppings on their dry food, so she cooked her a pork chop and Kaeli ate it. At 5 pm she went down to watch TV. Kaeli liked to sit right beside you, like a little person, sitting up with her head into your arm. Like a little pal. Sitting in this fashion I would think would indicate that her tummy was not distended and filling with blood? She slept away, sitting like this, until my mom got ready to go home. Then she jumped on my chair and lay beside me with her tummy up and I gave her a tummy rub for 20 minutes until I got ready to go to bed. My mom had stayed to finish watching the show, which went off, and she said to me, Are you ready? Kaeli heard this and jumped up, off the chair and ran up the stairs to go outside to potty. Always the first one back in as usual, she came up the stairs to the second story and stood, waiting for her night time treat in her playpen. I put the two in and gave them their treat, which is a dog food they enjoy. I laid in bed reading about 20-30 minutes, when I heard a whine. So I let them out and noticed Kaeli was panting very hard. It was our first hot night and was 79 degrees in the bedroom, so I closed the window and turned on the air conditioner and a big fan to cool her on the bed. She was panting very hard. Then she rubbed her head on the bed. She had had an ear infection a few years ago and did that, so I cleaned her ears, although they did not look infected. I looked at her gums to see if her teeth could be hurting, but I didn’t see anything unusual. Then she began to tremble. Panting hard and trembling was enough for me and I began getting dressed quickly and called my mom to say we needed to head to the Emergency Vet. I ran down the stairs and Kaeli ran down after me. As I was putting my shoes on, she was sitting right by my feet and suddenly I heard what I thought was mucous gurgling in her nose and throat. My mom walked in right then and I told her to grab her. We didn’t even put her collar on, we just ran. I drove 20 miles over the speed limit to get there, but when we were a few minutes out, she died. They were unable to revive her with CPR. The vet said her stomach was distended and put a scope down or did an ultrasound, I’m not sure which, and he said she was full of blood and air. He said usually they only see this if the intestines explode. But then I told him about her having trouble breathing and he said maybe it was her heart. But she has had no symptoms. No coughing. No problems with exercise. Everything just came on fast and she was gone within minutes. No prior indication that anything was going on. My vet said maybe it was a pulmonary aneurysm. My question is, would an aneurysm in the lung have filled her stomach with a lot of blood? I heard the liquid going through her nose and throat for about 15 minutes before she died. My mom was holding her as I drove and she said she just stopped breathing and lost her bladder. Would she have bled out into her stomach? We never saw a bit of blood. None at all. With a pulmonary aneurysm would we have seen some blood coming from her? I checked the playpen blanket and there was nothing, no blood, no stool, no urine. Nothing indicating she had a problem until she was suddenly panting hard and then gurgling. I am so upset, wondering if I somehow missed symptoms. But sitting up like a little person and then asking for her tummy rub, and then begging for her treat… it was all just a normal night, until the nightmare suddenly began. Do you have any ideas of could have happened? Without a necropsy, the emergency vet said he would not venture a guess. I am heartbroken and feeling guilty. How could she just die so suddenly like that? I read that aneurysms are uncommon in dogs, and yet that seems like what may have happened. But would I have seen blood from her? And would she have blood and air in her stomach? I hope you can help me to know what happened. Do aneurysms happen in dogs often enough to suspect it may have been a congenital problem?

  307. Doc says:

    Hello, Kelly,

    You probably already know that an aneurysm is a weakened place on an artery, like a “bubble” on a tire. It ruptures, and the hemorrhage may or may not be visible, depending on the location.

    If in the lungs, you generally will see blood from the mouth and nose. In the abdomen, there would be no external bleeding. As with a ruptured spleen, the blood would be free in the abdomen, with no external signs.

    How common are they? I do not believe that anyone has made a systematic study of this.

    With hemorrhage into the lungs, she might very well have swallowed some of it, but you would expect to see coughing with blood in the lungs.

    Such a sudden onset would certainly be consistent with an internal hemorrhage.

    I’m sorry that without a necropsy we cannot give you a definitive answer.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  308. Kelly Francis says:

    Doctor, Thank you so much for your reply. Just one last question, if you please? If the hemorrhage was her heart or other internal organ, would I have heard the gurgling in her nose and throat? It started slowly after she was running down the stairs and then sounded like more and more liquid and she was gasping for breath until finally so much gurgling she seemed not to be able to get air any more. That’s when she died. Would she have done that with a hemorrhage of an internal organ such as the intestines or heart?

  309. Doc says:

    Hello, Kelly,

    Gurgling in the nose and throat would have to be fluid. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be blood, though. Under extreme stress, the capillaries (microscopic blood vessels)can seep fluid (the fluid part of the blood, not the cells), like a canvas hose seeps water.

    I’m sorry that I am not able to offer you more closure.

  310. pjp209 says:

    Ill try to explain the best I could. My baby Siberian husky just passed away this weekend he was 7.5 years young born 1-1-06 R.I.P 6-15-13. One day he used the bathroom like he usually does after that he went to jump around all happy like all the time after he goes all the sudden he cried real loud like he got hit after that he sat down looking sad I checked him didn’t see any cuts or anything so I told him to lay down. After a few hours he tried to get up to greet my brother at the front door then he let out that cry again I checked again and nothing.we going home now he goes to get in the truck he jumped in and let out little bark like it hurt him to jump so I took him home thinking it was his tail cause it was down its never down we get home he can’t sit comfortable he’s whining by my moms side like he’s asking for help. Me an gf take him to his doctor they check him out doc tells me he can’t say what it is unless he does X-rays we do them he tells me it’s bones stuck inside of him like chicken bones so we pay to have my baby flushed out cant think of the name they call it. Few hours later its done they tell me most bones are out so I’m happy. he had to stay overnight we get him the next day he’ looks sad but happy to see me. Few days go by he’s ok drinking a lot of water eating good Using the bathroom normal besides the loose stool because the stool softener that was prescribed with antibiotics Saturday morning 6am he woke me up with this loud howl like he was trying to tell me something i don’t know I tried to rub an talk to him to comfort him my mom was trying to help too but it was to late for my baby he stopped breathing we called his doctor to ask him what would cause this his explanation was maybe it was his spleen or maybe his brain I fill like he knew something but didn’t tell me. The doctor usually calls me to see how my baby is doing like he did last time we took him in for ear cleaning this he didn’t bother calling:( . Both times my baby had to be put to sleep I don’t know if it had anything to do with the anesthesia and other meds he got while in there. I got his X-rays to have another doctor look at them I was denied of his medical records.i know it won’t bring him back but ill rest knowing it wasn’t my fault this happen. Love my baby. Ill answer any questions just can’t think rite now thanks everybody

  311. Doc says:

    Hello, Pip,

    From your description, it’s hard for me to imagine how this could be something that you did or didn’t do.

    I wonder if it’s possible that the bones had perforated his intestine, and that he had developed peritonitis (an infection in the belly cavity around the organs – this is what happens when you have a ruptured appendix).

    I wouldn’t think that the anesthetic would have any kind of delayed reaction.

    You are entitled to copies of the medical records, though you might have to pay for the copying, same with X-rays.

    The actual records are the property of the doctor, but you are entitled to see the information.

    These cases are terribly frustrating, as you really can’t give a definitive answer without a post-mortem (autopsy), and sometimes not even then.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  312. Bonnie says:

    We’ve been dogsitting my boyfriend’s dad’s german shepherd since about January. He was an older dog, about 8 years old. But he was as energetic as a puppy. He ran around the house outside, chased the cats, always moving, always happy. But he just recently passed away and we’re not sure why. He liked to sleep in a corner, behind a bar we have set up on the porch and it was a big enough space behind there where he could curl up and move around. But the day he passed, we found him in a very odd position, where his body was sort of facing one way and his head and neck were the other way and stretched to where his nose was almost tucked under his stomach. Could he have had a seizure? He seemed fine the day before. But that morning, he didn’t eat much in the morning, but seemed happy when I said bye to him before work, and when my dad checked on him in the afternoon, he said he seemed a little sad, or at least not his usual energetic self. And after we found him dead, we found some vomit in the yard as well. And we did have him tied up, but he wasn’t tangled at all. The bar is close enough to the post that he’s tied to that there’s a lot of slack in the leash and we keep his collar loose so he wouldn’t choke. It’s just so sudden and so unusual. And we feel just terrible because he was so close to going back home to live with his owner. Any answers or theories would be great. Just trying to make sense of all this. We loved him very much.

  313. T. Bresinsky says:

    My dog died suddenly earlier this year. He was being treated for a staph infection in one toe that had required several surgeries to remove. He was thus on rifampin to fight the infection plus prednisone to encourage healing and bring up his blood sugar, which had been found to be low when he was operated. The last two weeks before he died, he was given antirobe for a possible respiratory infection. He seemed normal, if a little “out of it” with the meds, and was eating normally until the last week before he died, when he stopped eating Wednesday but for food I placed inside his mouth. I had been told it was important to keep him eating to keep his blood sugar up, because it was still low. He was being seen every few days to check on the progress of his wound, but Friday of that week I asked for a more general examination. I do not know if it would have made a difference to take him earlier. Early Friday morning, he vomited for the first time. On Friday morning, he was found to have pancreatitis and high liver values, plus a fever. He was taken to a 24-hour-care clinic where I was told that most probably he would be fine within one or two days. However, the next day I received a call saying that his values showed him to be in liver failure. He had a fever that remained at a high baseline, maybe 104, for about 24 hours, then began to climb steadily, until finally on Sunday night he collapsed and died soon thereafter (of his own accord–his heart stopped). What bothers me is that I do not know if the medication or food I gave him might have caused his death. Rifampin, prednisone and even antirobe have been implicated in both pancreatitis and liver toxicity. Also, to encourage him to eat the last few days I tried to give him peanut butter, which he would normally eat even when he rejected everything else. I am worried that maybe I gave him pancreatitis that way or in a peanut-butter filled bone I gave him the previous weekend. I had an autopsy done and the results were inconclusive. There was no extensive organ damage and no significant changes other than those associated with the death process. No sign of fulminant pancreatitis or hepatotoxicity. There was no staph bacteria or other sign of the staph infection in his body. What killed him seemed to be this high fever that finally climbed to 106 and would not go down. His primary veterinarian, who was not in town to treat him when he died, diagnosed malignant hyperthermia based on what was described to him. I wonder if there is any way pancreatitis could lead to hyperthermia (the doctor thinks it was likelier the other way around, even with the meds) or if the hyperthermia could have been caused by my walking him on a warm day the day before he went into the hospital. My net research indicates that rifampin can cause hyperthermia in foals exposed even to short periods of sunlight or warm weather, though I have not seen anything about dogs. (I did not normally walk him for long periods during this time, because of the stress on his toe, but I was trying to get him to make a bowel movement after he had not made any for a while.) Another possibility that was suggested to me by the doctors who worked with him at the end was endocarditis. If the staph infection got into his heart it could have caused the symptoms that were observed, including a heart murmur on the last day. The fever and pancreatitis/liver involvement are symptoms consistent with endocarditis, and staph can cause endocarditis, but no vegetations were found in his heart tissue that I know of. Since the autopsy does not culture the entire heart it might be impossible to know for sure, but do you think this is likely even if no naked eye vegetations were found? Also, how likely is it that the medications contributed to his death? NB that he was a very large dog (twice the usual size for his breed) and only two years old.

  314. T. Bresinsky says:

    P.S. I should have written “no sign of fulminant pancreatitis or fulminant hepatotoxicity.” The autopsy showed some relatively small changes but not consistent with such a quick and dramatic decline leading to death, and inconclusive to distinguish from the death process.

  315. Doc says:

    Hello, T.,

    I am sorry for your loss. You have been very thorough in writing up this very difficult case.

    I wish that I could sort this out for you, but I cannot. It is certainly possible that some of the medicines may have predisposed the dog to new illnesses. Some people can’t take even an aspirin.

    Although you have been meticulous in describing the history, the gaps are in what your doctor was seeing and thinking at each stage of the game. I certainly don’t have enough data to second-guess him, even if I were an internal medicine specialist, which I certainly am not.

    Cases like yours are the most heart-breaking for me. When an owner simply can’t afford the diagnostic and treatment plans, or simply refuses to comply, it’s a little easier for me to shrug off the failure.

    When I have a super-cooperative owner who is willing to do whatever can be done, and we still fail, it is a devastating loss for all of us.

    I wish that I could help you get a little closure on this, but it is beyond my powers.

  316. Faith says:

    Hi Doctor,

    My six year old Bichon died suddenly, with no warning. She was fine, we went to bed, she whined about a half hour later, began panting hard and shivering. We were almost to the vet when she died, it was a 15 minute drive. I am wondering about an accident we had with her about a week and half earlier. My mom was leaving my house thru the patio door and she always pulls it shut very hard. It often bounces back open because of the force. In six years this has never even entered our minds as a danger. But a week and half ago, my dog decided to follow her and as the door slammed, her body was caught and the door came back open. I’m not sure exactly where it caught her, but in the chest/torso area. She backed back into the kitchen rather than continuing out. She isn’t the type to yelp or cry, she just came back in and went about life as normal. I told my mom she might need to watch closing the door so hard, as she didn’t even realize what had happened. Now a week and half later, my girl has died suddenly. She began panting, then shivering, then began making gurgling noises in nose and throat. She died in my mom’s arms five minutes from the hospital. They were unable to revive her. The vet said she had a massive amount of blood in her abdomen. Could she have injured herself when she tried to get thru the door and got smashed in it? Like weakened a blood vessel or artery in her chest or stomach area and it suddenly blew? Ruptured her spleen? I have closed the door with the force my mom uses and I would dare say I would be very afraid to put my finger in there, but not sure if it could injure a dog enough to cause an accidental death. Just wondering what you might think? I still have another small dog and my mom is 83 and very forgetful and still slams the door hard. I wonder if I should be taking precautions, as now this dog follows her everywhere because she is so lonely. I’ve not said anything to my mom regarding this, and I never would, but I am just wondering this for myself. I know there’s no way to know what caused her death, but I am just wondering if this is a possibility? Just seeking some closure as to what could have caused her to die so suddenly with no symptoms. Thanks so much for your time in reading this! ~ Faith

  317. Doc says:

    Hello, Faith,

    We occasionally see injuries that weaken some part of the body so that it later breaks. It is certainly possible that the door slam may have damaged her spleen.

    A ruptured spleen would bleed dramatically into the abdomen. However, I think that your veterinarian would have detected the damaged spleen during the post-mortem.

    Sometimes dogs survive the most alarming injuries, while other cases seem to be “about nothing” and the animal dies. I once had a case where a child dropped the puppy about 3 feet. It hit just wrong on its head and died. Conversely, I have seen dogs who bailed out of a truck at 40 miles an hour have no injuries at all.

    The spleen thing still seems most likely to me. A very small hole, possibly overlooked at autopsy could allow massive bleeding. The spleen is basically a big spongy organ full of blood vessels.

    Sorry I cannot be of more help.

  318. Kathleen says:

    Hello. Two days ago my 1 1/2 yr old black lab died suddenly in the back yard. I got her from the shelter 7 weeks ago. She had been spayed and vaccinated. I took her to my vet about 4 weeks ago for a quick check up and heartworm preventative. The vet said she was a healty dog and congratulations. I adopted her because I lost my 12 year old lab last fall to pneumonia. I let Josie out in the back yard and went to check on her 10 minutes later and found her in the shade dead. Her eyes were open and her pink tongue was hanging out about an inch. She had defecated and her legs were straight out in front of her. No sign of any trauma and the area around her didn’t seem disturbed. She slept alot the last day of her life and I attributed this to the heat, we stayed in the ac most of the day. Since I brought her home she never seemed to have much stamina for a young lab. Would only chase the ball once or twice and then just lay down. Does this sound like a congenital heart problem that was always there? Other than being a little too laid back she was curious and loving and happy and sweet. Heartbroken and wondering if I missed something?

  319. Doc says:

    Hello, Kathleen,

    It does sound to me very likely that she had a congenital heart problem. Sometimes these can be detected with a cardiac ultrasound, sometimes not.

    Nobody does echocardiograms as part of a routine physical.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  320. Rajni says:

    My two year white, handsome and very healthy, lab died 6 days ago. He had been bitten by a street dog a month ago. We took him to the vet who gave him the required treatment and said he will be fine. But after a two weeks time, he was down with fever and had become lazy (he was a very active dog). I took him to the vet again who, as per my observation, said he could still have infection due to dog bite. He gave him intravenous dose for three continuous days and kept him on antibiotics. His health showed some improvement and he was doing fine. On that unfortunate day, we had gone for a car ride. He loved car rides and could do anything to get into it. Suddenly, on our way back home, he came upto me in front and collapsed in my lap. It all happened in second’s time and before I could understand anything he was gone. I am still trying to figure out what could have happened to him. My vet said it could be cardiac arrest. Its killing me inside!!

  321. Doc says:

    Hello, Rajni,

    Cardiac arrest means the heart stops. It always happens when you die.

    Why would his heart stop? That’s the question that is hard to answer. Even with a complete post-mortem (autopsy), it is sometimes impossible to tell for sure.

    Certainly a severe infection can damage and weaken things that later “break”.

    It absolutely does not sound like you did anything wrong, or neglected the dog.

    I’m sorry that I cannot do more to give you closure.

  322. T. Bresinsky says:

    Hello to the Dr.:

    I have just read your response to me. As you can imagine, it was a very emotionally difficult episode, and after writing it up I needed a break from it. So I did not check again for a while.

    However, I want to tell you that your words to me provide me real comfort. I appreciate so much knowing that you share the sadness and frustration that you can gather from the story, and so appreciate your kind words about my attempts to be a responsible dog owner.

    That gives me some peace, even though as you say closure is unlikely. It does however help in a partial closure to know that the case is as baffling to you as it was to me and all the doctors who saw my dog.

    The primary doctor treating my dog believed the problem was confined to the toe and did not see him the last few days of his life. The low blood sugar did not trigger severe warning signs for him and I did not ask for an Addison’s test, which perhaps I should have. The doctors who saw my dog the last few days of his life were stumped. They asked me about exposure to ticks, which I suppose is possible, as about poisoning with aspirin or other toxins, of which the autopsy showed no evidence. They also were worried about leptospirosis though that too did not show up on any tests (as tick exposure did not) and the dog’s kidneys did not appear to be affected or primarily affected.

    I have wondered if maybe he was exposed to distemper virus and because of the immunosuppression caused by prednisone and other drugs, he caught the disease, which can look like many different things. I have also wondered about autoimmune hemolytic anemia which can cause some of the observed symptoms of high fever and high liver values, and which rifampin can cause in humans. (I have not found anything about dogs.) Finally, I have wondered about an Addison’s crisis. I do not think I missed a dose of prednisone but I wonder if maybe it was withdrawn too quickly at the 24-hour clinic. I cannot imagine they would have been so foolish as to do that–and since he had the high fever and liver values when he went in, something was clearly wrong–but one never knows. (Although if there was a possibility the prednisone was affecting his liver and/or pancreas, it may have been necessary.)

    Thank you very much for assuring me that I tried to do the right thing.

  323. Justin says:

    Our 2 year old Husky died suddenly yesterday. My son took him out for his evening walk got about 20 feet down the street his rear legs stiffened up and he fell over dead. We chose not to have a post mortem exam, just really sadden and surprised. There were no signs of sickness or injury. Was always high energy and was very playful even while going out the door for his walk. Has anyone else experienced this?

  324. Doc says:

    Hello, T. Bresinsky,
    Thanks for your long and thoughtful reply. Cases like these are so frustrating, and very hard to “put behind us”.

    Try to remember the good times.

  325. Doc says:

    Hello, Justin,

    There is no way to really sort this out now. My best guess would be that he had a congenital heart condition called cardiomyopathy. Big word that just means “something wrong with the heart muscle”.

    These dogs seem fine, running and playing, and one day the heart just quits. There seems to be no way to predict it. If he had had a cardiac ultrasound examination, there are some times that are visible as a very thick heart muscle with a very small (too small) chamber.

    Nobody gets a cardiac ultrasound as part of the regular physical examination, especially not on such a young, healthy-appearing dog.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  326. Tricia Musto says:

    Hi,

    I came across your article searching for answers or peace of mind in my grief. Our 9-year-old German shepherd, Romeo, died yesterday in recovery from surgery to remove thyroid cancer. The vet and surgeon assured us that the surgery would be simple because the mass felt detached from the neck muscles and that surgery to remove it was the best first step after communication with an oncology vet. Given the level of optimism and lack of warning of complications, we decided to schedule the surgery as soon as possible. Other than the cancer, Romeo’s health was good. His heart was strong and healthy and all of his bloodwork was fine. I felt so optimistic that yesterday was going to be the start of his recovery that I wasn’t concerned that I wouldn’t fit in the car along with my dad and brother to bring Romeo for the procedure. Should he need to lay down on the way home, I didn’t want to be in the way, so I went to work and did not even worry about the surgery. I had no doubt that it would all go perfectly. Midway through the day I heard that he was in recovery and that they were waiting to get more information. I though that meant we were just waiting to hear more about the extent of the cancer and he would soon be on his way home. At 4pm, 3 hours after he had been taken to recovery, my dad called me to inform me that he had died. I screamed in shock. How could this happen? He was awake and breathing on his own for three hours and then he dies? After reading your article, I feel angry that I am being lied to by the vet. Because I was unable to get much information out of my dad and brother, I called to speak with the vet, who was there through the entire surgery and with him throughout his entire time in recovery and death, to ask her what happened. Her explanation was that he had a lot of swelling in his neck and that the cancer was much deeper than initially thought. She said that the surgeon tried to remove as much of it as he could and that he wasn’t confident he got all of it out. She said he was alert and awake but that they kept his neck packed with ice packs and gave him antiinflamatories in an effort to reduce the swelling. She indicated that she was monitoring his breathing the entire time in recovery and everything seemed to be going fine. She indicated there were no problems during the surgery and that all things monitored were good. After three hours of breathing fine in recovery he suddenly started having laborious breaths at which point she claims she administered oxygen and then inserted a breathing tube after an injection to numb the throat. As they were breathing for him through the tube his heart rate began to weaken and eventually stopped, at which point she claims they did CPR on him (she claims three individuals did CPR), which strikes me as odd given the fact that this was a veterinary hospital, why would they not instantly use defibrillation. I am a CPR and AED professional rescuer and we are always taught to use the AED as soon as it becomes available because CPR will never restart someone’s heart, it merely keeps the blood flowing hopefully long enough to defibrillate. She said they then shocked the heart three times and were unable to get it back. I am completely baffled and distraught. I see that you have commented back to pretty much every comment here, and I am hoping you can help me understand. The explanation for his death was cardiac arrest. The vet said she thinks it was as a result of the swelling, but it just doesn’t make sense to me how this could happen. If he had a breathing tube inserted and were successfully breathing for him his brain and heart were not losing oxygen. What caused this sudden decline? What caused his heart to stop? Why would they not have been able to revive the heart? I just can’t make sense of it. My poor Romeo. What kills me the most is that we thought we were helping him. He trusted us as he has no the choice, and ultimately, we brought him to his death. I hope I will be able to come to some sort of understanding of this horrible occurrence although there’s nothing I can do to bring him back now. If there’s any pertinent information that I’ve left out that might help you in providing me with some explanation, please let me know. I would be so grateful for a response that will hopefully offer some clarity or questions that I should be asking the vet to get to the bottom of this.

  327. Tricia Musto says:

    I also want to add, in the above case of Romeo, that the vet indicated they performed a blood transfusion when the declines began to happen. I’m no sure at exactly what stage. Thank you so much for reading and for your help.

  328. Tricia Musto says:

    Hi Doc, I posted here on September 14th. I’ve continued to check back since then because I’m unsure whether I’ll receive an email when you respond or not. I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you so much.

    Tricia

  329. Doc says:

    Hello, Tricia,

    Sorry about the late reply, but I was working at Boy Scout camp, and had no internet access.

    Since I did not see the dog or the surgery or the post-op, I can only speculate.

    Here is how this sounds to me. You have a tumor in the neck area. A thyroid tumor in this area might be a discrete mass that is easily removed. On the other hand, it could be invasive, spreading into the nearby tissues (which is what your veterinarian indicated). This is something you really wouldn’t know until you got the site open. This additional tumor tissue could encompass blood vessels and nerves.

    In attempting to remove the additional tumor tissue, it would certainly be possible to damage blood vessels, as you are spreading the tissue planes to dissect out the tumor. This might look okay initially, but begin to seep later. Thus, the swelling.

    The vagus nerve runs through this area, and it slows the heart if over-stimulated. I could see this being affected by the swelling.

    AEDs are really not designed for use in animals. The only reason I would have an AED in my office would be in case I personally have a heart attack.

    The fact that your veterinarian even HAS a defibrillator shows that they have an exceptional commitment to your dog’s care. Most veterinary hospitals do not have one.

    CPR is generally only successful when the heart stops for reasons that are not primary heart disease. I have re-started dogs with CPR and epinephrine when they had an idiosyncratic response to anesthetic drugs (some people can’t even take an aspirin, and some patients have bizarre reactions to a drug that is safe in others). I have done a lot of unsuccessful CPR.

    It doesn’t sound to me like your veterinarian tried to mislead you.

    If you had allowed the thyroid mass to continue un-treated, things would have gotten very bad, very soon, given that it turned out to be an invasive cancer (suggesting a greater degree of malignancy).

    Your doctor started the surgery, and found complications. They attempted to remove as much tumor tissue as possible, so that if “clean-up” chemo or other treatment were needed, there wouldn’t be much cancer to deal with. It certainly works better on a few cells than on a huge mass.

    Post-surgical complications developed, probably from tissue that was unavoidably manipulated in the process of tumor removal. The swelling put pressure on the airway, and (I suspect) on the vagus nerve. The heart shut down and could not be re-started.

    It is an undeniably bad outcome, and I understand your upset. Yet I can totally see what your veterinarian was going through, working hard to do the best for your dog, and finding one thing after another going south.

    There is nothing worse for me than making the call when a patient has been lost in elective surgery. Thank God it is a rare occurrence.

    You made the decision that you thought was best for your dog, and you lost him that day. If you had decided not to have the surgery, and the tumor itself had produced these effects (which it probably would have, though not sure when), you would feel plenty bad about “doing nothing”.

    Would things have worked out differently if the dog had been at a university teaching hospital? Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes different is not better.
    It’s just different.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  330. Tricia Musto says:

    Hi Doc,

    Thank you so much for your thorough response. It truly has helped me to cope. I do have one other question, once the vets noticed the extreme swelling, was there anything they could have or should have done differently? She indicated to me that he was alert and breathing for three hours before this occurrence yet they had his neck packed with ice packs and had given him antiinflamatory drugs. I understand cancer and surgery cause a certain amount of swelling, but is there an amount of swelling that would’ve occurred that should’ve signaled something like you described was wrong. It had also been really upsetting me the idea that Romeo may have been in pain or scared. When what you’ve described begins to occur, is there pain? We have also been wondering why the ultrasound that was performed would not have indicated that the cancer transcended deeper into the neck as opposed to being just the freely moveable mass? Lastly, if when the surgeon opened the area and saw that the cancer transcended deeper into the neck, would it not have been a better solution to just remove the freely moveable tumor as opposed to cutting deeper into the neck area which you’ve indicated is very risky due to the critical structures in this area?

    I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’re doing here on your blog. I am so thankful for your assistance.

    Tricia

  331. Tricia Musto says:

    I apologize for all the comments, but as we’re sitting here talking about your response, another question came up. From the aspiration of the tumor, the vet indicated that the cancer was a low grade or slowly growing. How could it have been so invasive? And knowing that the cancer was a low grade, again, would it not have been advisable to not go so deep into the neck but instead just removing what was “simpler” to remove?

  332. Doc says:

    Hello, Tricia,

    In your original post, you said that your veterinarian was taking the advice of the veterinary oncologist. The specialist’s advice is the best reference we have to go on.

    Fine needle aspiration gives you individual cells. It does not give you any architecture, the structure of the tumor, the relationship of the cells to one another. It can be very misleading as to degree of malignancy, and sometimes even as to the type of the tumor. It’s like scooping a spoonful off the top of a truckload.

    The fact that the tumor was obviously invasive (when explored) would suggest to most veterinarians that the tumor was more aggressive (malignant) than supposed from the initial cytology exam.

    The alternative to more extensive surgery at the time of the initial operation would be to submit the big chunk to a pathologist, and then take the results to an oncologist. Generally they are going to recommend removing as much bulk of tumor as possible before trying to do “clean-up” follow-up treatment.

    So, you send out the biopsy, it takes a week or 10 days to get it back. In the meantime, the rest of the tumor keeps growing. Then the oncologist tells you to go back in and get as much as you can. Two anesthetics, two surgeries. Will the second surgery be harder than the first? Who knows? It certainly could be. Will the tumor have had a greater chance to spread in the meantime? Maybe.

    Everybody wants to “Monday morning quarterback” when things don’t turn out well. “If you had only known..” Well, you couldn’t know. You take the information you have and make the best decision you can. That’s what you did, and that’s what the oncologist did, and that’s what your veterinarian did. It didn’t work out.

    Should you have ignored the cancer and let it grow? Would that have worked out “better”?

    I can think of several cases I wish I had never seen. They were no-win situations. If I had only known. Of course, if I were psychic, then I’d just pick the winning lottery numbers.

  333. Tricia Musto says:

    Thank you Doc. I am so very thankful for your response. You have been a wonderful source of knowledge, and I very much appreciate your thoroughness. Thank you for all your help. Romeo is so greatly loved. He was a member of our family, and it helps a lot that you’ve helped me understand more about the circumstances that led to this. He is and will be very missed.

    Tricia

  334. Doc says:

    Hello, Tricia,

    At times like this it is hard to focus on the good memories, but eventually that is what will remain.

    We hate the sense of loss, but it is only so great because what we had was so great when our friend was with us.

    Thanks for reading and writing.

  335. ben bird says:

    Hi my names ben and my dog sassy just passed away in my arms. she was 17 and was in good health but for the last two months she wouldke seizure simpons but i don’t know if they where because she would lay down and start to wine and put her head to the side she had three her last one she died.

  336. Doc says:

    Hello, Ben,

    When a dog of Sassy’s advanced age starts having seizures, we are very concerned about them being caused by a brain tumor.

    Even though she was in good health otherwise (especially for a seventeen years old dog), there would not have been much we could do for her.

    The only way to get a definitive diagnosis would have been with an MRI (around a thousand dollars at the university teaching hospital). Medical therapy probably wouldn’t have helped if it was a tumor. Brain surgery is always iffy, and on a dog that old would have had almost no chance of success.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  337. rudy says:

    Hello,
    Our beloved Boxer, ACE past unexpectedly last night considering he was only a few months shy of his 4th B-day. We took him for his nightly walk like we usually did and he display his normal prances, and his normal behavior all of sudden he went to the side of the street collapsed, and past almost immediately. We rushed to the vet, however he was already gone. I noticed that his tongue had various black spot displayed. the vet believes he could have ingested a poisonous plant or perhaps a toad since they are common in South Florida. Our family is devastated especially our 11 year old son since that was his Christmas gift 4 years ago this December. Any ideas what could have contributed to this tragic event.

    Thank you.

  338. Doc says:

    Hello, Rudy,

    Your veterinarian would be more familiar with local hazards than I would.

    I wish that I could offer you some helpful information, but I have no way to narrow this down.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  339. Morgan says:

    Hi I’m wondering I had a two year old canadian cur die yesterday morning. It was so strange she seemed fine she came over kissed me, then rolled over as if to say rub my belly. Then her head went back she tried to bring it back and within seconds I was freaking out and on way to vet she had died with in two minutes of getting off the couch. Why would this happen? The vet tried to bring her back and couldn’t she had no real answer other then maybe she has had heart disease senesce she was born PLEASE HELP!!!!!

  340. Doc says:

    Hello, Morgan,

    I wish that I had a good answer for you.

    There are dogs who are born with a heart defect that doesn’t show up until later in life. I have had several patients (over 35 years) who seemed fine and just “fell over” while playing. When the pathologist examined the heart, he diagnosed a cardiomyopathy. This just means something wrong with the heart muscle.

    These dogs usually do not have any preliminary signs. They don’t have trouble exercising, they don’t faint, they don’t cough. One day their heart just quits.

    Without doing a complete post-mortem examination (autopsy) it just isn’t possible for us to give you any more information. Sometimes even then it is hard to determine exactly what happened.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  341. mark stinchcombe says:

    What a great website.
    This Christmas eve my 8 month old Rottweiller suddenly died.
    He was very loving,fit and full of life he loved human company and was perfect in every way he was bought from a very good breeder who has won many shows.
    Every day he would go for 2 hour walks in the countryside, he was on a very good diet, perfect weight and condition.
    He was loved by all my family and friends who all commented on his soft and loving nature.
    On Christmas eve my dog called Omar was playing with his fluffy toy giving it to all of us as he loved to do.
    At 10:30 pm we went to bed and omar went on his blanket in the dining room as normal then 15 minutes later i heard his cry out something he has never done before, i immediately got dressed and i heard him cry out again, i ran downstairs and turned on the light and he was lying there with his tongue hanging out, he had released his bowels already and his eyes were wide open.
    I checked his airways tried cpr but he was just limp, i called the vet then put him in the car .
    At the vets she checked his heart and said sorry he has gone i asked how long she replied 5 – 10 minutes.

    We had no Christmas this year.
    I requested a post mortem.
    I went to see my vet yesterday who spoke to me saying he had done a post mortem but found no obvious problem and suggested that his heart just stopped?
    He said he has taken samples to send to the lab but said this may be inconclusive.
    I have known this vet for many years and trust him.
    I asked again how could he just die being fit and healthy one minute to dead?
    We are all still devastated.

    Regards Mark

  342. Doc says:

    Hello, Mark,

    My best guess would be that he had a congenital cardiomyopathy. Tranlation: born with a defect in his heart muscle that was a time-bomb waiting to go off.

    These dogs frequently have no warning signs, they just keel over.

    Pathologists have told me to send the entire heart when I have a case like this.

    It sounds to me like your veterinarian has been honest and thorough.

    I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer for you.

  343. julie says:

    Twice in the past month our 12 year old cavalier has stumbled fallen over and wet himself. He then lays there breathing heavy and can’t get up for several minutes. The first time he cried out in pain. After he recovers he is fine except that he has small tremors a lot but they don’t seem to bother him. Could this be his heart or neurological?

  344. Doc says:

    Hello, Julie,

    I would be concerned both about seizure problems and possible heart arrhythmia.

    I would start with chest x-rays, electrocardiogram, and ultrasound of his heart to assess heart function.

    A complete blood count and blood chemistry examination would be recommended to look at his overall organ function.

    If this is all normal, then neurological problems are more likely.

    Seizures in a dog this age most often are caused by brain tumors, and get progressively worse.

    Unless you can take him to a referral center for MRI, this would be very difficult to diagnose.

    Checking out the heart function is something that can probably be done locally at reasonable cost.

  345. Victor says:

    Dear Doc,

    First excuse us , we are not native English speakers , and living in Central Europe.
    Our lovely dog Bubi dead suddenly and unexpected before two months ago. Unexpected because 10 days before she was on a regular medical check in the Univercity veterinary clinic.
    The blood picture was almost perfect for 12.5 years old dog. We also did ultrasonography where the doctor found a small Ascites. A sample from the liquid has been taken for examination.
    The size of Bubi abdomen was normal visually.

    Bubi 12.5 years old female dog 13.5 kg Breed unknown /half Cocker Spaniel/ , castrated , was in a good health condition , eat and drink water – normal. When she was exited she has fast breathing not depends by the ambient temperature. She was scared from thunderstorms , celebration fireworks or loud sounds .Then she start trembling.
    Another change in her behavior during the last month – she start vomiting in the car. It was unusual behavoir.
    No changes in her skin or her hair everything was normal.
    Another stress factors – we have 2 months old baby which may create additional stress to Bubi
    A small formations around dog`s kidneys was found too, with unknown origin or diagnosis.
    They recommended us to do Nuclear-Magnetic Resonance test but shes GP do not advice us to do that to avoid additional dog stress and it is very expensive for us too.

    effusion cytology tests from Bubi abdomen
    ———————–
    found
    high cell small to medium lymphocytes, basophilic cytoplasm
    pH=7
    hemocontaminacion

    epicrisis
    – Enlarged lung
    anehogene-fluid in the abdominal cavity
    -increase of the left kidney and doubts about the very entity kidney or adrenal gland
    -calcification in parenchyma size approximately 4 x 1.9 cm

    – ascites
    – Hiperlaziya / neoplasia
    -fatty
    -fibrosis,
    – neoplasia

    We bring back these results to our local vet doctor and she excluded Cushing Syndrome and said there is no danger for Bubi`s life because these tumors grow very slow.
    According her opinion Bubi have a Protein loss disease
    Here is her statement  and the recommendations :

    ——————————————–
    Ascites is a result of a shortage of protein in the blood, which in particular is determined by Bubi : 1.Protein loss in the urine ( proteinuria + ) 2. Reduced protein synthesis in the liver (decreased blood values ​​of ALT, total protein and albumin ) .

      – Proteinuria is more often a result of processes related to the immune system (continuous presence in the body of a foreign agent – bacteria , viruses, parasites ) than with issues specifically related to the kidneys, although their function is also indirectly affected ( Ultrasound findings ) .
     – Reduced protein synthesis in liver partial loss of one of the main functions of the body , namely the synthesis of proteins required for the functioning of the organism as a whole.

     Taking into consideration the history and my research , I can conclude the following:
     1. Exclude the presence of prominent Cushing’s syndrome: lack basic clinical signs – characteristic changes in the skin and fur , the level of blood sugar, etc. .
     2 . There is affecting the function of the left kidney ( Ultrasound finding and Urea levels in February – 7.9) , as it does not affect especially the urinary Created opportunity of the organism as a whole. Ultrasound identified problems speak rather lightly on the left ureter , probably obtained after assembling this place at castration .
     3 . There is impaired function of the liver, cirrhosis direction , but to a minor degree , such that at the moment it is not dangerous to life (characteristic age changes )
     4 . The main problem is the immunological ! There are autoimmune processes (nephrotic syndrome and others. ) Which are associated with the initial presentation of an old stimulus such as variants of at least two : 1. Parasite – helminths heartworms that affects the heart and abdominal cuticle – the peritoneum (the proof for 15 minutes with a quick test strip after taking the blood) .
     2 – neoplastic malignancy with slow growth and the presence of ascites, most commonly associated with the peritoneum and / or liver.

      
     I suggest you immediately start term corticosteroid therapy at doses above average and higher (Ex. Deksafort /Dexamethasone , or similar , subcutaneously , for starters 1 time a week, at least four applications and followed by decreasing doses of pills for a few months) only need the addition of tablets containing Cyclophosphamidum or other cytostatic .
    ————————————————–

    We have done an additional test for Heartworms which was negative

    After this result we start treatments with the first dosage Dexametasone.  Everything looks fine , but the problem came in the 4th day after the treatment.

    It happened after our regular night walking outside home.
    20 minutes after the walk  Bubi began to stagger, legs become “soft” and she was unable to stay anymore on her legs.
    We called her doctor who came after 30 minutes .Bubi start loosing her reaction . Her breath was with normal speed , but the tongue changes its color to red or cyan below.
    We keep a phone conversation during her traveling time : She recommended  us to put some honey in her mouth.

    After the doctor arrived she examined the Bubi chest with Sethoscope and said that Bubi have some liquid in her lung . She put some medicine in her leg to remove this liquid from the lung. She recommended  us immediately go to Emergency center
     
    so, after another 30 minutes we was there  and they took care about Bubi
    But after 20 minutes they informed us that Bubi is dead 🙁

    Here is the Emergency pet center conclusion :
    —-

    Temperature 33.2 C (91.7 F)
    respiration 16/min.
    Pulse – intermittent
    The patient was admitted to the lateral posture, palpebral and corneal reflexes negative. Agonalno breathing irregular heartbeat, heart slightly audible / bradycardia / fixed mydriasis, strong hypothermia.The patient is set to heating pad during cannulation (?) Heart stops-cardiopulmonary resuscitation with application of adrenaline 1 ampoule ic-failure ”

    We still searching for the reasons caused her suddenly death.
    During 2013 she had total three medicdal checks including her heart. No problems was found.
    Is it possible Dexamethasone provoke /cause/ her death ? I already found that medicine have many side effects , but I am not sure how this drug will affect her condition in this case.

    If you would to take a look at the details please follow the link
    http://cloud.vhelectronics.com/public.php?service=files&t=65bfdcfd677643d9da0cef389cc70a93

    where many details are attached. Please note EU “units” may be different from these in US

    Thank You very much

  346. doc says:

    Hello, Victor,

    I understand your frustration and grief at the loss of your dog.

    I am certainly no specialist, but I do have some thoughts here.

    The best thing to do to have determined the cause of death would have been a post-mortem examination (autopsy, necropsy). Since that apparently was not done, we can only speculate on the basis of the previous tests.

    First, I doubt that the dexamethasone contributed to your dog’s death.

    The presence of the ascites (fluid in the abdomen) and the mineral deposits in the enlarged kidney are what speak to me.

    In addition to a low plasma protein (which can be caused by poor liver function, starvation, or loss of protein through a kidney inflammation), ascites can also be caused by poor heart function (which they did not see), and by cancer. The cancer cells can cause the production of fluid in the abdomen.

    Second, a mass in one kidney with mineral deposits in it is highly suggestive that this is a cancerous tumor. If the other kidney were normal, then the blood tests for kidney function would have been fine. One kidney is plenty, as far as ridding the body of wastes.

    When Bubi became acutely ill, there was fluid in the lungs. This prevents air from being in the lungs, which is why she deteriorated so rapidly. The findings at the emergency clinic suggest she was near death when she arrived – extremely low body temperature, pupils dilated and unresponsive, and so forth.

    The question is, why the fluid in the lungs? My suspicion is that the cancer was spreading. Tiny cancers are not visible on X-rays. They can, however damaged blood vessels, and this can cause rapid fluid leakage into the lungs.

    This is just speculation, as I have never seen your dog.

    The only thing that I feel confident in saying is that her death was not due to any neglect on your part, nor to negligence by your veterinarian. It sounds as though they were very thorough in the workup.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  347. Shirley Chung says:

    Dear Doc,
    Our baby Chase passed yesterday morning.. He is the love of our life. Chase is a happy, loving, smart healthy 11 year old mini Aussie. he is a little on the chubby side, but he is playful and active, doesn’t look his age at all. He never had any major health issue; his trips to the vets are consisting of normal checkup and vaccines. My husband and I got him after we have been dating for 1 year, his is our child. We took him everywhere. He is the best hiker, since my husband has bad knee, Chase has been my hiking buddy since he was young. About 2 month ago, I notice he had a weird cough, sounded like he is coughing up a hairball, but because it was his shedding season, I thought he just had hairballs. 6 weeks ago I took him for his senior wellness check up, blood work and teeth cleaning. His tests all came back normal, but we discover he had 2 cracked teeth that need to extract right away, and a minor heart murmur. He recovered from his teeth extraction perfectly and vet said if he has those cough again, I need to take him in for x ray and possibly start him on some heart medication. I downloaded an App to monitor his heart rate daily, and his heart rate is 23 to 26 BPMs and never went over target 40BMPs, I talked to his Vet a week after, the Vet said his heart rate seems great. He had a lot more energy after the teeth extraction; bug his brother Bax a 2 yr Terrier mix to play a lot more often. I had to leave for a trip to Korea 2 weeks ago, I had my husband download the app and monitor him everyday. Last week my husband notice he started to cough again, he was going to take him see Vet, but his cough went away. Over the weekend, his friend stay over to play with him and bax, they play well and had a good time. The night before he was perfectly fine, waited for Daddy to come home, watched TV with him, begged daddy to share bread with him, and play with brother. Before they went up to the bedroom, he stopped, stole and finished all his brother’s food before he run up stairs , sleep on our bed. He slept at his usual spot, on the foot of my side of the bed, cuddle next to daddy’s legs. This morning 5AM, my husband woke up for bathroom, he realized, our baby is gone…. He had a smile on his face, his tongue was out, and it turned blue, he urinated a little but no poop, our baby is so consider that he didn’t even leave a mess when he is leaving… His body was cold and legs were stiff… His eyes were open…almost looked like he is searching for me…. We facetime and said our goodbyes, I am so sorry that I didn’t get to hug him kiss him for one last time, I feel like he was waiting for me to go back but couldn’t wait any longer. I wish I took him to get x ray right away that he started on his heart medication… Chase had so much love for us and we really thought he will have at least a few more years, we even booked a beach vacation next month and plan to take Chase and Bax to Santa Barbara for the first time….. I feel so lost without him, and I feel so sad that my husband has to take care of everything by himself… from reading the past posts, I realized we are not alone…. Thank you so much for creating this website for us ……. But what can I do, when I lost a piece of my heart?

  348. RhondaTasker says:

    My lab mix dog has ha a little trouble with his hips in the past 6 or 8 months but not teal bad nor all the time. Last week he was laying across the room an suddenly jumped up, ran an lept up onto my husband’s lap where two of our smaller dogs were. Scaring them they caused a ruckus which in turn scared him and he fell off and couldn’t get up without help. He then walked to the door to go out to pottie but fell and tried to drag himself but I helped him get up again and he seemed fine but I gave him an aspirin when he came back in. For three or four days he was more like a pup again but then the trouble with his back legs returned so I gave him one of his rimadyl tabs. He followed me into a bedroom layed down and showed no signs of distress. I went to the bathroom and when I came back he was breathing pretty hard but I talked to him and the hard breathing lasted maybe 5 seconds or so then he was breathing normal. When I was done in that room I came back into the living room and left him in there with the door open since he was resting good and the rimadyl would take awhile to work good enough that he could walk okay.I went back to check on him no more than 10 minutes later and he had moved to the door but was dead. I have 9 dogs left, all are rescues and all have been spayed or neutered. I love them all but he was more linked to me than the others. I think he was about 7 yrs old but he was grown when I found him so I’m not sure. Could he have thrown a clot? I worked for a vet for 8 yrs. and one of my cats did something like this but didn’t die and it was from a blood clot in his back leg. I feel like I failed him but we had made arrangements for help with taking him to the vet as soon as he was back for afternoon hours.

  349. doc says:

    Hello, Rhonda,

    I wish that I could give you some real insight into this, but I cannot.

    The one thing that I feel confident is that the situation had nothing to do with neglect or poor care.

    We cannot always cheat death.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  350. Dave Aranda says:

    My dog Jade just passed this Monday. She was a Pug, and would have been 11 in June.
    She had a cyst removed from the top of her head several weeks ago, and the biopsy came back as being cancerous.
    The vet said while he got it all, it certainly has pread, but without Oncology assessment it would be vague.
    We did not want to subject her to testing and chemo, so we just wanted to make her happy for whatever time we still had.
    Unfortunately, on Monday 2/24 she died.
    we had a great day prior..I gave her a bath, we played, she rested as usual…..I made her a special dinner of boiled chicken and her dry food….She ate it all fine…
    While I was sitting at the table, and she sitting next to my chair, she suddenly keeled over. I rushed to her, but she was unresponsive, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.
    I knew she was gone, but we still rushed to Vet. She was DOA……The Vet said by looking at her gums she was anemic…I did not want to put my family thru an autopsy, and just figured her little heart gave out or she succomed to the cancer….I miss her soo much….Not sure what you can tell by this, but I am able to speak about her, thanks..

  351. doc says:

    Hello, Dave,

    Thanks for sharing your story. I agree that the cancer probably arrived in a place that was “the last straw”.

    It sounds like you made her final days good ones, and what else can we ask for?

  352. Lucy says:

    I just recently lost my 18 hear old jack russell. She was truly part of the family, i got her when i was 5 and don’t know life without her.

    My dad went out side to give her some food, she was in her kennel and he heard some funny noises coming from it he bent down and saw she wasn’t herself and picked her up, she was very limp but still alive.
    He and my mum rushed her to the vet. On the way she was looking up at my mum the whole time but wet herself. The vet said ‘it was probably a heart attack or stroke’ and there wasn’t anything they could do. So they ended up putting her to sleep.

    Yes she was 18 and had a long happy life, but I’m just wondering if she would have been in any pain or suffering, was she holding on with the last bit of life she had like the tough little dog she was?

    I understand what you said that dogs don’t have heart attacks but what else could it have been? From what I’ve read it doesn’t match the symptoms of a stroke.
    Thanks

  353. doc says:

    Hello, Lucy,

    Dogs certainly can have heart attacks, it is just uncommon, as they don’t have cholesterol buildup like people do.

    At 18 years old, any of her organs could have failed. She could even have had an aneurysm (weakened blood vessel) burst and been bleeding internally to make her weak.

    My own dog had a tumor in her spleen that ruptured suddenly. She had seemed perfectly fine, and then became terribly weak, as she was bleeding internally.

    It sounds like she had a great life right up until her body gave out. It sounds to me like she went pretty fast, and did not suffer.

    I know you miss her and I am sorry for your loss.

  354. Lucy says:

    (Re: 18y.o jack russell)
    You don’t have to reply to this, i just wanted to thank you for that bit of closure you gave me. Every little bit helps.

    Many thanks, Lucy

  355. Josh Rubin says:

    Thank you for all of the informative info on this site. Could you please give me your impressions on this situation…My 10.25 year old female golden retriever passed away about 10 days ago. I didn’t expect it. I do know that she may have been sick and, in fact, had her to the vet 48 hours before she passed. Her symptoms: throwing up flem (1-2 months before passing), lack of interest in exercise (would not walk around the block in the weeks before passing), loss of appetite (in the last week, which really concerned me and let me to having her checked out), coughing (in final week), panting (even though not hot out in final week), drinking lots of water (though I did not think an alarming amount). 2 days before she passed, the vet said she was ok and gave an antibiotic and steroid shot. On her final day, she got up, had a bite or two of food, and eventually laid in her final resting spot where we noticed her panting and drooling a bit. I thought it was a side effect of the meds. In about 1-2 hours later, I knew she was in trouble. Mouth was cold, tongue blue, sprawled out on floor. obviously deprived of oxygen. She did not die suddenly, but it took her body a while to shut down. In fact, I think she waited until I conceded the situation for what it was and began comforting her. She took her last breath shortly after that, but I know was lying on the floor for at least 2 hours before she died. I know cancer is a possibility, but she did not have wait loss (weighted 92 lbs). Cardiomyopothy??? I had a post mortem x-ray done, which according to a different vet showed an enlarged heart (said her heart measured a 11.5). Any insight is appreciated.

  356. doc says:

    Hello, Josh,

    The 11.5 would probably be a measurement called the Vertebral Heart Score. It is a measurement of the size of the heart compared to the size of the dog’s backbone segments, and is expressed as a ratio. 10 is considered the average normal. 11.5 is enlarged, but by itself would not be considered a cause of death.

    Post-mortem X-rays of heart size might be misleading. I don’t have any data on that.

    I don’t know how much diagnostic testing was done while she was sick, but it is certainly possible to miss cancerous disease when you have many small tumors. They are not big enough to show up with standard imaging (x-ray or ultrasound, versus C-T scan or MRI)but can do a lot of damage.

    Golden Retrievers do have a higher than average incidence of cancer as a breed, so this would be high on my list.

    Cardiomyopathy is something that would have struck much earlier in life, as a general rule.

    A complete post-mortem examination might have been more revealing. However, I have had patients where we sent samples of every organ and still could not establish a definitive diagnosis.

  357. Michael Baker says:

    I came on this site to try to find answers, because like many of you I am devastated over the sudden death of my little dog. He was only 18months old and was spoiled since the day we got him. He was a small 8lb Papillion and we loved so much. I played ball with him everyday. He went with us everywhere we went and slept with me every night. I am a grown man but I have been crying like a child for 3 days now. He was fine , happy as he always was on Thursday , then suddenly he dropped to the floor screamed with his legs stretched out stiff and then he went limb. We ran him to the animal hospital which was literally 2mins up the road . But he was gone before we even got there, all they could tell us was something about a blood clot that may have suddenly ruptured. I loved him so much , I’d do anything to bring him back ..if only we knew he had some condition. But we didn’t . He had regular vet visits, but he always seemed fine. Heartbroken.. I miss him so much. The pet store we got him from actually offered to give us another dog for free, but I feel like I can’t try to replace him. I’ll always compare and probably will not want to love the new dog out of fear of losing him as well. God this is so hard….

  358. chaitanyakrishna says:

    My dog is died yesterday.I am working in my hometown only.He is very active even very strong also .Its a stray dog but ever since his birth he and his brother are living and mingle among us right from 10 years.But yesterday suddenly i received a call from my home he falldown suddenly.I dont know immediately called a doctor.But while doctor came to home and trying to make some necessary medical arrangements he is gone .What might be the cause for that?really disgusting cant able to do regular activities.There is no illness history for that dog is his lifetime.All happen within a span of half-an-hour?

  359. Doc says:

    Hello, Michael,

    I wish that I could give you some closure, but sometimes we cannot do that even with a complete post-mortem examination.

    As to “replacing” him, it’s perfectly normal to go through the grieving process before you feel like getting another dog. When I have lost dogs of my own, it has been nearly a year before I felt like I wanted another.

    Try to remember the good times.

  360. Doc says:

    Hello, Chaitanyakrishna,

    Even with a complete post-mortem examination, it is sometimes difficult to find the true answer.

    My own dog had no outward signs of illness at all, until one day a tumor in her spleen ruptured and the internal bleeding made her too weak to get up. There was nothing to see on the outside.

    I would suspect something similar with what you describe.

  361. Bear's Parents says:

    Hello,

    My 4 year old puppy suddenly died. He was in excellent health. No signs of symptoms of any kind of were apparent of anything wrong with him. Moments before he passed he was playing, barking and jumping on and off he bed as he often did because he was excited to go for our morning walk. Then, the next second he was laying on his side, and had passed. He did not foam at the mouth, make any sounds or anything. His head was tilted all the way back looking at his tail though, and we have never seen him in such a position. We rushed him to the vet and did an x-ray thinking he might of broken his neck, but everything looked normal. The vet says it was most likely a neurological issue based on the the way his head was looking back. We are completely and utterly devastated. He was the love of our lives. Much like everyone we could not bring ourselves to send him for a post-mortem exam. Do you too think it could of been neurological? Thank you.

  362. Doc says:

    Hello, Bear’s Parents,

    That posture certainly indicates neurological issues, but doesn’t tell us much about the cause.

    Unless one is near a teaching institution like a veterinary school, we usually don’t have access to MRI or C-T scan. Thus, it is very difficult to do more than speculate as to whether something like a stroke has occurred.

    Dogs with cardiomyopathy (a defect in the heart muscle) often seem fine until they suddenly die. Very difficult to diagnose ahead of time. Even with ECG and cardiac ultrasound (echocardiogram) you might not see anything definitive.

    The neurological signs at the time of death could be secondary to the loss of circulation attendant on some other cause of death.

    I wish I could do more to give you closure here.

    Best wishes.

  363. sudhasreea says:

    my pet sumeer 13 years very active stopped eating properly since five months.not ableto stand at its own. vet checked and told his age problem .taken to vet experts they too said it was his age . given injection taken food for two days and stopped taking suddenly one night started vomiting. brown motions. vet gavehim antibiotics and given DNS. for three days. he again active and eaten for two days, suddenly urin blocked. given cyclopam inj.and passed urine again after two days stomach bloat urine block. removed urine with catheter. punjent smell vet told it was with liver and kidney disease. suffered with deep pain and low voice. next day evening he was taken for passing. urine. he didnot pass urine but passed motion started restless with tongue unstable neck also not stable. he was placed in bed. stopped breathing and died.

  364. Doc says:

    Hello, Sudhasrea,

    I wish that I could do more to help explain your situation. It sounds like you and your veterinarians were dealing with multiple organs failing. This can certainly happen as we become elderly.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  365. Sara says:

    I lost my best friend a week ago and I’m still looking for answers. Pedro was an old boy…about 13 years old…black lab beagle mix. He began lightly coughing the night before. It wasn’t constant and he was still playing and begging for attention and begging to go play outside. The usual. He was very vocal about his needs to the very end. His coughing didn’t seem to bother him much so i assumed maybe kennel cough. I searched the net and it seemed like I had assumed correctly. That night Pedro and I slept on the couch together so if the coughing continued my husband could still get a solid nights sleep before work. The next day, the cough was still there. It wasn’t bothering him at all. Many websites said that kennel cough medication didnt do much and to wait it out. I decided to wait for my husband to get home so we could figure out what to do with Pedro. Pedro ate his breakfast and went about his day with his minor cough annoyance. My husband came home around dinner time. While making dinner, Pedro was his normal self…begging for scraps while i cooked and sitting near my feet. I did let him have some chicken. He loved it. We decided to wait and see if it went away and if it hadnt by the am wed take him in. Pedro was still spunky and great. Before Pedros dinner time I let him out back while we visited out front with a neighbor. About 20 minutes later, my hubby and I went inside. My hubby looked outside and yelled that Pedro wasn’t ok. I ran out back to find him sprawled out on the patio surrounded by what looked like mucas. I told my hubby to get in the car fast and that we needed to get him to the dr asap. I ran out back and held my boy begging him not to go. In the time it took my hubby to change his shirt? (I still dont know why that *idiot* needed to change his shirt) My dog took a look up at me and died in my arms. I feel like this is all my fault. Rip Pedro. I love you so much.
    The place where we took him to get cremated said it sounded like heart failure? Could this have been avoided?!! Or would I have simply been prolonging the inevitable?

  366. Doc says:

    Hello, Sara,

    Without a complete post-mortem, it’s hard to say what happened. I will say that if your buddy went from pretty much okay, to a cough, to passing away in about a 24 hour period, there was something present that you were not likely to fix.

    I can think of a lot of possible explanations, but really no way to sort them out.

    Don’t beat up on yourself (or on your husband).

    We should all be so lucky to have such a long, happy life, and go in a hurry.

    I know you will miss Pedro. I am sorry for your loss.

  367. Nick says:

    My dog Rico was 8 years and passed away 3 days ago. We were told that he had a Heart murmur when he was a puppy. We went to the country this week and he did a lot of extra activity then usual. At the end of vacation he seemed tired and through-up once. We came back from vacation and the next day we found him on his bed with blood coming from his nose and mouth. We are struggling with his death and question what we should have done to save his life. Should I have taken if to vet. Or should I not have made him over exert himself on our trip. My family is struggling with my little buddies death. What do you think happened to him. We did not do autopsy we just buried him in the country. Thank you.

  368. Doc says:

    Hello, Nick,
    The blood coming from nose and mouth would suggest that a blood vessel rupture in the lungs. If some extra running over the weekend was enough stress to break a blood vessel, then it was going to break sometime anyway. There was just something weak in there.
    It sounds like his last weekend was a happy one, and we should all be so lucky. Don’t beat yourself up.

  369. yvonne maz says:

    i have a 10 year old chihuahua. Last night i noticed he wasn’t moving his head. He has been holding his head in the same place all night and half the day now. When i pick him up to take him outside to go potty he whines when he gets picked up. Nothing has happened to him in the past few days what can be causing this to happen

  370. Doc says:

    Hello, Yvonne,

    I really don’t know how to help you without seeing your dog. I would be concerned about a problem with an intervertebral disc in his neck, but without a good examination, I don’t know how to narrow this down. Your buddy just needs to see his veterinarian.

  371. broken_hearted_ says:

    I recently lost my 9 year old chihuahua x mini foxy. I am completely devastated and unable to move past his death. He was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and heart murmur grade 2/5 a year and a half ago but never had any symptoms. He was always such a goofy puppy right up until two weeks before his death.

    In June 2014 he suffered a suspected heart tear with pleural effusion which we were told he probably wouldn’t recover from. He was his old puppy self again for about a month before going into mild congestive heart failure. We were told we’d caught it early and the fluid was removed from his lungs with Lasix. He was prescribed Lasix, Pimobendan, Fortekor, Amlodipine, Codeine and a Seretide puffer. He also had suspected dynamic airway disease which gave him intermittent coughing fits.

    He was stable for a month and a half before we noticed him slowing down and not wanting to exercise or eat. I suspected the Pimobendan was overworking his heart as you could see it physically beating against his chest wall. He had also developed an arrhythmia. His vet however, a cardiologist, said the medication was fine and that his heart disease was well managed. Less than 24 hours later he was in major congestive heart failure. He went to the ICU for two days on intravenous oxygen and Lasix injections. He got better and was released to us. He was very hard to medicate as he wouldn’t eat and I spent a week syringing water, honey and baby food into his mouth to keep his strength up. I also made him salt free chicken broth which he drank. He seemed to be improving every day and getting stronger and happier. But when I took him for his checkup a week later they told me his lungs were full of fluid and that he needed to go on intravenous oxygen and Lasix injections again.

    After four days in the ICU the cardiologist told him he was treatment resistant and there was nothing else they could really do. They took him off his intravenous oxygen (though I argued against this). We were allowed to bring him home. I was devastated by his appearance. He was skin and bone with ataxia and dyspnea. When we brought him home we just let him rest and sleep. We didn’t want to disturb him too much. I wish now I had syringed baby food and honey to ensure he wasn’t hyperglycaemic but I didn’t. I know this wouldn’t have helped his heart or lungs but I really feel like I neglected and mistreated him. I made him some dinner but he didn’t want to eat it. He vomited about 1am and my husband and I debated about taking him back to the ICU. I rang some other vets for advice and they told us to bring him in. By that stage though he had settled down and gone to sleep. His resting respiratory rate was 28 so we left to him rest. He got up around 3am and had a big drink and some food I’d left out for him.

    In the morning I was really focussed on getting him to see another vet and what I could get to build up his strength. He spent the morning sleeping in different spots around the apartment. At about 11.30am he went into respiratory distress and we had to take him to the ICU. They put him in the oxygen cage and we waited an hour to see the vet. They firstly accused us of aspirating him which we didn’t think we’d done. We’d only syringed about 10ml of water to help his meds down. They told us he was breathing better in the cage and his heart rate was 100. We knew we couldn’t bring him home but they told us to go home. They would run some tests and call us. Three hours later they rang me to get permission to immediately euthanise him. He went into arrest before the end of our two minute phone call and couldn’t be revived. It was my absolute worst nightmare. Having him die alone and in pain is the last thing I would have ever wanted for him. I am so sorry he suffered so needlessly.

    I am very angry that we weren’t told to euthanise him sooner to spare him the suffering. I am really angry the cardiologist didn’t listen to my concerns about the medication. Mostly I am angry at myself for letting my little dog down.

    I have so many questions spinning around my head. I am haunted by it all. I have panic attacks and can’t sleep in our bed because he’s not there. Could we have done something different? I’m so worried he had secondary pneumonia that wasn’t treated and made his condition worse but the cardiologist didn’t think so. I don’t trust him anymore. Our little dog was such a fighter I don’t think he was ready to go. His death feels premature and I think he was robbed of life and we have been robbed of him.

    They weren’t clear about the circumstances surrounding his death- only that he “decompensated quickly” or “maybe had a clot”. The cardiologist said heart attack which is vague. I pray he wasn’t neglected in the ICU. They were very busy that day and not particularly sympathetic to us. It was awful.

  372. Doc says:

    Hello, Broken-hearted,

    It sounds like your friend had heart disease and airway disease. This is not a good combination. It makes it difficult to determine for certain which underlying disease is producing the outward signs that you observe.

    The pimobendan (Vetmedin) has a wide margin of safety. This is why it is widely used, and the use of digoxin and other digitalis derivatives has dropped off to about nothing (it has a rather narrow margin of safety). It is unlikely that the pimobendan caused his heart to be overworked.

    Patients with failing hearts are “sitting on the edge”. As long as nothing else goes wrong, they can do pretty well as long as their activity isn’t overdone. Their medications reduce the heart’s workload so that the weak heart is “Compensated”, meaning that you have a weak heart matched with a low workload.

    The problem is that any increase in workload can cause a dramatic “tipping”. You don’t just get a little bit worse, you can get really bad, really fast.

    It is indeed a heart-breaker to work so hard to keep a sick little dog going, moving from crisis to crisis, and then losing him anyway.

    Whenever we have an unhappy outcome it is natural to look for something that was done wrong, something that could have been done differently. We want to go back in time and undo something, or do something that we didn’t do. This is futile.

    You have described to me a very sick little dog, with an owner who did everything they could think of to help him, and a team of dedicated veterinary specialists who did the same.

    He was lost to you anyway, and this hurts.

    I wish we could save them all, and we cannot.

    I hope that you can focus on the good memories as you move through the grieving process.

  373. broken_hearted_ says:

    Thank you for your reply. What you said about the dog’s heart “sitting on the edge” was never really explained to us. We asked the cardiologist about exercise restriction and he said not to push our dog but to just let him do as much as he wanted. Whenever he got tired we would carry him. We let him sleep if he was tired and tried to keep him calm. However we took him to the park on a hot day. We carried him when he got tired but maybe it was too much for him. We ended up sitting in the shade and giving him a big drink of water but some kids arrived and started playing and he got a bit upset and barked at them (we left immediately after). A few days later I insisted on him wearing the Holter because I thought he had an arrhythmia. It was quite stressful for him to wear it (just because he hated jackets of any kind). It took nearly an hour to get the sticky conductors off him because they didn’t shave him to skin so they were stuck in his hair. His coughing got worse the next day and he was in congestive heart failure soon after. The cardiologist told me it was maybe because I brought him to the vets for checkups too often. So the vet was right? I pushed him? I didn’t realise his condition made him so vulnerable. We never treated him like he was sick unless he got tired. We tried to give him good times and adventures. Did we do the wrong thing? I never intentionally pushed him or meant to stress him out. We really didn’t realise how sick he was until it was too late.

  374. Doc says:

    Hello, BH,

    You are beating yourself up too much. You gave this dog the very best that you could do.

    Would he have lived longer if you kept him “in a bubble”? Maybe, maybe not. Would he have enjoyed life as much? Certainly he would not have.

    Don’t beat yourself up for doing your best.

  375. Cindy Dittmar says:

    Doc – First and foremost, God bless you for the informative website. Shug was an almost 10 yr old hound/lab mix who died suddenly 2 days ago. Similar to most posts I’ve read on your site, she was healthy, happy and had outstanding quality of life. Within 15 hours of exhibiting symptoms (heavy breathing, wouldn’t eat, moving from place to place every 15 mins, wouldn’t drink), she died – quickly. As in other posts, within a short time of her passing, Shug drank a bowlful of water and searched for a place in the woods to die. I can deal with the fact that her heart just stopped but I’m having trouble with not knowing whether or not she was in severe pain while she was breathing so heavily. I guess my question is – was she in pain when she took her final 7 heavy breaths? Thank you very much!

  376. Doc says:

    Hello, Cindy,

    I’m not psychic, so I really cannot tell you what your dog was experiencing.

    The heaving breathing could indicate pain, or it could indicate difficult breathing. Sometimes it indicates a low amount of red blood cells, which can happen if a tumor on the spleen ruptures, with internal bleeding. The dog just gets weak, with no outward signs.

    Dogs in acute pain usually do cry, while dogs with chronic pain often are very stoic and seldom cry or whine.

    I’m sorry that I can’t give you a definitive answer, but if she wasn’t crying, I suspect that her pain was not severe.

  377. kerry holnes says:

    Hi my most beloved great Dane last May he was the light of my life
    My ky was very active never showed any signs what so ever ,never sick so I never took him to the vet ,then one night he went to have a sleep on ky bed as he normally did with his girl Indy half a hour later he cried we thought he was having a nightmare ,then I noticed Indy looking at him strange I went in and found him dead ,nothing could be done ,he left me devastated ,we later found out that his fatherlaid down and died from a massive heart attack ,I was wondering was he in pain when he died regards Kerry

  378. Doc says:

    Hello, Kerry,

    I don’t know that I can give you an accurate answer.

    My best guess is that if he went so rapidly that it is unlikely there was any great suffering.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  379. Allison Miglio says:

    I am writing because I havent been able to stop thinking about my little angel samurai. He was a three year old samoyed that was diagnosed with Bolus Dermatosis Pemphigoid Vulgaris. An autoimmune disease attacking everything with a mucosal membrane (Which seemed to be everything inside and externally). We were treating him with 60mg of prednisone everyday and azathiaprine every other day. We were able to taper down the prednisone and were so excited to get him off the meds as fast as we could because he went from an amazing 3 year old puppy dog to a dog that had weakness and lethargy of a senior dog. I came home from work one day and he wouldn’t move from the bedroom. He was breathing very heavily so I rushed him to the hospital. His temp was over 105 and his white blood cells were through the roof. He was battling a UTI, they kept him in the vets office throughout the weekend with IV for hydration and he wasn’t on his meds because they thought his body was really going through something. They sent him home (didn’t check his temp infront of us before we left) before he went home they ended up giving him an exit bath (I was very unhappy about this without them letting me know as he was a samoyed and he HATED the bath as well as the dryer; if you left his hair to airdry, he would possibly get bacterial infections on his skin due to the thickness of his hair). We took him home, so excited to be with him but he was so wet still. My husband and I very briefly put our canine dryer on him for maybe 3 minutes total to try to get some of the hair to be dry to the skin. He went down the stairs onto the grass to go to the bathroom and back up to the house, came inside and basically just died right under the dining room table. I ran over to him, his head was wobbling, eyes moving side to side so quickly, and his tongue and gums were white. We rushed him to hospital where they performed CPR for 25 minutes and that was it. I AM SO UPSET OVER ALL OF THIS BECAUSE I FEEL THAT THE 3 MINUTES OF THE BLOW DRYER HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH HIM DYING. They mentioned in the vet that it could have been a clot somewhere especially since his temperature was so high over the weekend that the blood can form clots BUT I have no idea. OUR3 year old baby was just gone like that!!! Do you think the stress from the bath at the vet after being so sick could have killed him? Or do you think that there could have been complications from his autoimmune disease treatment? I am so hurt STILL after 7 months

  380. Doc says:

    Hello, Allison,

    I sincerely doubt that either the bath or the blow-dryer had any significant contribution toward your friend’s death.

    Bullous pemphigoid is one type of auto-immune disease. Auto-immune disease means that the body’s natural defenses are messed up and attack parts of your own body.

    Something was wrong with his immune system. You suppressed his immune system to get it to stop attacking his own body (the prednisone). That’s what you have to do.

    I would be much more suspicious of a combination of his disease, plus or minus past immunosuppression, as a cause of his death.

    Don’t beat yourself up.

    We don’t understand why auto-immune disease occurs, and just treat it the best we can.

  381. sindi says:

    We just bought an 8 week old Cockapoo and had her for three days when suddenly I went to check on her in the crate and she was barely breathing and almost lifeless. I did compressions on her and got her heart working but only for a few seconds and I rushed her to the vet but she died before we got there. When I picked her up she was limp on one side of her body and started urinating herself and then slumped over. I’m a nurse so my assumption for a human would be a stroke. I’m not sure what happened does anyone have any ideas.

  382. Doc says:

    Hello, Sindi,

    My best guess would be some sort of congenital cardiomyopathy. No way to tell without a complete post mortem and histopathology exam.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  383. Samantha says:

    Hello Doc,

    It looks like you’ve had a lot of similar questions or concerns to mine, but I wanted to ask you about my beloved dog, Sweet Pea. She was 11, a chi/terrier mix and a very healthy dog. Last Wednesday night, she ate a great dinner and then had me throw her ball for her to fetch a few times. She was acting hyper, healthy and normal. Then she jumped off the couch with her body/neck curved, which is a move she used to do when she was in pain. (Her vet said her blood work was fine and just gave me some pain meds to give her when she did that curved body thing, which was only a couple of times a year.) I immediately went to give her the pain meds, but the liquid just came pouring back out of her little mouth. She then went to the bathroom floor and sprawled out with her belly on the floor and legs out. She convulsed a few times, released her bowels with her tongue hanging out and died. We took her to the ER vet and they said that indeed she was already gone. My concern is the one thing I did differently that day was that I am trying to treat both my dogs’ flea problems naturally as they both had previous seizures from the spot treatments in the past. The natural treatment involves using food-grade diatomaceous earth. The only different thing I had done that day was sprinkle that on her fur, along with my other dog. Could this have possibly killed her? I can’t find a single case of allergy or death from it, but it’s something I feel guilty about as my dog was seemingly so healthy one minute and dead the next. Could the food-grade diatomaceous earth have worked its’ way through her skin into her blood stream causing sudden death?

  384. Lynn Bryce says:

    Hi. I lost my beloved boy on 7th march. Brewster was going to be 2 in April. Brewster collapsed in my back garden and never gained consciousness again. I am devastated to say the least. Brewster was a beagle and the 6th member of our family. Brewster displayed no symptoms or signs of any discomfort. He played with the family and jumped on the dishwasher to lick the plates after dinner. Normal beagle duties. Brewster was trained to ring a bell for when he wanted to go ousts use. He never came back in. I paid for post mortem. Results were leading to acute heart failure. Tissue samples were also taken as was told his heart was rounded on one side. There was dark fluid in intestines. Intestinal wall was enlarged. Tonsils and lymph nodes were enlarged and paler than normal but weren’t sure if these were symptoms before or after his passing. All results came back inconclusive which pathologist reverts to heart attack. I feel empty and lost and don’t understand. He was so healthy.

  385. Doc says:

    Hello, Samantha,

    Diatomaceous earth is not toxic. I guess you could eat enough of it to hurt you if you worked at it, but what you have described would not have been hazardous to your dog.

    I am sorry for your loss, but you certainly don’t need to feel guilty about this.

  386. Doc says:

    Hello, Lynn,
    I hear what you are saying. These cases are so frustrating, especially when we have looked as hard as we can for the cause, and are still not certain.
    I really don’t have anything I can add to help bring closure.
    I am sorry for your loss.

  387. Shellbi says:

    Hi,
    My sweet, energetic puppy of only a year and a few months named Ky passed away within the last twenty-four hours. I came back home after visiting my boyfriends moms an saw my dog outside as usual in the fenced yard so I thought nothing of it and went inside. 30 minutes to about an hour went by before I returned outside to see if my pup needed anymore food an she was just laying down in the shade so I figured she was just hot. Well I then continued to fill up her food and she stayed laying down. Eventually I ended up having to call her name by this time and she still wouldn’t move. I ran to her and she just looked dazed or like she wasn’t in our world. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth, which was dramatically drooling and her teeth were clenched. My boyfriend and I immediately rushed her to the veterinarian hospital and they told us they couldn’t find the source of why she was the way she was. The veterinarian told me it could be a possible bee sting but it was the worst one she’d seen and emphasized worst. The doctor told me I would have to pay at least 2000 for tests just to see what was wrong with her, and said that wouldn’t even guarantee her life. They pretty much said my best bet would be putting her down and that’s what I had to do…I just want to know what happened to my pup. I’m 19 and she’s the first pet I got myself.
    -Shellbi

  388. Doc says:

    Hello, Shelbi,
    I can understand your pain and frustration.

    The only thing that I can think of is that she did have an anaphylactic (severe allergic) reaction as your veterinarian said (there are people who die from a bee sting or eating a peanut), or that she possibly had a birth defect in her heart called cardiomyopathy. These dogs seem fine until the “time bomb” goes off and they just have sudden heart failure.

    This is only speculation.

    I am sorry that I cannot give you the type of definitive answer that would help to give closure.

    I do think you can rest assured that it was nothing you did wrong.

  389. rebecca says:

    I just came home from work and all 3 dogs were excited to see me. My 17 year old cocker who has stage 4-5 heart murmur and began coughing about 2 months ago. All of a sudden, his back legs splayed out, he slid to the floor and let out a couple of agonizing screams..I put his legs as they should be and he laid there for several minutes with eyes staring straight. I had my hand on his ribcage and his heart was beating very fast and erratic. I think he even shook for a few seconds. I thought he was dying, but as I cried, he lifted his head up as if to say, I won’t leave you yet mommy. After a few more minutes, he gou up wagging his lil stub. He seemed fine, so I gave him his thyroid and flagyl pills in hot dogs . He also has had pancreatic insufficiency for several years. He’s sleeping now and walked upstairs to bed. What on earth happened to him??

  390. Doc says:

    Hello, Rebecca,

    It sounds as though he has either had a seizure or a mini-stroke. Dogs with poor heart function sometimes do not have the ability to get enough oxygen to the brain. The low oxygen usually causes a brief “blackout” (cardiac syncope is the technical term for this fainting spell), but can also cause seizures.

    Of course, with a 17 years old dog, there are other things that cause seizures, with a brain tumor being the worst thing on the list (and one of the more likely). When a dog has a seizure disorder, it is important to check liver and kidney function, blood sugar and so forth. A visit to your veterinarian is in order.
    (meaning do it!)

  391. Kathy and Jesse says:

    We got a six month old small poodle terrier mix from the shelter June 2013. On Thursday March 26, 2015 she started to cough up small amounts of white foam. Thought it might be from eating too fast which she sometimes did. On Saturday took to vet they said kennel cough. Told them she was never around other dogs and that she was also coughing up bits of undigested food. They assured me it was kennel cough and gave antibiotics. That night and next she started coughing up more foam and white mucus.

    Took to vet. Got heartworm test – negative. Xray of lungs. Said she had fluid in lungs and radiologist said “early pneumonia” and they gave Clavamox. Same day she threw up the food and Clavamox. Coughing up mucus. Back to vet. Gave her Baytril. Same day threw that up. Refusing food. Coughing up mucus. Took to vet they gave subcutaneous antibiotics as the oral can cause nausea and gave anti-nausea. On Friday April 3 she vomited up food that was given in morning.

    Took to emergency Vet and they gave subcutaneous antibiotics and anti-nausea. That night she ate food and slept with little cough. Saturday woke up and she coughed up mucus. Saturday she was not good but not coughing. Saturday night she started to seem worse and at 4am she was coughing up mucus and was in obvious respiratory distress. Took to emergency. Put in oxygen cage. They did not know what was the cause and suggested tracheal wash to find out what kind of pneumonia or infection it was as she was not responding to aggressive antibiotics. They did the trachael wash and at the same time put a food tube down as she had not eaten in two days. When she came out of the anesthesia she vomited and her heart stopped.

    This entire thing occurred in just over a week. There was no definitive answer from the fluid taken from her airway. Was told it was all kind of dark mess. I have researched all kinds of issues and gone over every thing that she ever exhibited to try to figure it out.

    In October of 2014 she had a few episodes of regurgitating her food. I raised her bowls and made her food more wet and that stopped. On February 3, 2015 took to vet because she had diarrhea for about four days. No evidence of any parasites found. When I think back there were some changes in her behavior but they were so subtle at the time I didn’t really connect. She would go off by herself onto the bed and I would go find her and she would not want to get up. Also, she used to bite our heels (herding us) and she stopped doing that. She still had bursts of energy and played with her ball. Even when she started to cough up foam she had a good appetite and energy.

    It progressed so rapidly. In your experience is there anything that would indicate heart defect? Or anything else?

    What is disturbing to me is that no other diagnostic tests were done. Kennel cough was quickly decided at he outset and no one ever bothered to look at possible other causes such as heart problems.

  392. Doc says:

    Hello, Kathy and Jesse,

    This is obviously a heart-rending experience for you, and a difficult case for the doctors.

    I can’t really add anything constructive at this point. Even if you had asked for a complete post-mortem examination, it might still have been difficult to define exactly what was going on.

    Without that information, I cannot give any useful speculation.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  393. Grretchen's Mom says:

    Monday my little girl, 19 year old cuddly Dachshund was restless, and decided to take her to the vet. On the way there she also put her head up, gave a painful yelp, and her front legs were straight. Not knowing what this was I petted her throat to reassure her and she fell limp. I asked God to please not take my little girl and began chest compressions on her which I kept up the whole time while now driving to the animal hospital. I handed her to them, her heart stopped again, the paddles were applied and she was revived again. She was on a ventilator and 5 pumps for about 24 hours then placed in a 40% oxygen cage and IV for heart, lung, and pain management. She came home Thursday evening and refused food, she returned to the hospital Friday afternoon for a feeding tube and her IV meds they estimated she would be well enough to go home Sunday. Sunday evening she had another event and was revived. Now all hope was gone for my girl to come home because she couldn’t survive with medication and was struggling with 40% oxygen. She was down to 9# 4oz. We petted her and loved her while the vet administered the euthanasia. I would have gladly given everything I have to restore her. I miss her every minute of the day.

  394. Doc says:

    Hello, Gretchen’s Mom,

    I am sorry that you experienced such an ordeal. It sounds like you had amazing care from your veterinarians.

    Bodies just don’t last forever, and eventually the spirit must move on, as she has done.

    Of course you miss her, but you would not have wanted to see her trapped in a dying body.

  395. Kathy and Jesse says:

    Thank you for your response. What haunts me is that Asta might have been saved if I had been more aware of subtle changes and had taken her in sooner or if her diagnosis has been more thorough. In researching her symptoms I found that there are several things that could have caused her illness, one being congestive heart failure. I had also asked at the outset if it could have been Valley Fever as we live in the West San Fernando Valley in California.

    It just seems so unlikely that it was kennel cough. She was only two years old and the most wonderful little dog.

    Like so many others here it is most painful not knowing what happened and being so completely powerless to stop it.

  396. Max Power says:

    Hey just last night my 9 year old pit bull died. she was hiding from me in the back yard. i brought her back inside and then she vomited and her muscles stiffened up and she died.

  397. Doc says:

    Hello, Max,
    I am sorry for your loss. I wish that I could give you some idea what occurred, but this is one of those that would have required a complete autopsy to find out something, I’m afraid.

  398. annette says:

    Hi. My dog died suddenly today. She was 8 mo. old and had shown no signs of sickness. She was playing fetch and happy, then walked up to the door and laid down. She couldn’t have been there more than five minutes before my son said she wasn’t moving. CPR didn’t work. I did notice her gums where white, tongue blue, and no palpable obstructions in esophagus or bloat in bowel. No throwing up. Any ideas what could have happened? I am worried one of the neighbors didn’t like her, although she was a sweet indoor dog.

  399. Doc says:

    Hello, Annette,

    I wish that I could tell you something helpful. Without a post-mortem examination, I don’t have any useful speculation to offer.

  400. KPCagle says:

    My 2 year old Bluetick was normally outside during the summer time. We have had periods of high heat temps – rising near 98-100. We were leaving him inside and taking him out for periods of 2-3 hours at a time. He was normally ok during the 2-3 hour increments. This week we let him out – at which time my husband continued on doing something near the front of our house. He returned to the back yard to find our Bossman dead, lying near his house/water bowl. He had some shade and we ensured that he had ice water while my husband was outside. I noticed that he didn’t have any foaming at the mouth, no vomiting was anywhere nor was there any bowel loss. It simply looked as though he had laid down and gone to sleep, never to wake up. I did notice his gums had some black spots on it and he also had a cyst in the middle of his back we were taking to get checked out this week. I just can’t fathom what caused his death….we had concerns of poisons or toxins as we have had a few instances of that happening in our neighborhood to other neighborhood dogs. The vet was unable to draw blood due to him being deceased – however I also would’ve thought poisoning would have lead to vomiting at least. I am so confused, and heart broken. I’ve tried to think one hundred times if I have missed something – a sign, a symptom something I should’ve caught. The only thing I can think of is also that he had eaten a baby bird that had fallen out of a nest and died. Before I could get to him – one big gulp and it was gone. Again – he never exhibited signs of vomiting or diarrhea or appetite loss for that matter. Again, just so confused and looking for answers I may never find. Any ideas or thoughts?

  401. Doc says:

    Hello, KPCagle,

    I understand your confusion. If the dog was not tied up, and not running hard in play, then heat stroke is extremely unlikely.

    The baby bird is a non-issue.

    Most common poisons either cause severe neurological signs, with convulsions and so forth (no sign of that), free bleeding (no sign of that), or slow deterioration with liver damage or kidney damage (doesn’t fit). Poison seems very unlikely.

    I wish I could give you some closure here, but sometimes even with a complete autopsy and tissues sent to the pathologist we are unable to find the exact cause.

  402. Lawrence Fleshner says:

    My dog dies today on the 4th of July, she made two sounds and she was gone. I miss her so much. Larry,Grace. Ryan, Nancy, Sherrie we all loved her very much.

  403. Tim says:

    My Peke died after a teeth cleaning, anesthesia was used. It is reported she was fine and even went poop. They checked on her again only to find her dead. The vet gave me two scenarios; an aneurysm, and “I really do not know.” Her death has been very difficult, can you tell me what you think of this? Isabella was 10.5 human years old. She did have her teeth cleaned and some removed 2 years ago at a different vet.
    Thank you

  404. Doc says:

    Hello, Tim,

    I can assure you that the absolute most difficult calls I have had to make over the years are to inform an owner that their pet has died during (or right after) an elective procedure.

    When a patient has apparently recovered from anesthesia and is up walking around, we feel that we are “home free”. At least we feel that way in a patient where we are working on the mouth, rather than some very involved internal surgery, where you could have internal bleeding later on.

    This is really difficult when we are trying to improve the pet’s quality of life and extend its life by handling the important health issues that revolve around the mouth and teeth. We know this needs to be done, and usually things go just fine.

    When something like this happens, it is devastating for everyone.

    I wish I had something to add to your veterinarian’s answers that would help give you closure, but I do not.

    Sometimes we are unable to figure these things out even when we can do a complete post-mortem examination and send samples to a pathologist.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  405. Lisa Stein says:

    I had a 21 mth male rottweiler. He was so playful. On 7/10/15 he was outside playing like usual with his brother and sister. Running chasing being himself. Then all of a sudden he turned fell down and passed away instantly. We had an autopsy done. The vet found blood and mucus in his lungs and throat. She concluded he choked on something. But nothing was in his throat she said. I am not believing that conclusion. Could he have had an aneurysm?
    As soon as he fell over he had no breathing no movement no eye contact. I need to find clousure.

  406. Doc says:

    Hello, Lisa,

    From your description, I could certainly believe this was an aneurysm that burst.

    An aneurysm in the pulmonary arteries that killed you would usually result in a lot of coughing up of blood, rather than sudden death.

    Dogs with cardiomyopathy (a birth defect in the heart muscle) frequently have no warning signs, and just drop dead. Sudden death of this nature could cause small amounts of blood in the breathing passages as part of the final event.

    I certainly do not think this is something that you could have foreseen or prevented, nor would it be due to any kind of neglect.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  407. Adele says:

    Hi, I would like some honest comments on what I am about to tell you.
    Our gorgeous 2 year old healthy & fit french bulldog went to the vets to have her puppies via C Section. After 1 hr of leaving her at the vets we received a shocking phone call to say are baby had died via Cardiac Arrest under the aneathetic.
    As you can imagine….this was devasting for such a loved dog that loved us all back so much.
    I decided to have a Post Mortem done via local training University.
    A preliminary report had come saying she more than likely died due to 30% of her blood was found in her uterus. Still couple more tests to come back.
    Could you tell me what does this mean? I.e how on earth that the bleeding was’nt noticed & am I right in thinking surely signs of blood pressure dropping is a significant sign.

    Look forward to your comments

  408. Doc says:

    Hello, Adele,

    I believe that I would wait until all the reports are in. I would also ask the pathologists to discuss in detail what they mean. They frequently give technical findings, and do not give meaningful interpretations. I often have to discuss the results with the pathologist after I have read the report, and then sometimes need to discuss THAT with an internal medicine specialist.

    In the midst of a C-section, one is typically concentrating on getting the puppies out and breathing as quickly as possible. They absorb the mother’s pain meds and anesthetic, so you want to get them out as quickly as you can.

    There is always a great deal of fluid as you open each puppy’s amniotic sac to deliver it. There typically is a small amount of blood, as well.

    Usually there is a very small amount of bleeding as the placenta is separated from the wall of the uterus. This typically stops rather quickly, as once the puppies are out, the uterus starts to shrink down to its normal, non-pregnant size.

    My thoughts are that if she was gone in less than one hour after you left her at the clinic, she must have died before they even had a chance to start closing her. It would be hard to believe that was from blood loss during the surgery.

    When you have all your test results and have a chance to discuss them with the specialists, I hope that you get a clearer picture of what may have occurred.

  409. Gwen S. says:

    My dearest little dachshund died early Saturday morning August 1. He was 16 years and one month and hadn’t been sick – just slowing down and a bit of deafness (couldn’t hear the doorbell, but barked at the lawnmowers). He was up-to-date and shots and just had a physical in April (all okay – a bit overweight – due for a teeth-cleaning).
    Lately he had been having some panting at night, but usually a few pats or a hug would calm him down. Friday he was his usual self – sleeping a lot, but eating and eliminating well. My husband took him on a short walk around 9 pm and reported much tail-wagging, sniffing, peeing and such.
    I carried him to our bed a few hours later, then woke up around 4:30 to panting. Since my husband had to get up the next day and go on a business trip, I took the pooch out to his water dish. He declined, but came outside with me to sit on the patio under the bright blue moon and look around. And his panting stopped, so I took him back to bed, only to have it start again. This time, we sat on the sofa and I patted him. After a few minutes, he turned around and put his head on my arm and went quiet. I thought he was asleep, so I picked him up and started carrying him to the bedroom, only to realize he was limp and something was really wrong.
    Laid him on the bed, turned on the light and told my husband I thought he was ready. My husband jumped up, wailed over him and started calling for a 24-hour vet. It’s hard to remember, because everything happened so fast, but I’m sure he was still panting. My husband remembers his heart racing. But within minutes he gave out two little exhales and was gone. Afterward, I found a little poopie on the bedsheets (not diarrhea) and one on the sofa, along with a peeper.
    It was such a shock because, although he was no spring chicken, he was “fine.” The vet said it was most likely cardiovascular heart failure and there was nothing to be done, even if we brought him in earlier.
    I am wracked with sorrow, shock and mostly gully. Had I known he was dying on the sofa I would just have sat there with him and not brought him in to the bedroom, with all that flurry of activity. I was patting him as he died (even though I didn’t know he was dying!), but worry that I made his last minutes more scary than necessary. I’m not sure he was really conscious then and I guess I’ll never know…he was such a sweet and friendly pooch…

  410. Doc says:

    Hello, Bev,

    It sounds as though your friend had a long and full life, with the best of care.

    Instead of a long, drawn-out illness, his last day was a good one.

    Don’t beat yourself up over having done your best in his final moments. Don’t second-guess your best efforts. Things could always have been different. This doesn’t mean they would necessarily have been better.

    Try to remember the good things. I’m sorry for your loss.

  411. Gwen S. says:

    Thank you. It’s getting better and no, I wouldn’t have wanted him to have a long illness. I had to put my first dachshund down at almost 15 due to renal failure. We knew he was in pain and it had to be done. Sad, but at least we got to say goodbye.
    I guess I wonder if you concur with the vet that it must have been congestive heart failure. (And is this the same thing as a heart attack?) When I was patting him on the sofa I could hear (feel?) some wetness in his breathing, just before he laid his head down. The fact that he eliminated there before I picked him up has me hoping (perhaps selfishly) that he was cognizantly gone already and not aware of the rest….
    Thank you.

  412. Doc says:

    Hello, again, Gwen,
    Congestive heart failure is what occurs when the heart muscle becomes too weak and flabby to pump efficiently. This is usually a slowly progressing disease, with poor endurance, then coughing after exercise, then difficult breathing, accompanied by weight loss and poor ability to tolerate exercise.

    A heart attack, as we think of it in people, is a blockage of an artery that supplies the heart muscle, resulting in the death of that section of muscle. This can disrupt the entire heart function, causing death, though people often survive if a small or non-critical area of the heart is affected.

    Sometimes a small section of heart muscle becomes defective with age and just quits, or the electrical conduction across the heart muscle gets disrupted, and it just quits beating.

    I think your hope that he was not aware when you picked him up is very reasonable, considering that he had lost control of his elimination.

  413. Heartsick says:

    My 7 year old greyhound died yesterday. We went for a hike with two other experienced dog people and a group of dogs. My dog gets anxious in the car and the drive to the hike spot was almost an hour. She had a buddy in the back with her and seemed fine. We hiked and stopped numerous times for 10 minutes or more to give the dogs water and some rest in the shade. At one point, my dog was frothing at the mouth. We stopped for 20 minutes and she seemed to feel better. The others were going to go ahead, but she started pulling at the leash and whimpering to go. We continued with the group. When we got back to the parking lot, my dog drank a little water and her gums were pink. I put her and her buddy back in the car and blasted the air. She did not feel hot. We had an hour ride home and she was panting a lot. She does pant a lot in the car. When I got home, the other dog jumped right out. My dog tried to stand and collapsed. I scooped her up and felt her body was burning. I knew she had heat stroke. I took her to the porch and started to hose her off. I called my friend who was on the hike and we both tried finding a vet close by. Most were at least 20 minutes away, if traffic was good. Eventually, we found one that was 5 minutes away. By this point, her blood vessels were bad and it looked like she had a rash. She was howling and crying. My friend drove and I sat in the back of the car with her. She started to go into cardiac arrest and had trouble breathing. I tried to do chest compressions and blew air into her nose. We got to the vet and I carried her limp body in. They would not let me go back with her. We waited hours and finally found out she had brain swelling, kidney failure, an empty bladder, and then she stopped breathing. I can’t understand why this happened. I took the precautions. Three people who have had dogs and worked with them for years did not see anything wrong. The other dogs were fine. One was brachycephalic, another had long fur, and two were very large. I feel as if I missed something. Could my dog’s death be my fault? I feel as if I am to blame. I worried about heat stroke the whole time. I kept trying to assess her and I thought she was fine after breaks. Please help me understand this. The vet said it didn’t make sense if the others were fine.

  414. Doc says:

    Hello, Heartsick,

    I agree that it doesn’t seem to make sense, with her body type, and the other dogs doing okay.

    It makes me feel that she had some other unknown underlying problem that made her more susceptible to heat stress that day.

    I did a search on Veterinary Information Network and found numerous case reports of Greyhounds with “stress-induced hyperthermia”. In some individuals, there is some metabolic abnormality that has not really been identified. However, you are not the first person this has happened to.

    We always want to second-guess ourselves when things turn out badly. What could I have done differently? Would it have made a difference if you had carried your dog back to the car when she first showed distress? Nobody knows.

    This is not something that you could easily have foreseen.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  415. Leeann says:

    Hi,
    I have an am staff who was born with a grade 3 heart murmur. Lately her appetite hasn’t been normal, she’s panting a lot more and is more lethargic. She’s also injured her off hind acl. She is on Tramal 50 sr bd. she use to love her treats but now she’s just not interested.

  416. Doc says:

    Hello, Leeann,

    It sounds to me like you talk with your veterinarian about a further cardiology evaluation. It may or may not require referral to a specialist.

    It sounds as though your baby has had some type of heart abnormality since birth. Further evaluation with an echocardiogram (ultrasound examination) may reveal something that can be managed for a better quality of life.

    If I were faced with this patient, would be consulting with a veterinary cardiologist, and possibly recommending referral to one.

  417. natalie says:

    My 11 year old Papillon three weeks ago began to slow down, hardly moving. I took him to Vet who diagnosed him with spinal tauma…put him on injectable steroids. He had one or two good days after…but not moving much. His final two days were crackling type breathing, bloated tummy, look of sadness. His last night some “coughing” which I knew were fluids . When he passed a large amount of a light orange fluid came out of his nose or mouth not sure. I looked up these symptoms and they seem to be congestive heart failure. Would you agree? Like all others here. pain is unbearable

  418. Doc says:

    Hello, Natalie,

    Congestive heart failure could produce these signs, but it could be other things, even cancer.

    Very difficult to say without an exam and post-mortem.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  419. Shellie says:

    Yesterday, I lost my 1 year 9 month German Shepard, Gypsy. I seen her run from the back yard to the front and went inside to use the bathroom. I went back outside and she was dead on the front yard grass. I went to the vet and they said that without an autopsy they really can determine the cause. There was no foam around her mouth, no blood. She pooped and urinated. I didn’t have the money for an autopsy. She was a little over weight, but not much. She was taking antibiotics for stomach – diarrhea only. She has never vomited. She was sick about 2 weeks ago. But, she was playing and eating just fine. I just can’t image that it can’t be a heart attach. What else could it be? We contacted the breeder and he stated that none of the dogs had heart disease. But the vet stated that certain health issues can skip a generation

  420. Doc says:

    Hello, Shellie,
    I can appreciate your need for closure in the loss of your friend. While dogs rarely have the type of artery blockage that people have with a heart attack, there are certainly other types of heart problem that can cause sudden death.

    I would be suspicious of what is called cardiomyopathy. This is a defect in the heart muscle, present from birth, and undetectable on a physical examination. Dogs with this type of heart problem frequently have no warning signs. The first thing you see is sudden death.

    As your veterinarian said, it’s not possible to say without a complete post-mortem examination, and examination of the tissues under a miscroscope.

    That’s just my best guess.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  421. Matt says:

    I had a three year old St Bernard that died suddenly sometime this morning. Went out to feed her and she was dead. She had all her shots and seemed to be in very good health. I took her in to my vets office for a autopsy and the vet said my dog died of an irregular heart beat. He said he saw no signs of poisoning or being bit by a poisonous snake. The Vet further said there was no need to send tissue samples out for testing. This is coming from my vet. The dog barked all night and I checked on her because I was thinking it was barking at an animal or something. Point is my Vet told me my dog died of an irregular heart beat. Can he really tell that without sending tissues samples out. Can he tell the dog was not poisoned or bit by a snake without sending tissue samples out. Quite frankly I’m not satisfied with the explanation and I paid 120 dollars for the autopsy.

  422. Doc says:

    Hello, Matt,

    I really can’t second-guess on something that I didn’t see. I don’t know what type of poisonous snakes you have in your area, but rattlesnakes and copperheads (the ones I have a little knowledge of) don’t generally cause sudden death.

    Looking for poison is tricky. Sometimes microscopic examination of the tissues will show a type of damage that would be consistent with a toxin, but that depends on what it was. Chemical analysis for toxins is tough unless you know what you’re looking for: is it there, or isn’t it? It’s not as easy as it looks on the crime shows.

    As to the irregular heartbeat, I don’t know what your veterinarian saw to indicate that. Obviously the heart was no longer beating by the time he saw the dog. Perhaps he had noted some type of heart problem on previous visits.

    Since you are not satisfied with the information you have, I think it would be reasonable to ask for more information. I would ask for a more detailed report of the post-mortem exam, detailing what was actually seen, as well as the interpretation.

    For example: Kidneys were appeared normal size and color. Liver was slightly swollen and pale. Right lung appeared normal. Left lung had hepatization of the caudal lobe. There was free fluid in the thoracic cavity.

    I’m just making that stuff up, of course, but a description of what was actually seen might help you to make more sense out of this.

    These sudden death cases are very frustrating for us as doctors, even though we don’t feel the loss that the owner does.

  423. Michelle says:

    I am so heartbroken. My american bulldog, Tigger, of 13 1/2 years passed away yesterday. While I know that he lived a really long life, I still wonder what he died from. Two weeks ago, my husband let him out to go to the bathroom. He was panting really hard and clumsily going in circles trying to have a bowel movement. He then collapsed and couldn’t get up. We carried him to the garage and I made the assumption that he was having a heat stroke. It was really hot that day. I laid him on the concrete floor in the garage and stroked him. I put a water dish right in front of him and he drank some. He finally stopped panting and even got up and walked without trouble. He then laid down like he wanted to sleep. I turned a light on for him and let him sleep. The next morning, he was completely fine. He was able to walk and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

    Around midnight two nights ago, my husband came to bed and said that Tigger was panting really hard like he was doing a couple weeks ago. It was not hot that day and he is an inside dog.

    That morning, I got up and found him. He was completely stiff and there was feces everywhere with smear marks on the floor.

    Given that he was having similar symptoms two weeks before that, do you think that it was related to one another? How can he go two weeks without having the same symptoms? He had a check up about six months ago and the vet didn’t hear or see anything abnormal. He said that his heart sounded strong and healthy.

    I appreciate any insight that you may have regarding this. My husband and I buried him but I know that my husband will not have an autopsy performed on him given his age.

  424. Matt says:

    Thank you. I walk around her dog house every day trying to figure it out. Trying to see if something harmed her. I have never been given any previous diagnosis of a heart problem with my St. Bernard. The only thing the vet said on the phone is nothing else appeared to be wrong with her. Everything else they did with the autopsy according to the vet eliminated everything else known. I paid 120 dollars for the autopsy and I didn’t do that for a guess. If he feels it’s a heart problem I want to know what led him to that conclusion beside nothing else could be found. I’ll talk to my vet. Thank you.

  425. Doc says:

    Hello, Michelle,

    At that age, a lot of things could have gone wrong. I wish I could do more to give you closure. Certainly heart problems are on the list, but so is stroke, etc.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  426. Doc says:

    Hello, Matt,

    I think your veterinarian will be glad to talk with you about this. You just want to approach this with the attitude that you really need more detailed information to get closure. If you take an adversarial attitude, then the doctor may feel he has to defend his position instead of just having a dialogue with you, which is what is needed and wanted.

  427. Rosella Carreon says:

    Hi,

    I woke up yesterday and my 7 year old cattle dog couldn’t get up. She started to drool a little and her nose was running a little. She extended her head back and I could see her breathing in and out had longer times in between. I put her in the car to rush to the vet and she died in my car. My heart is broken.

    Her history started last year with hypothyroidism. The vet put her on Soloxine and she immediately developed a skin infection from head to toe and she became over stimulated. We tried courses of steroids and antibiotics but the skin infections kept coming back. I decreased the Soloxine and she wasn’t over stimulated any more. I ended up taking her to a dermatologist vet and it was more of the same. She last developed a really bad skin infection two and a half months ago. It had since cleared, after another month of antibiotics and ear drops and bathing every other day. I was then able to bathe her every 3-4 days to keep it under control. The dermatologist thought she might have something going on with her immune system to develop such bad infections and we were going to look into that next.

    I am wondering, do you think her chronic skin infections could have become systemic? And all the infections over a year probably did compromise her immune system? I feel so bad for her, and myself. She was such a lively and mischievous little girl. My other dog doesn’t want to eat now and without her and is lost without her leader. I’m just heartbroken and looking for a possible answer. My vet did talk with me and was just as surprised as me that this happened.

    Thanks for any input you have,
    Rosella

  428. Doc says:

    Hello, Rosella,

    It would surprise me if a skin infection became systemic in and of itself. However, if her immune system were compromised, then anything could take her out. She could develop infections on her heart valves or just anywhere.

    I have to agree with the dermatologist’s speculation that something was holding back her immune system.

    Unfortunately, even if I had seen her, I doubt that I have the expertise to sort this out, and would probably have referred her to an internist.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  429. Robert says:

    Hello my 9 month old springer, was a happy puppy i took him out for his normal day of fun and everything was fine. then all of a sudden he started yelping and running real fast. then it was like he was disoriented and fell over again and again. then he fell over and stopped breathing. I felt a heart beat so i compressed his chest then he started to breathe on his own. in the mean time he messed all over him self. thought he was going to be fine so i got him home and put him on the kennel floor where it was cool and comforting. he crawled into his dog house and a few hour later died. Why!!

  430. Doc says:

    Hello, Robert,
    I wish that I had a good answer for you on this. A cardiomyopathy would be my best guess – a birth defect in the heart muscle that one day causes it to fail. Frequently there are no warning signs, just sudden death. A complete post-mortem examination (“autopsy”) is the best way to look for answers.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  431. CJ says:

    Yesterday our 8 and 1/2 year old Boxer died suddenly. We found her under the trees where she normally went to relieve herself and she had defecated a little but it looked as though that had been whilst standing up. She was lying on her side with al four legs straight out. She looked peaceful enough except her top lip was curled up slightly on one side and her jaw was firmly shut. She had obviously vomited standing up because it was on the front of her forelegs and around her mouth and out of her nose. We initially thought choking? But then thought that the vomiting would suggest there was not a blockage (the vomit was milky white bone colour as she had been previously eating a fatty raw bone) and perhaps she had aspirated some vomit back into her airway or something. I also remember her passing out after a walk in the sun on a friends farm years ago when she was about 8 months old and thought maybe it could have been cardio myopathy(?) or similar which can be apparently common in boxers. After the fainting spell she recovered very quickly had s drink of water and as far as we are aware it hasn’t happened since. She had been unsettled for a few weeks prior in that she wanted to come inside then be let outside a lot…just more ‘needy’ than usual and don’t know if that was part of anything. She was sleeping more and we noticed when running up the farm that she wasn’t as keen to stay in front or keep up and really just happier to be lying down somewhere snoozing. She otherwise was in very good health and was of a very healthy weight still with a good appetite to the end. We are missing her desperately as with most people they become very interwoven into your lives. We keep thinking we hear her outside on the deck:) but we would just appreciate your professional feedback. I meant to add that there was no obvious sign of distress nor that she might have been pawing at her mouth trying to remove anything.

  432. Doc says:

    Hello, CJ,

    I wish that I could tell you something to give you more closure on this. There just isn’t anything specific enough for me to really speculate in a meaningful way. Most people don’t want to get post-mortem examinations (“Autopsy”) done, but sudden death is hard to sort out without more information.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  433. Kate says:

    My beautiful chihuahua, Wilbur, died last week, in my arms. I can’t stop thinking that I killed him. Yes, by accident, but nonetheless. He was old – we don’t know exactly how old because he was a rescue. He had several bouts of pancreatitis, had seizures throughout his life, but on this day, I saw him falter. I saw him stagger. I overreacted and ran to pick him up as he fell and as my hand made contact with his tiny body, I knew it wasn’t quite placed right and as I lifted him to run to the couch to sit with him, I felt his body go limp and his head fell back – I think violently. I think I broke his neck. By the time I got the the couch and sat, he lay back in my arms and let out a long woeful sigh and threw his head back. And he was gone. Within five minutes I was with him at the vets two blocks away. The doctor took him in the back and 5 minutes later cam back to tell me he was gone and asked what happened. I tried to describe the events – that I saw his back legs collapse – and that I knew something was horribly wrong this time and that I scooped him up to carry him to the couch.

    In the days following, I played the scene over and over in my head. I can’t help but think I jerked him too hard when I picked him up to run to the couch. After five days I was finally able to speak to the vet again in person and begged him to tell me if my dog’s neck was broken and if I had killed him. He said no, and that he felt it must have been a major seizure or stroke. But this is the kindest doctor you could ever meet and I can’t help but feel that he couldn’t bring himself to tell me that I had killed him by accident. I can’t believe that by overreacting I may have killed my dog and that it might have just been a simple seizure and that he would have recovered and lived longer. I can’t help but feel that when his gaze met mine but in my arms, and when he made his last plaintive sound, he wondered why I would hurt him so and take his life. So tired, so sad. Don’t know how to go on. It’s one thing to lose your best friend but another thing entirely to live with the guilt of having killed him.

  434. Doc says:

    Hello, Kate,

    Seriously, the chances of you breaking the dog’s neck by picking him up approach zero. If you didn’t pick him up by his head and swing him around, I can pretty much guarantee you did not break his neck.

    I think you can trust your veterinarian on this one.

    I am sorry for your loss, but it wasn’t your fault. It’s okay to grieve for your friend, but let that guilt go.

  435. Tracy says:

    My 10 year old golden retriever just passed away so suddenly and I’m just having difficulty understanding why and if there’s anything I could have done to have prevented this? Was there something I missed? He went to get his annual checkup and shots in July and they said he was fine. (3 months ago)

    He seemed fine the night before, was his usual self, gobbling down all his food quickly, going out for a walk, following us around the house, begging for more food, playing with his toys. The next morning, he woke up earlier than usual, at around 545am and gave out two barks. Which is quite unusual, as he normally doesn’t bark unless there’s a thunderstorm or a stranger in our yard. Ran downstairs to see why he was barking, saw nothing so thought it was probably because he needed to go out to do his business. He tried twice to stand up but couldn’t. He was lying on his side. I ran upstairs to get my sis to wake her up and to bring him to the emergency vet. I came downstairs a few minutes later and saw that he was having difficulty breathing and panting. We called the vet and he said he’ll be at the clinic in 30 minutes. We waited 15 minutes, stroking him and comforting him, as we were getting ready to carry him out to the car, he stopped breathing.

    I just don’t get what happened?!?! I’ve been reading online for an answer, but can’t seem to find any sickness or disease that fit. When he passed away he didn’t vomit, loose bladder or bowel control, not lethargic, nothing out of the ordinary. The only difference I can think of is he’s not as in shape and energetic as a few years ago, but I thought it was just due to old age. When I mean not as energetic, he just doesn’t go for long runs or biking with us anymore.but he will still take us out for a quick run before he gets tired and walks for the rest of it. He still runs around at the dog park but just not as long as before. I thought this was normal since he is 10 and a half. Why did he die so suddenly???

  436. Doc says:

    Hello, Tracy,
    These cases are all so frustrating. Even with a complete post-mortem, sometimes it is hard to pin down the answer.

    A sudden heart failure can occur, and we don’t always know why. Sometimes it’s a clot, sometimes it’s a long-standing weakness that finally gives way with age.

    As hard as this has been for you, I envy your 10 happy years with your Golden. Mine wasted away with untreatable cancer at 8&1/2.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  437. yvonne says:

    Hi , my dog is shishtzu, she is 9 years old. Yesterday night , i saw my dog hard breath cough non stop heavily. I faster bring her see vet. Doc say she might get asma, plames, lung problem. I give medicine to her, she sudden died on midnight , her nose got bubble come out. Then after got blood come out from nose. I so sad i suddenly lost her. She with me nine years. I cry till now. Why got bubble come out from her nose after she psssed away ?

  438. Doc says:

    Hello, Yvonne,

    Without a post-mortem examination, it is hard to give you definitive answers.

    I would be suspicious that she had lung cancer, and that the cancer had eaten into a blood vessel. This could cause bleeding into the lungs, with the patient essentially drowning as a result.

    Even after death, with no heartbeat, we can see some muscle tremors and breathing motions, due to electrical discharge in the muscles. Expelling air through the blood and mucus in the nose could create a bubble.

  439. Mike Schneider says:

    Our beautiful 6 year old golden retriever died suddenly on Christmas eve. He was a very healthy dog with no issues. He loved to play fetch,swim,and go on walks. What happened was we let him out to do his business before we left for mass. He usually goes tearing out in the yard and barks a couple of times, don’t know why but I think he was warning any animals that this is my yard. When all of a sudden he let out this loud painful howl.My wife ran out and found him lying on the ground, he looked up at her and stopped breathing. I picked him up and carried him into the house and tried cpr to no avail. He had no signs of physical injury, no vomit no bleeding. We can’t understand what could have happened to this otherwise healthy dog. We are so heartbroken. His toys are still in his Christmas stocking. Any information you could provide us with, would help with some closure. thank you

  440. Doc says:

    Hello, Mike,
    These cases are so frustrating and heart-breaking. Even with a post-mortem, we sometimes remain mystified.

    My best guess would be cardiomyopathy. This can be congenital, and has no warning signs until one day the heart just stops.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  441. Mary Buhr says:

    We have a 20 month old Shihtzu and she has had 2 episodes of from what I have been reading in your articles above are probably seizures. One about 6 months ago and another last night. Both happened in bed in the middle of the night. She started just yelping as if she were in pain, and then fell like she was dead, eyes rolled back and tongue hanging out. After a couple minutes of us rubbing her back and tummy – she came out of it, and was seriously “back to normal” This morning running and jumping as if nothing happened. So, we should keep track how often these happen (only twice since she was born) and how long recovery is?

  442. Doc says:

    Hello, Mary,

    Yes, you should absolutely keep a record of this. Seizures tend to cause additional damage, and become progressively more frequent and more severe. Record the date, what has occurred earlier before the seizure (possible triggering events), the form that the seizure takes (what she does), how long it lasts, and how long her recovery period takes to get back to normal afterward.

    You should also get your veterinarian to run a blood chemistry profile to be sure that liver disease or other problems are not causing the seizures. You will also want a base-line should you need to begin daily anti-convulsant medication. The medicines can cause changes in your tests, and you want to know your starting point.

    There is not really a hard and fast rule about when you need to start anti-seizure medicines, but generally, recommend starting when seizures are long-lasting (more than few minutes), there are multiple seizures in a day, seizures that don’t stop without medication, or having seizures coming relatively frequently (once per month or more often).

    You should consult with your regular veterinarian about this.

  443. Donna says:

    Hi, I am heartbroken…my beloved 8 1/2 year old healthy German shepherd had a normal day got all excited and went romping with his “girlfriend” came in laid down craned his neck so far that I thought he got his nose stuck under the entertainment center. He was breathing fast and loud through his nose. He was all clenched and stiff. I could see he was dying so I laid him down and tried to breath for him I tried so hard. He stopped being clenched and his mouth went white. I held him until he was gone…..I am full of guilt that I missed something or hurt him in some way….it was over in under 5 minutes…..I miss him terribly he was such a gentle soul

  444. Doc says:

    Hello, Donna,

    I almost hate to publish these comments, as there is so little I can do in response.

    There is certainly no need to feel guilt. All of us have heard of the fellow who leaves the hospital after a great checkup and dies in the parking lot.

    Sometimes a body part just fails. There is no warning, and certainly no reason for you to beat yourself up.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  445. RJ Brant says:

    My beloved 11 y/o Maltese (Bexley) died last month. He had congestive heart failure and I was getting him ready for our Vet appointment that day. He ate, went outside, then I gave him a bath and he took a nap. Then I picked him up to groom him and looked at his nails. I could not find the regular nail trimmers, so I had ones by me that I had never tried before. I started to trim the nails, which he always hated, so he pulled his paw away. I accidentally cut a couple too short and caused them to bleed, which I rarely ever did with my other nail trimmer. He panicked (I was horrified and scared, due to his condition) and I put a paper towel over the paw, which I had next to me. I then rushed to run water over his paw at the kitchen sink, since the blood would not stop. He pulled his paw from the faucet (water was lukewarm) and then his heart stopped and he went limp in my arms. I never saw his face during this, just his paw, until I placed him on the kitchen floor and tried to give him CPR. He gasped twice, and then his tongue fell out of his mouth which turned purplish-gray. I knew he was dead and feel so guilty for causing him so much distress that his heart stopped. I cry and relive his last moments over and over in my mind, since it all happened so suddenly and unexpectantly (just over 2 minutes). I wish I would not have thought to cut his nails. I miss him so much; he was the love of my life dog. I am wondering if his heart stopped due to loss of blood? Or, was it due to the stress and pain I put him through? Also, I have heard that it is like dogs suffocate or drown when they die from CHF. Did this happen to him and his heart stopped?

  446. Doc says:

    Hello, RJ,

    For pity’s sake, quit beating yourself up. The dog couldn’t lose enough blood from a toenail-trim to cause any kind of health problem.

    If the stress of what you describe was enough to push his weak heart over the edge, then it was pretty darn close to the edge.

    His heart was in a failing state, and it finally failed completely. It happens. It’s not your fault.

    I’m sorry for your loss, but you don’t need to feel guilty about it.

  447. Mario Grim says:

    Hi, My Dog passed away 3 days ago, My family is very heart broken. Stormy, she was a 10 year old,blonde Sheppard mix and was a happy , healthy dog. The day she died I walked her , I noticed she was breathing heavily. Once home she yelped started shaking all over and collapsed, she lost consciousness very fast.I held her fast as I could talking to her not to give up. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth, First I taught it was a seizure, but then her eyes turned a hazed bluish color, I realized then something very, very bad was happening. The haze in the eyes lasted very briefly and went back to her normal brown color. She was no longer breathing. My Stormy was gone. This real nightmare happened in seconds but felt like it was forever, and I’m still in shock, miss her very much. My First question if my dog died of some heart failure why did her eyes dilute that way, and then went back to normal. Does this happen frequently in sudden death of dogs. Secondly I regret not knowing how to do cpr on a dog, Would the chances of cpr have done any good? In that type of situation. Thanks

  448. Doc says:

    Hello, Mario,

    CPR is generally successful in a small number of cases – cases where there is no major organ damage, but there has been some sort of sudden trauma, an allergic reaction to drugs or stings, slight anesthetic overdose. If the dog’s heart seemed to fail almost spontaneously, it is very unlikely that you could have successfully resuscitated her. I have no clue what was occurring with her eyes. When the adrenalin is flowing under great stress, the pupils usually dilate wide, and this could have altered the appearance. I really do not know.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  449. Diane says:

    Hi,
    I am just looking for a little comfort as yesterday we took our lovely British Bulldog out for a walk in the place he loved to go and after walking approx 100 metres up an incline he decided to stop and stand still. This was so not like Charlie as he loved to walk.A usual walk lasted about 2 hours at moderate pace.Up around the hills in Rivington.We knew something was wrong straight away so stood stroking him and talking to him. I noticed his back legs were stretched out backwards but was just staring at us not wanting to move. Then a little froth was around his lips so my partner went to get the car so we could take him home thinking it was too cold for him. While he was away getting the car Charlie lay down and was breathing quite lightly but fast then he stopped. I was talking to him and shouting Charlie then he started to breathe but like in a growl 3 or 4 times then he was gone. 5 minutes for him stopping walking to the end. He did have a heart murmur which the vet reminded us of at check ups. An underlying skin condition brought on by yearly vaccinations. He itched for 9 months after his yearly vacs. It was awful to watch him be so irritated all the time. In Nov last year the vet came up with a new drug called Apoquel which worked amazingly and fave him some rest bite from the itching. Knowing that all medicines have side effects I did not want to give him medicines every day so monitored when he had bad days.
    Going through the what ifs of everything at the moment.
    What I do know is that two weeks after his very first vaccs he started with this itch so from about 14 weeks old he was ruined.
    Is there a small chance he could have been overdosed so that each time his boosters came along his body couldn’t cope? Do we really need yearly boosters? We are in the UK and I have read in the US you serve them differently.
    Our daughter wanted us to bury him so that’s what we have done. A postmortem would never bring him back. He would have been 6 in two days time.
    We are all devastated.

    Diane

  450. Doc says:

    Hello, Diane,

    The British Bulldog (or English Bulldog, as we call them in the USA) is famous for developing multiple allergies at a young age. I sincerely doubt this was related to his vaccination as a puppy.

    Further, there are deadly puppy diseases that are rather common, such as Distemper and Parvovirus. If you had not vaccinated him, these are common and frequently fatal.

    The vaccine contains a small amount of either killed germs, or germs weakened in a laboratory process so that they cannot cause disease. The same dose of germ particles is used in the smallest puppy or the largest hound. It stimulates the animal’s body defense system to put out more protection against these deadly germs.

    Annual revaccination is still recommended by many, though others have suggested rotating the vaccines to a 3-year schedule. Others have suggested checking blood samples to see if the pet still has immunity, or needs to be revaccinated. The blood tests are quite expensive and the vaccines quite cheap. I feel safest vaccinating yearly unless the animal has had a problem directly related to this.

    Apoquel has fewer side-effects than corticosteroids (like prednisone). It can suppress the immune system if chronically overdosed. We have seen one patient on the correct dosage who developed a systemic fungal infection. This might have occurred anyway, but we have some concern about the Apoquel possibly having made the patient more susceptible to the germ.

    Generally it is a wonderful drug, though in short supply, being over-promoted and under-produced.

    It sounds as though your dog had a long-standing situation with his heart that suddenly got worse.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  451. Joana Johnson says:

    My 6 yr old golden retriever (Lacy) got out the yard the other day and was later found dead laying near the railroad tracks about a mile from home. She had blood coming out of her mouth but no external injuries. I don’t think she was hit by a train. The vet tech who looked her over thought she might have been hit by a car but she wasn’t close to the street. Wish I knew what really happened to Lacy. I miss her so much.

  452. Doc says:

    Hello, Joana,

    Blood from the mouth often means a chest injury. I have seen patients who died from an automobile impact yet showed no external marks. These were pets where the owner actually saw the accident take place, both wheels running over the pet.

    It’s all just speculation at this point.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  453. Gavin Ayers says:

    I found my 5 year old Chihuahua stiff as a board yesterday morning. I have no idea what caused his death. He was acting fine all week but just eating a little less than usual. He was not acting strange or anything of that nature and he just suddenly died over night. Can anyone please explain to me what might have happened to my poor best friend. ???

  454. Doc says:

    Hello, Gavin,

    I am sorry for your loss, but any speculation I might make would be random guess-work. Even with a complete post-mortem (autopsy) we sometimes have trouble knowing what happened. Without it, I’m just grabbing at straws.

  455. Sandra Gould says:

    As we were on vacation, I received a call from my mother in law that my 12 year old dachshund/jack Russel Junior had what she thought was a seizure. We were on our way back home (2 day drive) and he had a few more. When we returned home his heart was erratic but no seizures. He was acting like his normal happy attention seeking self. That night he didn’t sleep much,and by 9:30 am whenever he got overly excited he would have a seizure. It would last maybe 30 seconds and after he’d get back up like nothing happened. We decided to take him to an emergency vet an hour and a half away because where we’re from there were no vets open. As soon as we got there they rushed him back, he was wagging his tail acting all happy. Did not look like a dog in distress. When the vet came in she said she took a look at him and that he was in heart failure. He did have a bad heart murmur so I thought that might be what it was. My dog was so stubborn he didn’t want to leave this world without seeing us. He held on for 4 days in heart failure and seizures. We had him put to sleep to end his suffering. It was the most heart breaking thing I’ve ever had to do. He was like my baby. He helped so much with my depression and anxiety. He will forever be missed. RIP Junior aka Junebug

  456. Liz Ritchey says:

    My 9 year old best friend beagle-boxer mix died suddenly early this morning at our vet’s kennel. I dropped him off 5 days ago. They gave him his annual vaccines, (including kennel cough) on the first day and started treating him for an ear infection. They said he had eaten and was doing fine yesterday. I asked because I was afraid his last days had been awful for him. He didn’t like being kenneled, was sometimes skittish, and was very dependent on me. He whined often when I left the house, even if other family members were home. I hated taking him to the kennel but had to go see family 10 hours away and couldn’t take him. He didn’t like riding in the car.
    So, we had started driving home this morning planning to pick him up when we got into town. Our vet called and told me our dog had been found dead in his kennel with blood coming from his nose. There was also feces that had been ‘kicked’ from where he lay. The vet asked me if he had had any seizures since one I reported six months ago, but I hadn’t noticed any. He also said he had taken xrays which showed the right heart was slightly enlarged, but not enough to likely have been the cause and nothing else obviously wrong. He thought it more likely it was a seizure. I didn’t know seizure would do that.
    I am devastated, and even though I would like to know what happened, I realize I probably never will. We did not ask for an autopsy. At this point I mostly want to ask if you think it’s possible that the vaccines could have triggered seizure or something else that could result in sudden death with a bloody nose.
    His brother died 21/2 years ago after a horrible 2 months with what the same vet thought was IMHA. He had had a seizure just prior to the onset and vaccinations about 6 weeks before that.
    Could they both have had a problem with the vaccines or some other trigger? If a dog has a history of seizure should he be given vaccines at all or should they be spread out? If it’s not too late to get one, would an autopsy be likely to help determine cause of death? I don’t blame my vet or anyone else, but I don’t want others to loose there pets over something that could be avoided either. If there is something I can find out that isn’t common knowledge, maybe I could help raise awareness. Thank you. You are very kind to answer all these grieving people who are looking for some way to understand and bring closure.

  457. Doc says:

    Hello, Liz,
    Sorry to be so late in replying. I really doubt that the vaccinations had anything to do with this event.

    I wish that I could give you some meaningful information as to why this happened.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  458. Shellie says:

    Hello,
    Our wonderful little yorkie poo, who was only five years old, died in our car yesterday on our way to a cabin with our other dog and baby. He always panted hard when he got excited and this often happened on car rides. He sometimes got sick on car rides too- even short ones to the vet. Still, we heard that this was normal and have taken both of our dogs on several trips.
    Just before we arrived to our cabin after a 2 hour ride, he started panting hard, but we thought this was normal because he always did this when he was excited. My husband told him we would be there soon. We should have thought something was wrong when he stopped but we just thought he calmed down. When we opened the door to get him and our other dog out of the car, he wasn’t breathing. My husband gave him CPR but the emergency vet clinic worker said that after five minutes of no breathing, there was nothing we could do. The airconditioning was on and we were driving– I don’t know what happened. I feel so horrible that we did not stop immediately when he started panting but again, he always did this when he was excited, including on car rides and we thought it was normal. What do you think happened? Could we have saved him if we had pulled over when he was panting?

  459. Doc says:

    Hello, Shellie,
    I wish I could give you some closure on this, but it’s so hard to determine these things. I can say with some assurance that pulling over to rest wouldn’t have made any difference, considering what happened. These things are hard enough without needlessly blaming yourself.

  460. Owen S. says:

    About 3 months ago my 9 year old dog (doberman pinscher) started coughing and collapsed on the floor. It looked like a seizure at first, it even passed pretty quickly. I took him to the vet where the gave a preliminary diagnosis of cardiomyopathy. We came back 2 days later for an EKG and an Echocardiogram. They verified the diagnosis and gave him several prescriptions. He was on lasik,pimobendan,digoxin, enalapril and theo-dur. It seemed to work pretty well. On Friday 7/8/16 I took him to the vet for a follow-up. the vet listened to his heart and we decided to up his dose of lasik. All was fine until Tuesday, 7/12/16. He was acting normally and even went outside and had some fun with the kids. About an hour or 2 later, I got a call to come home immediately. He had collapsed and soiled himself. My wife was trying to do CPR on him until I took over. I performed chest compression and breathing for more than 45 minutes. It was no use, he was gone and I couldn’t bring him back. The vet is 15-20 minutes away, I knew he would never survive that long without circulation and oxygen, so I just kept trying to get a pulse. I’ve never done CPR on a dog before, but I am pretty sure I did it correctly based on videos I’ve seen before. I am so heartbroken, as is my wife and 5 year old daughter. She keeps asking if he’s going to wake up.
    I don’t want to torture myself, but is there anything different I could have done?
    I didn’t expect the cardiomyopathy to take him so quickly and suddenly without warning. One minute he was fine and the next minute he was gone.
    I’m devastated beyond words. Tycoon, we loved you so much. You were our first baby and daddy’s boy. Your presence will be missed and I wish I could wake up from this nightmare!

  461. Doc says:

    Hello, Owen,

    Cardiomyopathy means that there is something wrong with the heart muscle. Patients with this problem are a time bomb. Sometimes they have sudden death with absolutely no warning at all.

    You did absolutely all that could be done, no neglect, no need for guilt or second-guessing yourself.

    I am sorry for your loss, but don’t add guilt to the grief.

  462. Cathy says:

    On june 20h, we took our 9 year old pug for ear surgery. She had had a chronic ear infection for about two years which our previous vet was having us treat with antibiotics, but they weren’t working anymore so we took her to another vet we had used in the past and ear surgery was recommended so we scheduled it. When she was born her breeder wanted her put down because her butt was on the outside, which he corrected, and she had a bad hip and leg. Her back section was elongated which made walking difficult, not to mention that she had two leg surgeries, major surgery for slipped discs in the neck, and just 3 months ago surgery to remove a flap in her mouth that was causing problems. She was a fighter and came through all of that. I had polio as an infant and now am in post polio so I related closely to her. She was always by my side since I had to leave the work force 5 years ago. I have fought with depression for a lomg time, but she could lift my spirits like nothing else. An upward look, a wagging butt and tail, a paw on my leg all let me know everything was all right and we would be ok. I should also mention that she itched her entire life no matter what we did for her. The vet called that morning and said that when she pushed the plunger to inject the anesthesia as soon as it entered her system she went into cardiac arrest and her lungs filled with fluid. She said they performed cpr and tried everything to get her back, and that she was already tubed when it happened, but she passed. When we could finally go see her that afternoon, her beautiful eyes were scrunched so tightly shut and her toungue was twisted
    between her teeth, and I can’t stop believing that she was awake and aware and I wasn’t there to comfort or help her. I don’t blame the vet, but I have to be honest with all this hurt and I question what caused her death and how she died after seeing her like that. The vet said she didn’t know if she had had an allergic reaction or what the cause was. I did not ask for an autopsy because by baby had gone through enough and we had her cremated.It is now the 14th of july and I can’t quit crying, can’t eat because every bit I go to put in my mouth she is looking up at me. I see her everywhere because she was always by my side or laying at my feet. I really like the vet and deep in my heart I cannot blame her, but I do blame myself for sending her to die alone without loving arns to comfort her. Can you help me tounderstand what may have happened? I miss her so much.

  463. Doc says:

    Hello, Cathy,
    On rare occasions, we have a patient whose body just goes into a crazy bad reaction when the anesthesia enters the system. It is sort of like people who are so allergic to bee-stings or peanuts that they die before you can treat them. It is not an overdose type of thing.

    The big word for it is an “idiosyncratic reaction” which just means that that particular individual had that reaction, and others would not have the reaction under the same circumstances. It doesn’t mean we understand it.

    I feel sure that she would have lost consciousness immediately, and you need not beat yourself up for not being there.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  464. Manoor says:

    One of our dogs suddenly died last night. Scooby, 3year old English Cocker Spaniel. He was perfectly fine yesterday morning & ate his breakfast, went for a small walk around 3:30pm & slept after that as usual. At around 6:30-7 he started to pant heavily (not his usual) but was normal otherwise. He didn’t eat his dinner so I gave him some vanilla ice cream but he only took a couple of licks. We all slept at around 10:30pm & when I got up at around 4:30am for our usual walks he was no more & his body was starting to stiff.

    Can you please try & explain what could be the reason or if you have ever experienced anything like this… I am not able to make any sense

  465. Doc says:

    Hello, Manoor,

    These cases are very frustrating. Clients seldom wish to have a post-mortem (autopsy) examination performed, and it is impossible to tell without it.

    There are also times when you cannot see a thing wrong, and microscopic examination of the tissues may or may not yield the answer.

    Patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (weak heart muscle that stretches out of shape) sometimes have sudden death as the first outward sign. It is detectable on a cardiac ultrasound exam (echocardiogram), less so on X-ray, but not otherwise.

    The disease has been reported in English Cocker Spaniels under 5 years of age.

  466. Susan Lanzaro-Schroeder says:

    My beautiful, smart, funny, athletic chow chow Pennington was a horn-beeping escape artist. He had jumped 3 stories once to escape heat, could bend bars of crates and beep the car horn to get attention if we went shopping on cold days he was in the car.

    Penny loved to be with me everywhere including cross country skiing, bicycling and rollerblading…he was so happy and fit.

    This past winter on two hikes his six year old self one time got disoriented and somehow wandered away with another family. On the 2nd mega hike on the Appalachian Trial I thought I one point of the 11 mile hike he would have to be airlifted as he was dragging and lay down resting.

    Summer weather was delayed but his coat had not blown and then one day we had an ORLANDO humid 85 degree day. It was on this day, that he for some reason left the yard. Usually he loved his yard….he loved the kitty on the 3rd floor unit, loved our tenant’s dog on the 2nd floor, loved our fosters left inside and had his favorite shady bush to lay. Our place was literally his ranch. But this day the neighbors report he left.

    When I was home by 3:30Pm neighbors reported he had been at their yard sale for two hours under the awning and he was given water but then he was gone. I searched yards knowing he could collapse in heat, called police, drove everywhere up and down with no citing. That night I feared he was dognapped but we put posters out. Sunday the next day it rain and thundered. Monday I got a call from the shelter in another town and they informed me that they had my beautiful Pennington and he was deceased. He was found within blocks of our home at a place we hiked many times….a cemetary 🙁

    I later found out that he was spotted there by the caretakers at 3:30 PM. They closed that gate at 6:30 PM. Therefore he was overheated and without water having hiked in 85 degree humidity a quarter of a mile. I was informed by the caretaker that his dogs in the house on perimeter of cemetary were barking by 10:30 pm and he used flashlight at window to see a ….”black bag.” It was my Pennington that he found the next morning, Monday. He said that penny looked like he was sleeping. that some blood tricke was at his mouth. That he picked him up and there was no poo and that he appeared bloated. He claimed that my penny could have found an exit if he wanted to find one. My stance is WHY did he not contact police whom were alerted I would have known where to find him. WHY did he have to be locked inside a cemetary with no water to perish?

    Was my beauty smart enough, did he know he was dying, did he go there to die? He NEVER wished to leave me?

    I have him in my deep freeze as I cannot decide to do necropsy or not it is utter agony.

    My poor beauty was in that horror humidity with the biggest fur coat growth ever and no water for hours I CAN NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF. Did he die quick? Was he in agony? The caretaker SAID he looked like he was playing when spotted at 3:30 PM. Yet he was found by the caretaker home under magificicent tree by gate and lighting. Was he trying to find comfort?

    How did my horn beeping houdini end up with this fate beyond belief?

    Was it his heart rhythm disuprted due to deydration. Normally he would be frantic and tear things apart to escape but I found no evidence he dug to keep cool nor to escape. I searched and searched for evidence. Was he so overheated that he could not move for all thos ehours until his body gave out? Did he want to be there?

    My Penny was 55 lbs. on June 4 2016 at age 6 withfine reports by vets and up to date on shots. He had just rollerbladed with me days before.

  467. Doc says:

    Hello, Susan,
    Heat exhaustion often strikes people with very little warning. One minute you feel fine, the next you’re feeling weak, faint, nauseate, and maybe(in my case) COLD. It was 100 F, and I started feeling like I was freezing.

    The patients I have seen with heat-stroke were unconscious. They had gone into shock, so there was not enough blood flow to the brain to stay conscious.

    It is unfortunate that he escaped and wandered to a place where he could not readily return.

    Your pain is evident in your story. I am sorry for your loss.

  468. Clint P says:

    Cheryl my jack russell died suddenly the same way at 8 yrs. Wii exercise 10 the everyday he loved to play was perfectly healthy weird signs of anything and he just laying on the couch started howling and I’d tried giving him CPR did not work that said it was probably a stroke or an embolism don’t feel bad it’s not your fault.

  469. Murali says:

    Hello,

    I’ve a cross breed lab , my pet legs suddenly gets unmovable and her body gets numb and looses all its sensation and saliva from mouth starts to come and it stays for 20 minutes, and later it gets normal !! Don’t know what happening with it !!

  470. Doc says:

    Hello, Murali,

    This sounds like a seizure disorder. You need to contact a veterinarian about this. If this is happening with any frequency (every 2 months or more frequently), your dog should definitely be taking medicine to prevent seizures. Each seizure has the potential to cause additional damage to the brain, making the next seizure more severe.

  471. Doc says:

    Hello, Clint P,

    Your post is a little difficult to follow, but I get the gist of it, I think.

    These sudden death cases are always frustrating. Even with a complete autopsy we are not always able to tell what happened.

    I really don’t have any special insight for you.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  472. Vanessa Grijalva says:

    Several years ago, my 2 1/2 year old lab, Ella, died. She was taken on a walk/bike ride by my cousin and as soon as she came back, she started vomiting. We took her to the vet and they had her there until a week later when she passed from “a heart attack.” During that week, we visited her a couple times and she seemed very bloated and lethargic. The vet said she was having liver failure. She was my family’s first dog and since we didn’t know much about potential medical problems in dogs, it made a sense, she was overweight and the walk my cousin took her on was more vigorous than she was used to. We thought, “Hey, maybe her heart wasn’t used to that exercise and just made her sick.” We still don’t really know what caused her to get so sick so quickly.

    Though it’s been a very long time and the pain of her passing has lessened immensely, I’ve always questioned what killed her and today, I just thought, “what the heck. Might as well see if Google has the answer.” I come across your blog and voilà, here I am asking if you have any insight as to what might have happened.

  473. Doc says:

    Hello, Vanessa,
    I sincerely doubt that the exercise could have been the culprit. The exception being a dog with a birth defect of some type, like cardiomyopathy. In that case, the exercise wouldn’t have been the cause, but rather the triggering event.

    Liver failure can occur due to infections, toxins, or circulation problems (though those would usually show up earlier in life). It could certainly cause bloating and lethargy in some patients.

    Those signs can also occur with congestive heart failure.

    With your description, it sounds like the dog passed away suddenly in the hospital after this lingering illness. This is always a frustrating thing. You have a patient who is very ill, but seems stable. I had a dog a few weeks ago who seemed to be rallying. He got up and around, started eating some on his own, then passed away late that evening.

    Without a post-mortem examination and microscopic examination of the tissues (and alas, sometimes even with these things) one can only speculate as to cause of death.

    I’m sorry for your loss. It is obviously still on your mind.

  474. Jasmine says:

    Hello Doctor,
    I take care of dogs that live on streets and are dependent on food that people might give them.i feed them everyday. I am worried for an old dog who eats very less now and prefers only chicken or milk .when he gets a little excited or moves faster he starts coughing …actually it’s not cough…but some noise that he makes and sucks his stomach in every time he makes that sound ..but it goes away after a fifteen seconds or so. Does he have an enlarged heart ?Yesterday he just had a fight with another dog and i saved him but after the fight his hind legs just got could not take his weight so he fell on the ground, stretched his legs, opened ,his mouth and tongue out , made howling sound as if he wanted air and was struggling for it .. .after a half a minute or so he sat up and stood there for five to ten minutes and then got up.he was better.i gave him glucose and water and some milk .How can I help him to improve his situation and make him stronger?

  475. Jasmine says:

    Hello again,
    I just wanted to add ..that this dog also nose blessing a couple of times in this summer but the bleeding was very profuse and some yellowish substance also came out.we showed him to a vet ..he said he just had a heat stroke.
    Also some strange thing about this dog is that he likes to eat mud.
    Pls help to make his health better.
    Thank you

  476. Doc says:

    Hello, Jasmine,
    What you describe sounds like airway problems instead of heart problems. A good veterinary exam with chest X-rays is what I would recommend to start. I wish that I could give you more specific advice, but it’s not possible without actually seeing the dog.

    • Liza says:

      My 5yr old… we normally do walks and hikes… unfortunately on the way back he slowly laid down and his breathing became extremely fast then suddenly took slow breaths and passed.. I am not sure what that was.. was it a heartattack

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Liza,
        While the type of heart attack that people have is rare in dogs (coronary arteries blocked with cholesterol plaques), then certainly can have other sudden cardiac events. You can have a blood clot that blocks an artery. Dogs also can have other problems that people have, like an aneurysm (a blood vessel that gets weak, ruptures, and causes internal bleeding). I wish I could give you more information and closure. I am sorry for your loss.

  477. Susan says:

    My 20 month old Scottish Terrier died about 3 hours ago. He was acting fine and playing all evening. We were going to let him and my other 2 dogs out one last time before bed and as he was walking toward the garage, he just fell over and had what looked to be a seizure. He did lose control of his urine and also had some saliva come out of his mouth. It was all over within 3-5 minutes and he was gone. We are all devastated by how quickly this happened. He was so very young. He did have a habit of eating anything and everything outside. We do have chickens, but they no longet free range. Plus he was acting fine right up until he had the seizure. Our other 2 dogs are acting fine, they are bigger dogs then he was (a lab and a basset hound). I should add that he did have a history of diarrhea. Nothing recent and it was never for more than a day. I always chalked that up to eating strange things off the ground. But he had not had any diarrhea within the past couple days. He was such a great dog. Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

  478. Doc says:

    Hello, Susan,
    Low oxygen to the brain can produce a seizure. A dog with congenital heart problems like cardiomyopathy can collapse with no warning. With the heart stoppage, one could certainly have a seizure-like episode at the end.

    These things are so difficult to diagnose, sometimes even with a complete postmortem and pathology exam.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  479. Donna says:

    I have one question. This is a website that anyone can make, and write about subjects, called blogging. Where does your knowledge come from, who are you, how do we know you’re an expert? Not saying you’re wrong, just I know that a lot of people bog just to make websites about subjects, truly just opinions.

  480. Doc says:

    Hello, Donna,
    You’re quite correct to say that anyone can blog. I don’t pretend to any other expertise than what it says on the mast-head. I’m a small-town veterinarian and I’ve been in general practice since 1978. I do my best to give practical information and advice within the limits of what can be done without actually seeing the pet.

    There’s a lot of baloney on the internet masquerading as expertise. It doesn’t bother me when my clients bring in something they’ve Googled up. I just want to see the source. One client had some misinformation that was very upsetting to them, concerning heartworm preventive medicines. We looked at the source and found that the owner was noted for her articles on gardening.

    You can look at my bio on my clinic website.
    https://kennettvet.com/

  481. Shannah Holt says:

    Our 5 year old rottweiler Rocky died out of nowhere 2 days ago. He had thrown up a little in his cage that morning but no food. He had not been sick or acting any different. Later he was in a sleeping spot with eyes closed and stiff outside with his our other 2 dogs in a fence in back yard. We had not heard anything unusual nor did the other 2 dogs act any different. Could he have just died while sleeping? When we lifted him to bury him a small drop of blood came out of his mouth but none was on him and no bowel movements on other under him. No autopsy we did not want to do that to him. Please help me have some peace that this was not something I could have prevented. This Summer we battled fleas for the first time and it was just starting to get better. We had been treating with capstar and trading the area with natural sprays and powder. What could cause this and for him to appear to just have fell asleep.

  482. Doc says:

    Hello, Shannah,
    Capstar is very safe. I don’t know what the “natural sprays and powder” are, but it sounds like the other two dogs are fine, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

    Sometimes dogs with cardiomyopathy (dogs born with a defect in their heart muscle) go along for years with no problem and then die suddenly with no warning. I don’t know what else to speculate on here.

    I sincerely doubt this was due to any neglect on your part.

    These sudden death cases are so frustrating. Even with a post-mortem exam we often have a difficult time finding closure.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  483. Denver says:

    Dr,

    Thank you for hosting this thread. Our family dog, Ace, suddenly passed a few days ago. He was a black terrier mix (had a lot of the markings of a Russian Toy). We got him from a no-kill shelter 9 years ago and we don’t really know how old he was when we adopted him. He was a real joy. Already house trained and the perfect dog (in our mind). He didn’t show any signs of slowing down. My son found him in the far corner backyard laying on his side on the cement. In an area that we have never seem him lay before. He loved to lay in the sun on colder mornings, but normally a lot closer to the house. There was some urine on the cement by the backdoor (which was very odd) and when I picked him up to take to the vet for cremation urine also came out of his body. Not sure if this means anything or not. I have read that dogs go away from the house to die and I am not sure if this is what he did or not. The urine outside the backdoor and him going to the corner of the house may mean he knew the end was near. Nevertheless, we are still grieving and it is a tough loss for all of us. Just trying to get some clarification if you have any, but I understand their are not many facts. Thanks again.

  484. Doc says:

    Hello, Denver,

    When the spirit leaves the body, the muscles relax, including the sphincter muscle that keeps urine inside the bladder. It is very common to see urine or stool come out after the animal passes on.

    Animals that are feeling very bad often seek out a hiding place. This is often labeled “going off to die”. I think that their instinct is to find a safe place until they feel better. They are really going off to get safe, but if it is something serious, sometimes they don’t come back.

    It is really tough to have a sudden death with no explanation. On the other hand, it sounds like Ace had a great and long life, and there was no suffering with a prolonged illness or deterioration.

    I’m sorry for your loss.

  485. Anne says:

    Hi,
    I lost my 10 year old golden retriever suddenly a few days ago. She was seemingly in great health, and woke up that morning looking for her breakfast, as usual. Within an hour and a half she was gone. I was not present, but my husband said he found her on the ground and she was moving, but barely. He picked up her to rush her to the vet but it was too late. The vet said the best she could offer was that it could have been an aneurism, heart attack, or spleen rupture. I can’t think of anything out of the ordinary except once or twice recently she began barking loudly at nothing. That was strange. Not totally unheard of, but odd. She was just playing a day or two before, chasing a ball and running with her sister (adopted golden retriever, not a biological sister).
    I am just really struggling with whether there is anything we could have done to prevent this. Also, I just want to have an idea of whether she would have been in a lot of pain or if it might have been a relatively peaceful passing. The vet said these particular illnesses would likely have been peaceful and not too painful.. She was truly our love and light. We are so very sad without her.

    Also, any recommendations for helping our other dog through this would be wonderful. I thank you for your input and time.

  486. Doc says:

    Hello, Ann,

    I agree with the assessments of your regular veterinarian. Very difficult to determine the exact cause, and with such a quick death very unlikely to have been painful.

    As far as having been able to prevent it, it is much the same as with people. Who gets a regular whole-body MRI as part of their annual checkup? Nobody, that’s who.

    It is unlikely that you would have found any of those things with routine checkups. One often hears of folks who are being checked for something else and have an aneurysm detected in the process. Had they not had the other problem, the aneurysm would have gone undetected until it burst one fine day.

    One of the behaviorists on Veterinary Information made the following suggestion for a grieving pet.

    “I’m a great believer in the power of positive reinforcement training. In this case, I wouldn’t worry about the need to train specific behaviors just have the owners teach her some simple commands using lots of treats, praise, play, and enthusiasm. The benefit from the training will be building up the dog’s self confidence as she discovers new ways of interacting with the owners and things that she can do to earn all sorts of good things, without having to look to another dog for guidance.”

  487. trudy ensbey says:

    hi i lost my dog two days before christmas,Devastated have no closure and it was very sudden.My dog willis,11yrs old toy pom.and my bestfriend.Leading up to the night he died,six months before he had been diagnosed with Asthma.he had been put on human cough medicine for this,5ml because he was 3.4kg.we are having a hot summer this year,but he rarely got a attack,and when he did the cough medicine always worked by opening the airways.on the night he died right on bed time his athsma started,we gave him his medicine but it didnt seem to work.Leading up to his death,he was more tired than usal.also displayed urinating in the house,which he normally did if our other toy female pom was on heat,but we had her fixed two months before.or when vistors were in the house,as we had our son and his girlfriend there,he did vomit a small amount of yellow with grass.but my dogs always eat grass.the day he died he greeted me at the door.ate his food hours before and then slept until bed time.his chest was like a tyre trying to pump,but we thought he was having his normal asthma attack,then he started to act like something was stuck in his throat,i checked his airways he was fine,within minutes he was rapid breathing,lying on the floor with his legs and arms out,which only our female did,i woke my husband up as something was wrong,he picked him up and said it was like a big explosion inside and he was dying we placed him on the bed and said goodbye,within seconds his heart was beating again,i picked him up and my husband rang the vet,i noticed a dribble of bright red blood down my arm from his mouth,the vet said it was rat poison and he wouldnt make it,within seconds we placed him on the bed and he let out another horrible yelp and passed.most horrible thing i have had to deal with being a A.I.N. and seeing people die..he was in pain…we held him all night and the next morning,he had a very small amount of red blood also from the nose and clear bubbly foam.we notice he had black stools on the stairs the colour of tar,and his water bowl was empty and water was all around it.miss him every day,have had our girl checked she is fine,as the vet said it was very sudden for rat poison.when we took her in.he assumed a heart problem.also ten days after he died, 6 baby brown snakes were found two doors up..neighbours did have a rat station,we did have rat holes,but my male dog never went near them more likely my female dog…so we have spent alot of money with vets online,suggesting it was more likely a accute heart failure.please help..R.I.P.WILLIS.PASSED 23/12/2016.He gave us so much to remember very hard to forget.he was also the last of his line left mum and dad died 13 and 15.his sister had a history of epilisy…

  488. Doc says:

    Hello, Trudy,

    It is certainly true that many rat poisons cause the dog to be a free bleeder. Black, tarry stools are generally an indication of bleeding in the stomach or small intestine.

    Patients who die of heart failure often get fluid in their lungs, and upon dying you will find bloody foam in throat or nose.

    I wish that I could give you a simple answer, but I cannot. Sometimes even with a complete post-mortem exam and sending tissues to a pathologist we are unable to do so.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  489. Jason Efthymiou says:

    Hi
    I lost my female doberman yesterday. She was 7 and a half years old. She was very active, happy and ate good as usual, showing no symptoms of illness or health issues.
    Yesterday morning we woke up as usual and went out for the morning walk. Suddently as we were walking she slowed down and lowered her head. She kept walking like this for 10-15 meters. I turned around and asked her what’s wrong. She always does things making me understand if something is wrong. She didn’t make any sounds. She just sat down slowly, she put her head down also and stopped breathing. I was shocked, i tried to do some CPR, but nothing…
    Unfortunately my best friend, the only living creature that gave me only love, died.
    The vet told me it was a heart attack. I am wondering though if she ate something that blocked her airflow and i didn’t see her.
    Sounds like a heart attack or could it be something else?
    Thanks a lot.

  490. Doc says:

    Hello, Jason,
    These cases are so frustrating. Even when we have the opportunity to do a complete post-mortem examination (autopsy), we cannot always determine the cause. There are dogs who are born with a heart defect that doesn’t cause problems for years, and the first sign is sudden death. The type of heart attack that people have with blockage of the coronary arteries is not common, as dogs don’t have the cholesterol problems we have. A blood clot can do the same thing, though.

    With such a rapid deterioration and death, I sincerely doubt that anything could have been done to revive her, even if she had been in a teaching institution with specialists and specialized equipment.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  491. Vic says:

    Hello,
    Our dog was a 1 year 6 months Yorkie & Havanese mix. She was perfectly normal, ate healthy and pooped healthy. She just had her rabese shot a month ago and her regular check up done. Everything was normal, and she was a very happy loving dog. Me & my girlfriend came back from out of town at 4 AM, I woke up at noon and took her for her usual walk. She was perfectly fine all morning and very playful.
    She would have slight reverse sneezing prior to her walks, but nothing else. During the walk she was normal, pooped and peed, as we are making our way back she starts barking at another dog (very normal for her). Then suddenly after she collapses and starts to have a seizure. This has never happened to her before. Her seizure lasts for 30 – 60 seconds. She lies on the ground took a deep breath, and stops moving and breathing, saliva dripping out of her mouth. I rushed her to the vet got there in under 5 minutes, they performed CPR on her and injected her to revive her but she was gone. I know she is gone, but I’m really puzzled as to how this sudden death could happen to a perfectly healthy 2 year old dog, and I’m just looking for some answers. i know nothing would bring her back but this would help me and my girlfriend with some closure. She was walking, had a siezure and she was dead in 60 seconds.
    We still cannot believe this happened.
    Any info would help.
    Thanks,
    Vic

  492. Doc says:

    Hello, Vic,

    There are some dogs with a congenital heart defect that shows no outward signs at all until one day the heart just stops. First sign of a problem is sudden death. They have been a walking “time bomb” since birth. I have seen three of these over the last 38 years.

    It is also possible to have some congenital defect in a blood vessel that just bursts one day. An aneurysm (defective weak blood vessel) in the brain could rupture and produce the signs you have described.

    I’m just speculating. Sometimes a complete post-mortem with microscopic examination of the tissues tells the tail, and sometimes we just can’t figure it out, no matter what we do.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  493. Greg gallagher says:

    My healthy, strong 2 year old collie named tommy was lethargic for about a week and just wasnt acting his active, vibrant self.. For the last week he would have good days and not so good days. We took him to the vet for an exam and blood work, and everything came back normal..the vet said to follow up in 2 weeks if things did not improve, but he was not concerned. Two nights ago, he was laying on the couch and my father was massaging his stomach, when all of a sudden he tightened up and made an unusual, stretched out posture and let out the most horrifying loud yelp/scream i have ever heard…it lasted about 5 seconds and by the time i got to him he was unconscious and not breathing, presumably dead. I tried CPR and we rushed him to the ER which was 5 mins away, but they said he was dead on arrival and the cpr and meds they provided him didnt resuscitate my poor boy… our family is absolutely devastated. have you ever heard of a dog screaming before he died? If so, what could have been the cause of this scream? That scream will be etched in my mind forever. I just hope he didnt suffer. Any thoughts on whether it was aneurysm or possibly a congenital heart issue? We didn’t get a necropsy, but it is killing me not knowing what killed my poor boy…Thank you for your help.
    -heartbroken in CT

  494. Doc says:

    Hello, Greg,
    I wish I could do more to give you some closure here. My speculations are no better than yours – aneurysm, heart defect, blood clot.

    Folks are understandably reluctant to do a post-mortem. And many times it is still difficult to find anything without microscopic examination of tissues.

    Without it, though, it’s just pretty wide open.

    I think we can safely say that with such a dramatic and rapid death that there was nothing you could have done. You certainly don’t need to add guilt to grief.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  495. Greg gallagher says:

    Thank you doc for your response. One quick question, have you ever heard of a dog making a weird stretched out posture and screaming before dying?? When he stretched out, his eyes got wide and then he started the scream. It was so traumatic and i will think of it every day for the rest of my life. He didnt go to the bathroom on himself, but his eyes and mouth remained open. Seemingly because it happened so quick. Also i didnt mention this in my last post, but the week before he was putting his head in the cushions of the couch and wanted to be in dark areas of the house. Could that be signs of headaches and/or neuroligicaI issues? I really appreciate your response. My family is devastated and any news i can provide them with will be extremely helpful for them as well as myself. Thanks again very, very much.

  496. Doc says:

    Hello, Greg,
    We often see seizure patients stretch out, head drawn back and legs extended, so if there were a stroke-like event, or aneurysm in the brain, that would make sense.

    Your description of the previous week certainly sounds plausible for a headache. Since they can’t talk to us, Lord only knows how many pets go around with a headache.

    Headaches can certainly be a sign of neurological issues. I had a friend who went in the hospital to have a kidney tumor removed. She complained of headaches and they found a previously unsuspected brain tumor (unrelated to the kidney tumor as it turned out).

  497. Grmma reed says:

    Hi last week my gorgeous staffy diedz he went lethargic about 10 hours before but was still eating. His head was hurting and i thought he had an ear infection. He kept wondering around and he had a wee in the kitchen the just walked off like he didnt know he had done it. Confussed!!! Took him to my vets he did a blood test. Everything came back normal. And sent me home with tablets! 2 hourse later he died on my knee ? Im really heartbroken

  498. Doc says:

    Hello, Grmma,
    I am sorry for your loss. I wish I had something to add to help give you closure, but I really do not.

  499. Angelina says:

    Hi, I don’t know if I will find any answers asking this but I figure maybe it couldn’t hurt. On Tuesday, this past Tuesday, my mom was out in the yard gardening and she had our 4 dogs outside with her. They always stay by her and they never usually roam unless left outside alone. We live on a main road and while she was gardening she realized two of our for dogs were missing. She called them and after one call one came running and the other didn’t. So she kept calling Khloe, an 8 year old chihuahua who was a little bit overweight which happened randomly and we were unable to get her to lose the weight but the vet never said anything about it whenever she went. Anyways Khloe didn’t come so my mom kept calling her and calling her, finally the garbage truck drove passed our house and she saw her. Khloe was stumbling into the road and she just fell over. My mom went running into traffic and scooped her up, almost getting hit by a car herself. When she got Khloe and was running back to our house to take her to the vet her head laid backwards and she defecated. My mom knew she was dead and knew that she couldn’t do anything. We are all absolutely devastated. Khloe was chubby but the best dog, never had heath problems other than occasionally making a “honking” noise like she almost had asthma but our other chihuahua also does that. She was always active and just a happy dog. We thought she got hit by a car at first but she didn’t have a mark on her at all, all of her limbs felt normal and her stomach was squishy not inflated or hard to where she may have had internal bleeding. My mom is blaming herself, saying she should have kept them inside and she would be alive. I know for sure you’re going to say we should’ve gotten an autopsy but we didn’t want to dissemble her body she didn’t deserve that. We just are wondering if maybe it was a heart attack? or if she went away cause she knew something felt weird? She never went by the road and I just need some comfort in knowing there was nothing we could do because I feel sick. Usually my mom is one to run any animal to the vet but she’s had many many animals in her life and she knew she was dead but could she have been brought back to life even if she died suddenly? Was there anything we could do?

  500. Doc says:

    Hello, Angelina,

    I wish I could give you some closure here, but there are too many unknowns.

    It is possible that she was hit. I have seen numerous patients where the owners saw the accident, yet there was no mark on the dog. This has been true even with very serious internal injuries.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  501. Lee says:

    Hi Doc,

    Thank you for maintaining this thread and spending time providing insights to help us get through the hardest time. Our golden pyrenees died suddenly last Friday night. He was a healthy 13 year old. 3 months ago he had Vestibular Disease but bounced back to normal in a week. Last Tuesday, he did not want dinner, looked very tired and wanted to sleep so we took him to the vet the next day to get blood work done. But he started eating again the next meal and appeared normal (a little slower walking down the stairs but all good otherwise.) Friday night he ate dinner at 6 as usual and we brushed his teeth at around 11. After that he came upstairs with us. Within a few minutes of walking upstairs he suddenly collapsed. He stopped blinking while taking his last 2-3 breaths with about 15 second intervals and died. The blood work came back two days later, showing a sign of Anemia but nothing else was abnormal. Vet provided her guess that it could have been a tumor (based on the Anemia result) that burst. We were devastated as it came so suddenly.

  502. Doc says:

    Hello, Lee,
    Sorry I’ve gotten a bit behind lately. This does remind me of my own dog when a tumor on her spleen ruptured. One morning she just had no energy at all. She took very slow, small steps, which was very unlike her. I had to pick her up to carry her to the truck.

    When I got to the office, I noted pale gums. After drawing a blood sample, I ultrasounded her abdomen, finding a lot of free fluid, which proved to be blood.

    Emergency splenectomy and transfusion brought her back, but the spread of the cancer took her from us within a few months.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  503. Renee Ramsey says:

    On July 17th 2017, my little baby, Bella, very suddenly, and unexpectedly, died. She was a Chihuahua/some type of Terrier/Shih-Tzu mix. She was born on Dec. 13, 2011, only 5 1/2 years old! I had given all my dogs one bite of fully cooked hamburger as a rare treat. A minute later, they signaled they wanted to go outside. I let them out and just a minute later I saw my beloved Bella laying down. I called her name and got no response. I immediately ran over to her and saw her tongue was blue, her eyes open, and the slightest bit of foam at her mouth. She was completely unresponsive. I tried CPR with chest compressions, I was taught how by my Vet, no response. She never vacated her bowels and she did not pee either. I thought I had a chance to save her. I am completely devastated, I feel so guilty. Could she have choked on that piece of hamburger and not shown any signs before running outside??? I am getting a necropsy done, but can’t do it until I raise the money. In the mean time, she is being kept in a deep freezer. This is all killing me, I hate the thought of her being in the freezer, cold and dark. Bu I must raise the money first. I have a fund raiser going on Go Fund Me, but it’s slow going. I was wondering if you might have an idea of what may have caused this horrid tragedy. She was my sun, she hung the moon in my eyes and I don’t believe I’ll EVER get over this.

  504. Doc says:

    Hell, Renee,

    If she were choking on the hamburger, it wouldn’t have happened later after she got outside. You would have seen it when she was still inside.

    I really don’t have any answers for you. I hope that the post-mortem examination will give you some closure.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  505. Deneece g says:

    My nine year old Husky died unexpectedly a week ago, on a Sunday night. I was out for three hours and returned home to find her on the kitchen floor with a legal size goldenrod envelope covering her head. At first, I thought she was playing with me. When she didn’t move as I spoke to her, I pull off the envelope.

    Inside the envelope was a packet of superfood (1oz. Nuts, gogi berries, & cacao). I thought maybe this was toxic , however, I went online later to discover dogs & cats can suffocate.

    At the time, it was 9:15p on a Sunday nite. The 24hr. Vet I contacted did not do house calls and gave me the name of a medical transport to call. He did not return my call. I could not pick up my dog to carry her to the car. I immediately checked for a heart beat or breathing. There was neither. One eye was open and her tongue was hanging out one side of her mouth. She had already lost control of her bladder & bowel.

    I did massage her heart, for some time, thinking she might have had a seizure and come out of it. She did not. I was so upset that it did not dawn on me, until later in the week, I could have tried CPR. From what I described, the 24hr. Vet thought she was already gone. She also thought the Super food packet might have poisoned her.

    By the time I spoke to her regular vet (two days later), she suspected 1oz. Of the Super food was not enough to kill her, and in fact she must have suffocated.

    The irony is this envelope, w food packet inside, was in the same location for several weeks prior to this evening and my dog had never touched it (unbeknownst to me the packet was inside). I feel totally responsible and am experiencing sadness and loss over her passing. I had never heard of a dog suffocating or dying in this way until my pet did.

    I hope there is more of an awareness of this cause of accident or death. Had I been aware, I would have made some changes in my home.

    Feeling sadness!

  506. Doc says:

    Hello, Deneece,

    Thank you for sharing your story. Dogs may not be as curious as cats, but they do get themselves into places they shouldn’t.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  507. Charles Guinan says:

    Hi my 12 yr. old Golden retriever passed away the other morning, he came to my side of the bed and I was able to pet him, he spit up a very little amount and layed down I thought he had fallen asleep suddenly he moved his head and paws in a jerky motion and apparently passed away. I keep thinking of things I might have done, the night before he was barking a lot and I yelled at him to stop and lay down, an I can’t help but think that I may have hurt his feelings as I am a mush an easy going. I am so sad and lonely, keep thinking of the negative, he gave me so much pleasure all the time I had him. Could I have done anything to help him?

  508. Doc says:

    Hello, Charles,

    Twelve years is a phenomenal age for a Golden Retriever, and it sounds like they were twelve pretty good years.

    With such a sudden death, it is highly unlikely that you could have done anything to revive him, even had you been a specialist in emergency medicine with all your equipment at the ready.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  509. Clarice K says:

    this happened very rapidly…

    monday night i noticed my grandmas chihuahua wasnt acting right, not wanting to eat, breathing heavy, neither fast nor slowly, and she wouldnt hop up on the bed..
    the night before she wouldnt come from the side of the house when called in for dinner. same thing monday night, i had to go get her and even then she didnt want to move… tuesday morning i went to check on her and she was having a seizure, it didnt stop, she kept arching her head back, then going limp, her tongue was grey.. she didnt make it.

    fast forward to tonight. second dog, also a chihuahua, was totally fine looking around 7 pm. around 9 pm i call the dogs in for dinner, she didnt show up, i looked around and found her dead on the porch. she was stiff and her tongue was pink but her nose had no color. i feel like someone may have poisoned them because losing two dogs in three days doesnt seem right…

    any idea as to what may have happened to our dogs? they were both old but this seems way too sudden…

  510. Doc says:

    Hello, Clarice,
    I am sorry that I do not have any insight to offer.

    The sudden death of the second dog sounds more suspicious of foul play. The first dog sounds like she was having a long-term problem that got worse.

    It would certainly be an odd coincidence to have both dogs die of natural causes in such a short time. Possible, but odd.

    Unfortunately, without a post-mortem exam (and often even with an autopsy) it’s very tough to give an answer about these things.

  511. Gillian Szabo says:

    Our lovely family companion, a 9-year-old maltese, died very suddenly this week. We had enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods with our other dog, a 10-year-old bichon, and returned home. Our maltese lay down on his bed, leaned back and let out a haunting howl. I ran to him and his eyes were rolling back. Seconds later, he howled again and started panting and I was sure he was dying as he released his bowels slightly. My husband and I quickly drove him to our vet which is only two minutes away. Our doctor said his heart was very weak. He tried to resuscitate him, but despite all efforts by he and his staff, we lost him. We were absolutely stunned. He was such a spry and happy dog (unlike our bichon who often seems to have incidents of diarrhea and vomiting). In fact, our bichon just came off treatment for terrible diarrhea just a few days prior to our maltese’s death.
    Looking back, I noticed that occasionally our boy would stop during a walk and not want to continue, which was somewhat out of character. He would take a break, but with gentle encouragement, would carry on. Also, a few times, while resting beside us, his body seemed to shake, almost like a vibration that would start and stop in waves, but it would stop after a few minutes and he seemed fine. I thought maybe it was just anxiety of some kind.
    Approx. a week ago, we heard a rather noisy gurgling sound and it seemed to be coming from his intestines. He didn’t appear to be in pain and it stopped within 5-10 minutes, so I assumed it was just some normal intestinal growls. I now feel so guilty for not taking him in for an examination following this incident. Perhaps we would have found it was something treatable? He didn’t seem poorly otherwise, but I can’t shake these thoughts that I missed something. He did have Lyme disease when he was around 2 years old, but he was treated and deemed fully recovered. He was examined just two months ago by our vet and there appeared to be no issues. What could have possibly happened?
    I’ve seen so many programs about how terrible dry dog foods are (we fed him grain-free dry and some denta food only) and wonder whether his poor little system didn’t agree with it. Perhaps I should have been feeding him better or making homemade food? We didn’t want an autopsy, and from all I’ve read, that might not provide us any answers anyway. Following his death, we brought him home so that his buddy, our bichon, could see he is no longer with us. It was by far the best decision for us.

  512. Doc says:

    Hello, Gillian,

    For heaven’s sake, don’t beat yourself up about the food. I’ve had many patients live to ripe old age on dry dog food. It’s not a problem unless the dog had some very unusual situation (and I can’t think of one).

    If he and some stomach growling and it stopped in 10 minutes, and he seemed to feel fine, I sincerely doubt that it was anything more than that.

    It is certainly possible that some illness earlier in life caused a weakening of his heart that would have shortened his life. It is so hard to make a determination in cases like this.

    You absolutely do not need to feel guilty about neglecting your friend. When he actually showed distress, you were at the doctor in TWO MINUTES.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  513. paul johnson says:

    My large dogs were very healthy; I take them to creeks everyday weather permitting and long runs in the woods on other days. They eat two pounds of steak and/or jerky daily. Last night they were chasing a rabbit. After several minutes, my lab returned; the whippet did not. I found him dead with no sign of physical injury. I am 65 years old and devastated as we were a pack. Both dogs were sweethearts, very obedient and loving, yet could kill a large coon or groundhog in seconds. They were the only family I have left and if anything happens to my lab, I will lose all desire to live.

  514. Clarissa Meadows says:

    I know this is an old post but I’m lost and need some help right now. My 1 year old Pom suddenly got lethargic and started vomiting. He vomited a few times during the night and died before I could get him to the vet.i have had 2 of his brothers from different litters and they both died the same way; however the sister is doing fine. What could this be as it was sudden and we need to know what happened!?

  515. Doc says:

    Hello, Paul,

    I am sorry for your loss. It is obvious that you have a lot of love in your heart for your dogs.

    None of us have so many friends that we can afford to lose one.

    We cannot “replace” a lost friend. Beings are not interchangeable.

    Yet, it sounds to me like you are a man with a great deal to give and there are lots of dogs who need what you have.

    We don’t rush to fill a void, we need time to grieve.

    Life can go on, the adventure continues. We need someone to share it with, and there are others who need us and our help.

    I sense the joy you shared with your dogs, and I hope you will share it with others in the future.

  516. Doc says:

    Hello, Clarissa,
    The fact that three dogs from the same mating (though different litters) have died under similar circumstances suggests that there is a genetic problem. You can have a congenital cardiomyopathy (birth defect heart problem) that doesn’t show any early signs. They just suddenly die, and often at a very young age.

    Without a post-mortem and a pathologist’s examination of the tissues, you cannot tell what happened.

    I would certainly consider not mating those parents together in the future.

  517. Ashia Lee says:

    My dog was ran over Jan 31st he survived but suffer from a fracture in is femur and another fracture in his tibia . We took him to veterinary surgery hospital feb.5 and they repaired the femur using locking plate feb 6 and scheduled to do the tibia feb 7th but feb 7th they came in and he was dead what could have happened to him ?? The veterinarian said his blood work was fine , his pre work up was good he showed no signs or risk for complications he work up out of surgery and he was goggy and took x-rays and was fine he was confused on how this could have been the out come even gave us back the money and didn’t charge us

  518. Doc says:

    Hello, Ashia,

    These cases drive us crazy.

    Two weeks ago, I performed neutering surgery on a young, healthy dog. After he went home, he was bothering his incision, so we added a second pain medicine and antibiotics. Two nights later he seemed to be doing well, ate a big dinner. The next morning he died.

    I did a post-mortem examination and sent samples of most organs, and his entire heart to the pathologist.

    The pathologist found multiple areas of dead tissue throughout the heart, but could give no explanation for it.

    The dog died because his heart failed, due to these little deaths throughout the muscle.

    But WHY?! We’ve done every test we know to do and have no answer. Things like this keep us humble, reminding us that there are many things we do not understand.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  519. JamesG says:

    I been grieving the loss of my Great Dane for a week now. He was 11 and a half yrs old but was strong and in great shape. I walked him in the morning as I normally did and everything seemed fine. As usual, when I work late my dad will walk him for me. Even a neighbor saw my dad walking him and said He looked fine. Then my dad took him in the yard to run a little. After running a bit he said the dog started shaking. Trying to go back into the house he collapsed in the alley way and died.
    I know he was old for a Dane and maybe he could’ve only lived another year or so and I didn’t have to watch him get sick, slow down, or fade but it hurts the same. I didn’t get to say goodbye but I know he was happy and with my dad who he loved when he died.
    Given his age and that he was running around a heart attack just makes sense. He was in great shape and I don’t know what the shaking is a symptom of but do you think this could be anything else? He never went to the vet besides for his puppy shots so I don’t know if he had a hidden heart condition that running in the yard triggered. Thank you.

  520. Doc says:

    Hello, James,

    11 is a remarkable age for a giant breed dog, though I know that does little to ease the pain of loss. You must have been taking pretty good care of him. I don’t know whether a routine checkup would have allowed you to detect and treat his problem ahead of time.

    Generally we don’t do electrocardiograms and echocardiograms as part of a routine checkup. We’ve all heard stories of the guy who passes his physical and dies in the parking lot outside the doctor’s office.

    While dogs rarely have the type of coronary artery blockage that people have (usual cause of heart attack), they can certainly have other heart problems. He could also have had something like a brain aneurysm that burst, causing a fatal stroke.

    I think all we can do now is remember the good times.

  521. Lisa Gorman says:

    Our Boxer died suddenly last Wednesday. He was on Rimadyl, pardale v and Gabapentin for arthritis but apart from stiff legs, was fine. That night he ate as usual and when he went to get up from his bed, I helped him as I sometimes did if he was particularly stiff. Suddenly, he
    Collapsed. His whole body stiffened for about 5 seconds then he went limp, I felt his muzzle for breaths and his body for a heartbeat- nothing.
    Suddenly he started to breathe again but it was more panting than steady breathing, his eyes were moving and he was able to lift his head but appeared to not be able to move the rest of his body although at no point did he lose bladder control. As we were on the phone to the vets we noticed his paws getting
    Cold so we wrapped him in a huge duvet and took him to vets, all the time, he didn’t react to our voices, if we called his name, his ears didn’t twitch and he didn’t turn his head to us.
    The vet said his heartbeat was erratic and threads and recommended we have him pts which we did he was eleven and a half but could this have just been a stroke he could have recovered from?

  522. Doc says:

    Hello, Lisa,

    Could it have been a stroke? Maybe.
    Could he have recovered? Sounds unlikely. He was unresponsive and his heart wasn’t functioning well.
    Could you have kept him alive in an intensive care unit for a while? Probably.
    Would it have changed the outcome? Probably not.
    Dos it do any good to beat yourself up with “what if?” Definitely not.
    It sounds to me like you did the right thing.
    I am sorry for your loss.

  523. Cheryl Eldrige says:

    My 4 year old English bulldog was resting in her kennel all day until I got home from work at normal time to let her out. within seconds of arriving she started breathing very heavy and threw up about 20 times white foam looking stuff and then fell to the floor and stop breathing. I called 911 and while my neighbor did CPR the animal control arrived in 6 mins and took over, but she was gone. Before yesterday my bulldog was a completely active healthy dog. Can you tell me what might have happen? She was my best friend and today I’m feeling very lost, sad and confused of what happen.

  524. Barbara Muniz says:

    Our 15 month old Maltese passed away suddenly on March 31st. I January she started to not eat her food, so we fed her people food because that is what she would eat. We had her to the vet the end of January for her shots and when I told the vet that she was not eating, she told me to give her canned food which we did but then she quit eating that. We took her back to the vet and the vet did blood work but could not find anything-this was in February. With her still not eating, we decided to get a second opinion. Oh yes, she was doing a lot of panting also. The next vet did more extensive blood work and found that she had pancreatitis. He told us to give her a fourth of a Pepcid daily for 3 weeks. This visit was on March 14th and we began the treatment on March 15th. The night of March 30th, she did a high pitched yelp and then clenched her jaws and began foaming at the mouth. I called the vet and he said to withhold food and water and call him in the morning. She died around 3 in the morning. She should not have died.

  525. Doc says:

    Hello, Cheryl,
    I wish that I could give you a good answer. Sometimes even with a complete post-mortem and a pathologist’s microscopic exam we are uncertain.

    We recently lost a patient 5 days after a surgery. His incision had become a little infected, but he seemed otherwise okay until he died suddenly. The pathologist found many small dead spots in his heart muscle, but could not definitively say what caused them. He wouldn’t even commit to saying it was for sure the cause of the dog’s death (though we found nothing else).

    It certainly sounds like your dog developed acute pulmonary edema (sudden onset of fluid in the lungs), but I cannot give you a reason why. I have seen dogs die this way with no explanation found (except for the ones who had received severe electric shocks from chewing on a power cord – that can cause it, even if the dog survives the initial shock).

    I am sorry for your loss.

  526. Doc says:

    Hello, Barbara,

    I cannot say what was going on with your dog. Certainly we don’t expect a patient to die in this manner with pancreatitis.

    Pancreatic inflammation can occur when there is disease nearby (in the bowel or liver, for instance), so a positive test for pancreatitis does not always mean that the pancreas is where the problem started.

    If the patient had only pancreatitis, then the advice to withhold food and water for a few hours certainly makes sense.

    This is a case where we would very much like to have had a post-mortem examination to try to determine what the full extent of the illness was.

    Of course, you wanted to make her well, not find out why she died. In retrospect, more in-depth diagnostic testing would have been ideal. My first choice would have been an abdominal ultrasound, performed by a specialist. I do ultrasounds, but I know that I am not good enough to catch subtle things.

    From the time frame you describe, it sounds like there were two weeks (from March 15 to 30) where things seemed to be going okay, so I don’t know that I would have been going to a specialist.

    I am sorry for your loss, but it is often difficult to say what would have been best.

  527. Pete Nelson says:

    Our beautiful Sheltie died suddenly yesterday. We found her lying on the floor on her side with her eyes closed. She had just been to the vet a week before and the vet said she couldn’t believe Dolly was nine because she was so healthy – her heart sounded great, etc. It’s very hard to wrap my head around. She was an angel.

  528. Abbey says:

    Hello,

    Our Golden Retriever, Daisy has always been an anxious dog, since the day we were blessed with her she has always been a big scaredy cat! I moved out to go to university, so didn’t get to spend as much time with her as I would have wanted.

    She unfortunately passed away last Friday in front of my Mum. She apparently ate her dinner (home cooked chicken breast!), walked over to my Mum, just before she went to sit down, she jolted backwards and collapsed. My Mum thought she had a seizure, so tried to comfort her, although she wasn’t conscious at the time. She called the vet who rushed round and pronounced her dead. My Mum said she took two large last breaths then stopped breathing.

    The vet stayed with my Mum for over an hour comforting her until my Dad came home. She told my parents that “It sounded like a heart attack”. Which to me sounds like a lazy response?

    My parents have decided not to have a post mortem done.

    I’m devastated, I can’t believe she’s gone. I can’t stop crying, I miss her so much. She was like a sister to me.

  529. Abbey says:

    I forgot to mention, Daisy was only 7 years old, seemed perfectly healthy and acted like a puppy most of the time!

  530. Doc says:

    Hello, Abbey,

    I’ve often felt like “heart attack” is a bit of a lazy response, simply because dog’s don’t have the plaques in the arteries that usually cause the type of heart attacks that people have.

    On the other hand, dogs who die suddenly can do so from a long-standing heart defect that suddenly goes critical. This is difficult to understand, but we have had whole hearts examined and they have found defects that had been present for a long time, rather than acute inflammation.

    Heart attack is something that people can relate to, and it is certainly easier to say than “I really can’t tell you anything without a complete post-mortem and sending tissues to a pathologist, and sometimes we still can’t find anything.”

    Golden Retrievers have a high incidence of cancer. I lost my own Golden with a tumor in the spleen. Those can rupture and the patient hemorrhages internally, getting very weak in a matter of minutes. He felt fine before we found the tumor.

    There just aren’t any actual easy answers in cases like this, so we sometimes give an easy answer, even though it may not be accurate.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  531. Brooke says:

    My 4.5 year old Rottweiler died yesterday while barking and growling and protecting the house inside at the door when a delivery driver brought a package to the door. The driver said she was barking, jumping and scratching at the door (as per usual) and then just collapsed and wasn’t moving. My husband arrived within minutes and she was already gone. She was so young and no health issues we knew of. I feel awful.

  532. Doc says:

    Hello, Brooke,
    If you have read many of the other posts on this thread, you know that we are very limited in what we can say without a complete post-mortem examination. And even then, we sometimes cannot tell the exact cause of death.

    While dogs rarely the type of heart attack that people have with blockage of the coronary arteries, they can certainly have other types of heart disease. Some heart defects give you no warning signs. The first sign of disease is death.

    Some could be detected ahead of time if every patient had chest x-rays, electrocardiogram, and cardiac ultrasound (echocardiogram). Nobody does that on an apparently healthy dog.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  533. Aimee Hickey says:

    Hi. Last night my 11 year old ShiTzu woke me up with a high pitched squeal which lasted maybe 15-20 seconds. She did not lose bladder or bowel control. During the episode she was a bit stiff and her breathing was very fast. It was dark so I didn’t see anything else was going on, like with her eyes. I just petted her trying to calm her down.
    During the day she was just not herself, she was licking everything, which can be a nervous habit for her at times. Today, she seems to be fine. Eating, drinking. I’m not sure what happened, but I definitely do not want to go through it again. Friends have told me it sounds like a seizure.
    Do they usually lose bladder/bowel control if it was a seizure?

  534. Doc says:

    Hello, Aimee,

    That really does sound like a seizure episode. They don’t always lose bladder or bowels.

    I would recommend that you see your veterinarian for a checkup and a blood chemistry panel. This looks for any possible metabolic issues that could be causing a seizure. It also gives you baseline values in case you have to use anti-seizure medicines later on.

  535. Aaron says:

    My dog Zoey died a couple days ago she was about 7. A couple years ago she was tested and was diagnosed with Cushings. She took a medicine everyday and that helped with her water drinking and appetite but she still had a pot belly. A few days ago I gave her a raw hide and about a hour later I found her making choking sounds, drooling and gasping for air. She was also foaming from the mouth. I opened her mouth to retrieve what I thought she was choking on and felt nothing. I gave her the hymlic a few times but nothing. She layed on her side and her heartbeat was racing, moments later she died. I’m devastated, was she choking on the rawhide, or so you think it was some complications with Cushings disease? She has chocked on rawhide before but always spit them back up.

  536. Doc says:

    Hello, Aaron,

    This doesn’t sound like the sort of complications you would expect with Cushing’s disease. Your description does sound very much like choking, but without a post-mortem examination (“Autopsy”) we can’t really be sure.

    I am sorry for your loss.

  537. Ivy Jackman says:

    We lost our boy two days ago. He was nearly 11 and a beautiful white german shepherd. He had mild hip dysplasia and arthritis. My partner took him to his favourite field where he was skipping about like a puppy as normal, he jumped in the pond and walked out and with ball still in his mouth he just fell over dead. No sounds, no shaking, no yelps, no dedication, just gone with ball in mouth. I got there to collect him around half hour after it happened and his tongue was completely blue and his eyes were set open. He was still limp and main body was still warm (He weighed 41kg) but paws were starting to cool so knew he was gone. Is hard when sudden but I could not have asked for a better way to go for him. I assumed it could have been his heart as sometimes when laying with his head hanging over the bed he would sound a little raspy on occasion. Last vet check was 3 months ago and had normal blood work back. He was on metacam for about 2 years with no side effects for his joints. Maybe was his heart, maybe something else, but how blessed to have shared nearly 11 wonderful years x

  538. Doc says:

    Hello, Ivy,

    Thank you for sharing your story. While the heart artery blockage common in humans is rare in dogs, it does sometimes occur, as do strokes and other things.

    I have to agree that living to a ripe old age and dying while at play sounds like the best way to go.

  539. kate says:

    My 11 year old lab died last week while I was walking her. She stumbled and fell over, and kept shaking and retching for a minute until she died. I thought it was a heart attack or seizure or something, but didn’t bother to ask the vet because it wouldn’t bring her back, but now I’m wondering. I mean, 11 is old for a lab but she was still very energetic and nothing seemed wrong, so it was still a shock.

  540. Doc says:

    Hello, Kate,

    These situations are always a shock and so frustrating. While the type of coronary artery blockage that is common in humans is uncommon in dogs (they don’t get the cholesterol buildup in their arteries like people do), it is possible. They can have a blood clot that would do the same thing.

    I wish that I could give you some insight here, but I really cannot.

  541. Maria says:

    Nov 22, my 12yo mini schnauzer seemed restless. He had a rear right limp w/c I gave him pain meds but I figured it was still healing. So I put him on a bean bag and he seemed to be more comfortable and fell asleep.

    Nov 24, his limp was still there so I brought him to the closest vet and had an xray done. No fracture, but they suspected a possible sprain. They also showed me that his vertebrae 3 and 4 were very much close together with no spaces inbetween. They did a cbc and sdma.

    Nov 25, as he was peeing he slipped in his own pee and fell flat on his tummy with his legs sprawled out. An hour after cleaning him, he was restless and moaning. I had him rushed to the nearest vet. They xrayed him and saw no fracture but his moaning was getting louder and more frequent so I brought him to our regular vet. When we got there he wasn’t crying as hard and or as often. But he could no longer stand up on his hind legs, when they tried to see if he would stand, his hind paws would curl up. I requested that he be confined for monitoring. When I left him, he wasn’t crying anymore.

    Nov 26 – In the morning they did acupuncture. The vet said his hind legs were still weak. I told her I would come take him home the next day. At 715pm I received a call from the vet (she went home after lunch) saying that her reliever said around 4pm, he started crying again but his cries went down afterwards and when they rechecked him at 7pm he wasnt that responsive anymore. I rushed to the hospital but he was gone already. I took him out and brought his body for a necropsy at a different hospital to get answers. They could not pinpoint the actual cause of death but what they did find was that his liver was in bad shape, 1 kidney was half the size of the other one (w/c was healthy), his spleen had a button like mass, his gallbladder had sludge and small stones but his heart, intestines, etc were fine. What they suspect is that he had gone into shock. Please kindly explain and enlighten me if you have a different opinion. My mind is a mess trying to understand, because I was supposed to take him home the next day.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Maria,
      I wish that I could give you some closure. I can only speculate, but there are stroke-like events that affect the spinal cord. FCE is fibrocartilaginous embolus. This can cause a sudden loss of neurological function in the affected area. It is difficult to make a definitive diagnosis without sophisticated imaging like an MRI or C-T scan with contrast media to highlight the circulation. These can cause pain, weakness, complete paralysis.

      Sometimes with liver disease you have clotting disorders, which might predispose to a stroke involving the brain.

      These cases are so difficult and frustrating. It sounds as though your friend was well cared for, but a complex disease process was too much for him.

      I am sorry for your loss.

  542. Allen says:

    Hi,
    I too lost my 6yr old Golden Retriever suddenly 2 days ago. It’s heartbreaking, I am unsure how to move on not knowing what the cause is or what I could have done to prevent it. It was 7:30am and was due for his morning walk. 5min into the walk, he spotted his close buddy and starting barking and pulling on his leash to reach him. Aggressiveness of the pull is a 6 / 10, with 10 being really hard and gasping type and was in a steel choke collar leash at that time. After around 8 meters, mid-barking and excited, he suddenly collapsed, went into a seizure, and dropped dead with his mouth open and tongue out – turning blue in a matter of minutes.

    Aside from having hip dysplasia (gave him Dr. Clauder Gelenk for maintenance, he was a perfectly healthy and happy dog, walking 3 times a day, playful and eating strong. I do not understand what could cause him to die all of a sudden.

    I wasnt able to do CPR, (something I will regret for the of my life) and rushed him to the vet but took us 30min to do so. It was already too late by then. They did some Xrays after his death and found out that he had a collapsed trachea all along. Could this have been the cause of death, together with the pulling of the collar? We did not notice any prior symptoms such as coughing, wheezing or distortion in his bark sound in the past and I understand collapsed trachea is a progressive congenital disorder. Vet is attributing the death to the collapsed trachea but I am uncertain of this since pull was “normal”and wasnt for a long period of time. Could the collar hit a certain spot in the trachea and it suddenly just give up? Around 2 months ago I did notice him vomit white foam in the morning, and then eat it up again. At times, he would breathe rapidly even on a rested state, and would snore or have a hard time breathing as if something was stuck in his nose. Other times, he was perfectly fine.

    I asked for a second opinion and the other vet mentioned it could have been a cardiac arrest or underlying heart problem instead as tracheal collapse is unusual in large breeds. He never showed symptoms of a heart problem. I opted to not do a necropsy to keep him intact, but end up crying and blaming myself every minute for not being to do anything or having the peace of mind of how he died.

    Would appreciate any insight given the circumstances of his death. Was it a tracheal collapse, heart problem or another possible reason perhaps? I lost him at a state where he was excited, pulling – all of which seem to be normal in our routine. Thank you

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Allen,

      I wouldn’t lay the blame on the choke collar. I have seen dogs drag their owners, despite the fact that the collar was extremely tight.

      Tracheal collapse patients typically have chronic cough problems long before they succumb to complications of airway problems. It is surprising to see the problem in such a large dog. Most of the ones I have seen have been in very small dogs.

      Cardiomyopathy (a heart muscle defect) can go along for years with no preliminary signs, and then you just have sudden death. This is not possible to diagnose without microscopic examination of the heart muscle tissue. Often the heart looks normal at necropsy.

      Don’t beat yourself up on the CPR thing. It is rarely successful. I have resuscitated patients who had anesthetic complications, but other than that, a problem that would cause respiratory and cardiac arrest is generally going to be so severe that you cannot revive the patient.

      A necropsy and pathology exam may have revealed the cause of death, but I have had more than one patient where we could not determine what happened, despite extensive testing.

      I am sorry for your loss.

      • Allen says:

        Thank you for your response, means alot.

        When he pulled on the collar, I followed to make sure it wasnt strangling him. The vet also mentioned they saw no signs of damage in the trachea as I initially thought keeping him on the choke collar for years contributed to his death. Yes, it is rare to have large breeds have tracheal collapse condition, especially when we havent seen any symptoms in the past months.

        But I am not professional and would rather take your advice if this is still indeed a possible cause of death? Could the collar have lined up right on the spot where it narrows and block the airway causing him to suffocate? Or would the heart failure / defect be most likely the culprit?

        I know I cannot bring him back, I miss him every day. But maybe knowing what happened, will help me and my family move on. Thank you so much

  543. Allen says:

    Just an added note, one theory of a vet is he choked on his saliva. Postmortem xray showed fluid in his body, but this was taken 1.5hrs after he died. Is there a way i can directly share with you the xray? Thank you in advance

  544. Wendy MacGregor says:

    My 8 year old corgi died suddenly Tuesday. I had taken her on as a rescue at two and she had been used in a breeding program and had severe heart worms. I had her treated for the heart worms 6 years ago and she has been in her usual state of health. I took her for the usual walk with my other corgis and the only think different was she did have some diarrhea but not a lot. We got home and I removed all their harnesses and they all ran into the mud room for their usual treat. Suddenly her back legs collapsed and she seems confused and dazed with rapid breathing and not responding well. We rush her to the vet and she stopped breathing in route. They managed to resuscitate her but then she stopped breathing and they were unable to get her back. Could damage from previous heart worms cause an undetected cardio pulmonary issue or does this sound more like a neurological event. I did not get a Post Mortem as I was in such shock and completely devastated. She had been fine and I just keep wracking my brain for answers. The vet feels it was cardio pulmonary but the chain of events just seemed more neurological?

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Wendy,
      I would not think that the heartworm treatment would cause a problem six years later, though one cannot be sure, of course.
      The collapse and abnormal mental state could certainly be neurological, but a cardio-pulmonary event would likely cause poor circulation to the brain, so you could see the outward signs with either cause.
      While not common, dogs can have strokes, and even myocardial infarctions (“heart attacks”).
      I wish that I could give you a definitive answer. I can only say that it sounds like everything possible was done to save her, but it just wasn’t going to happen.

      • Wendy MacGregor says:

        Thank you so much. I keep blaming myself for taking her on a walk like we do daily with all 3 of them. She didn’t appear to have any issues on the stroll except one small episode of diarrhea. She did also vomit before deteriorating after the initial collapse. I know it seems quite common to blame oneself, from reading all the other posts it has helped me feel that I am not alone in this devastating feeling and guilt when a sudden death occurs.
        Again thank you for your compassion and help.

        • Wendy says:

          Oh I forgot to mention they were able to get a CXR as they brought her back momentarily and they did say there appeared to be fluid around her heart, we were trying to get her stable to transfer to an ER vet with an available cardiologist but it wasn’t meant to be. I just hate to think she over exerted herself on the walk and I didn’t notice as she was just walking like usual with the other corgis with no signs of a problem. This has been unimaginably hard to cope with.

          • Doc says:

            Hello, Wendy,

            If there was a buildup of fluid around her heart, that can make it very difficult for the heart to function. It would be sort of like trying to breath with somebody sitting on your chest. Some of these things just don’t give you much warning sometimes.

  545. Gloria says:

    Hi Doc. I really need some insight as my family is struggling with the sudden death of our beautiful baby boy. He was not just our pet but a child to us. He was only 2.5 years old way too young. A beautiful choclate label male that we waited so long for and wanted all our lives. It feel like we are loving in a night mate. I just dont understand he was happy, spoiled, and seemed to be in good health. He was at the vet a week prior and had blood chem done and came back good besides the eos was off a bit, vet said that was inflammation. I just dont understand how he could from playing with my daughter one day to gone the next morning. I’m severely struggling with this. Like I said he was way too young. I had noticed little occasions where it seemed he would get week he would go out in the snow and just lay there and his head would fall against the snowbank but he would always come when I called. On the morning of january 20th I let him out to do his business like I do everyday. Everything seemed fine until he came in. He went to his bed and laid down but before I knew it his legs were up in the air kicking and he was gone. I yelled hysterically for my fiance he tried to blow in his nose but he was fine. It happened so fast. We are at an extreme loss. I just need to know what may have happened. He came from a reputable breeder in which I contacted and she had no clue what could have happened as his parents and all the dogs were healthy. Please help me

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Gloria,

      I wish that I could give you more insight here. The only thing I can think of is the possibility of a cardiomyopathy. These heart muscle defects can be asymptomatic for a long time, then just suddenly “go”. We had a young man playing high school football who just collapsed on the field one day, after seeming perfectly fine.

      When I do a post-mortem on a patient who dies like this, the pathologist wants me to send the entire heart for examination under the microscope. You can’t usually see anything with the naked eye.

      Again, I am sorry for your loss.

      • Gloria says:

        Thank you for your response. Would cardiomyopathy cause sudden death like that, I mean within 30 seconds he was gone. Maybe you can give me some more insight about cardiomyopathy, I’m sorry I’m just struggling so bad to understand this, I fee like such a bad mom.

        • Doc says:

          Hello, Gloria,
          Cardiomyopathy literally means something wrong with the heart muscle. It’s a little bit of a “catch-all” term. I have seen patients who seemed perfectly fine and then just keeled over. There had been a little something wrong with the heart for a long time, but it suddenly disrupted the normal heart function and they were gone. Diagnosis is by examination of the heart muscle tissue under the microscope.

  546. Trisha Cercado says:

    Hi doc! My 5 year old Labrador died 2 days ago suddenly. 3hrs before his death he was active, playful, and barking then an hour after that he was weak. No fever, vomit, etc. but we noticed he had red ants on his chest which was unusual (because he never gets those), that he began licking we think it might be a wound there but we noticed no bleeding. He became weak and lie down the whole time, breathing heavily through his nose while mouth was shut. We thought it was a heat shock so we applied ice pack on him. He got up & suddenly started walking after a few mins. We thought he recovered but suddenly he lie down again until his breathing stopped. White liquid came out of his nose and mouth after that. I wanted to know what might be the cause of his death? Why was it so sudden without any symptoms days and hours before?

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Trisha,

      I wish that I had a good answer for you. That combination of clinical signs doesn’t suggest a particular disease to me. I don’t know if there is anything specific to your area. In cases like these, I always wish that we could have had a post-mortem examination done, but I realize that isn’t always possible. A local veterinarian in your area might be able to give you more insight.
      I am sorry for your loss.

  547. Sally says:

    Year in a half dog Very healthy goes out to go to the bathroom very playful jumps a couple times sneezes a weird sneeze and then falls over dead do you have any explanation

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Sally,

      These cases are so heart-breaking and frustrating. The only thing that comes to mind is a congenital cardiomyopathy. I have seen a few dogs that died very suddenly at a young age like this, and when the pathologist looked at their heart under the microscope, he could see evidence of muscle defects that had apparently been there since birth. The heart defect was like a “time bomb” and one day that little bit of extra stress caused it to fail.

      This cannot be diagnosed without having the entire heart examined by a pathologist at post-mortem.

      There usually is no warning sign before it happens.

  548. may says:

    Hi Doc, i had a 7 1/2 year old pom she was healthy and doing normal love to eat and play. last year had her check up the vet said she had a small heart murmur she told us to keep an eye count her heart bit other then that she was healthy. starting from around march she had more often to sneezing , coughing and breathing heavy most at night time. on the 11 April we walking with her in our garden she run up to a short hill and suddenly stop standing don’t wanted to move , so i feeling something wrong i pick her up in to the house, she standing on the couch couple minute later she back to normal. we bought her to the vet next day think she may need to on heart medicine . she hate ride she got so stress up in the car , when we get in to the vet they toke over 5 minute to listening to her heart then she suddenly like had a episode fall down and pee out, my husband said she was die for couple second and then i said cookies she rolling her eyes. they bought her to the other room gave her oxygen then came out told us to run her to the ER, so when we get there they toke her and we have to waiting at the parking lot. They called us said her lung and heart filled of fluid and like edema came out from her nose, they said she have CHF, they said she need to be in the oxygen tant for two days and then we can bring her home with some heart medicine they will refer her to specialist but the specialist won’t take any patient right now cause the pandemic, we ask how long she can live and is she will lose her body function they said she may can’t walk easy and she may live couple weeks or a year. so with all the unknown and no specialist to see her and we don’t want her to suffer for us, so we fighting to make a hard decision to put her down. something bothering me is when they toke her to us to say good bye she can sit like normal and gave us her last kissing, why she can sit ??? I feel like i die with her it hurt so much, she was so young and healthy. Doctor my question is how much chance she had ? how long she can live ? Do we make a wrong decision for her??? I can’t stop to blame myself i can’t bring her home, i am broken please doc help. I know is done but i really wanted to know the answer, she was our first dog and she was the baby we couldn’t have it. we bought her ashes home and i talk to her every day. thanks doc. (ps: she had her check up every year)

    • Doc says:

      Hello, May,

      When patients have congestive heart failure and their lungs are accumulating fluid, they often take a sitting position to take stress off the lungs. It is easier for them to breathe in a sitting position than it is lying down. This makes it very hard for them to rest.

      Some dogs with congestive heart failure respond well to medications that help get rid of fluid and push the heart to work more efficiently. Othres just don’t have enough heart function left to keep going, even with the medications.

      I am sorry for your loss, but I feel sure that your doctors would have encouraged you to work with her longer if they thought that they could help her.

      • May says:

        Doc. thankyou so much to take your busy time to answer me and the other questions here, i know all the Doctors will be very busy in this pandemic situation but you still do care and take your time for all the people here, i am sure you have a very good heart. I wish our vet told us a small murmur could turn into life and dead situation, i wish we know more. We still trying to move on is just hard. Anyway thankyou again and wish you have a nice weekend with your family’s and love one, wish all the best to you . ( PS: i wish we have you in my area )

      • May says:

        Hi doctor, I just realize we started to give her Nexgard flea and tick in the end of July 2020 then they found her has low level heart murmur ,Nexgard is new to her she only has Heartgard for over 6 years have no side effects, so my question is does Nexgard cause her to have congestive heart failure ??? And is Heartgard bad for dogs too? We have a new 11month old Pomeranian girl now she just started Heartgard couple days ago , I found a lot reviews for Nexgard killed dogs case, I really don’t wanted to take the chance. It have been almost a year coco passed away i still can’t let it go and tried to find out what really happen. I called our vet tried to get the x ray copy they said they only do x ray view they don’t keep image too long. for what i know in our state law x ray have to keep 4 years record. For my case we from our vet send us to the er and we didn’t get a chance to talk to our vet at the er and the er doctor don’t talk to us face to face. And guess what i found out the er have a lot complain about there service only wanted to take moneys from you and they don’t really care about the animals. Doctor anyway i can report to the government to investigation that er ( Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital 141 Greenfield Rd, South Deerfield, MA 01373 ) they need to be shut down. I am not just talk about my case i means other owners case they treat with inhuman . Doctor thank you for reading this and i wish all the best to you and your familys stay safe.

        • Doc says:

          Hello, May,
          Heartgard is considered to be the safest of the heartworm preventives, even for dogs that already have heartworms.

          The class of drugs that includes Nexgard has been very safe. If dogs already have a seizure disorder, these drugs may make the seizures worse.

          I do not worry when I prescribe either of these two medicines.

          If you feel that a veterinarian has not given satisfactory service, you can file a complaint with the state examining board for veterinarians.

          They take all complaints seriously.

  549. Margaret says:

    Well I just came back from the dog park. My Westie was playing catch, hide and seek with a larger dog. They were having a great time and the large dog rounded the corner, its leg gave out, it went down had a seizure and died within 30 seconds. I’m a human EMT and I could feel the heart quivering as if in V-Tach and the dog started foaming at the mouth. Talk about feeling helpless. If were a human, I could have started CPR, but I know nothing about what to do with a dog. One thing I thought of was whether the dog had been infected with heart worms which can cause a fatal arrhythmia. So perhaps dogs don’t have AMI’s like humans, but watching a dog running and suddenly drop dead leaves one wondering.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Margaret,

      It’s possible for them to have an infarction, it’s just not common. But for whatever reason, you should know that in dogs, CPR is rarely successful in circumstances other than anesthetic complications. I know you felt helpless, but you don’t need to feel like you failed your friend.

  550. Alex says:

    Hi! I know you won’t have an answer for me but I just need to ask. I had a healthy German shepherd of one year. She died last Friday unexpectedly and suddenly with no previous health problems. She was acting normal all day and sometime around midnight she was calmer than usual. She kept asking to go in and out of the house. One time we let her in and she went straight to the back room .. I called her out and she went to her kennel. I thought it was odd so I checked the back rooms and outside. We saw that she had thrown up outside. She started acting sick, lethargic, sad. We pet her and hoped she would feel better in the morning. There was no seizure, blood, fainting, falling over, nothing but what seemed like an upset stomach… she was still walking over to get pet, everything was normal except sudden lethargy and some vomit. In the morning she was dead on our couch. Seemed to have been sleeping. She wasn’t hidden away or in a weird position. Just in a normal spot and position but with her eyes open and some leaked urine and leaked vomit and blood from her mouth. I have thought of poison, a blockage, a heart problem, a stomach rupture, spleen rupture, anything and everything but I don’t know why I didn’t have more symptoms or time to save her or realize it was an emergency and not a regular upset stomach. We were devastated to find her dead, screaming with grief, and we buried her immediately in the middle of a local storm where we couldn’t even drive safely. I wish I had gotten a necropsy but I didn’t. Is there anything you can tell me? Could I have saved her if I took her to the vet after the vomiting? Why did this happen?

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Alex,
      I wish that I could give you some closure. Splenic rupture just bleeds internally into the abdomen. The patient just gets weaker and finally goes into shock and becomes unconscious. Dogs with bloating stomachs cannot vomit. The common toxins cause central nervous system signs (twitching, drooling, convulsions), or free bleeding, or kidney failure (slow deterioration over days).

      Sometimes a congenital heart problem gives no warning signs, just goes off like a time bomb one day. That usually results in sudden death.

      I’m sorry that I cannot give you an answer. I am sorry for your loss.

  551. Gina says:

    My dog teddy a Yorker died 2 days ago he came in from outside had blood in his urine then laid on floor started breathing heavy he had water I called my vet he could not see me they gave me an emergency number to call so I did I immediately left but my dog of ten years died in the car . I am beside my self an hour ago he was fine and now he is gone we did not do the autopsy to find out why because he was already gone and it wasn’t going to bring him back I was thinking maybe a heart attack

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Gina,
      While dogs don’t often have the kind of heart attacks that people have (they don’t get the cholesterol buildup in their arteries), they can certainly have heart disease. Blood in the urine can either be bleeding in the kidneys or bladder, or it can be hemoglobin in the urine (not actually blood, but the red stuff that makes it red). This happens when there is hemolysis – something damaging the red blood cells so that they pop. This can be bad infections, but can also be immune-mediated – the body’s own defenses going haywire and attacking parts of the body. You can have heavy breathing when the blood cells get low, causing the body to feel oxygen-starved, then the breathe heavily, trying to get oxygen.

      I wish that I could tell you what happened. I am sorry for your loss.

  552. Georgia P says:

    Hi there,
    My just recently 3 year old pure bread Rottweiler was next door yesterday chasing/playing with the cows (as he does often). We seen out the window he was running and the cow also (he always keeps his distance) my partner yelled out to him to come back to our property we seen he noticed us calling so we walked away from the window and waited at the door for him to come.. He didn’t come and then we hear this howl.. a howl we had never heard him do before it was more of a worried cry and suddenly stopped we look out the window and he is laying limp in the paddock. My partner runs out and jumps the fence our boy is limp his eyes staring straight his jaw locked shut we thought he was dead.. My partners father started compressions and my partner tried to unlock his jaw to give him a breath. After what felt like forever (maybe 3 minutes) his jaw opened and my partner breathed in, as he did he licked my partner and came to. He layed there for a minute and then got to his feet, we brought him inside he seemed himself almost immediately he drank some water, layed and got pats. He has been okay since.. do you have any idea of what this may have been?
    Last week he seemed to have problems with is back legs he would wince/cry when he would step up into the house or onto the bed, but that only lasted a couple days. The pet shop suggested we give him these kangaroo chews for arthritis.. he has been having them for a week now.
    He is otherwise a very healthy dog, runs around daily on property, always sleeps with us inside eats the higher end of dog foods. Also enjoys his bones and treats that are also free of all the bad stuff..
    We were devastated and have been worried sick since…

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Georgia,
      If the cow didn’t kick him in the head, then I would be suspicious of a seizure. Most dogs with seizures seem perfectly fine between episodes, so it’s hard to evaluate the problem. Blood tests can rule out things like liver trouble or blood sugar problems, but even with very sophisticated diagnostics (MRI, EEG, cerebro-spinal fluid analysis) we often don’t see anything except while the dog is having an episode. If this were my dog, I would take him in for a checkup and get a blood chemistry profile done to check for any abnormalities.

      • Georgia says:

        It happened again 3 days ago now. He chased the car down the drive way then fell to the ground and was really puffed although he got up and came back to the house, his heart was racing extremely fast. We rang the vet and told them what had happened and they said to bring him in Thursday (tomorrow). Yesterday he seemed as though he was a bit bloated so we got really worried and called an emergency vet they said bring him in for an assessment. My partner took him in and he said it was a horrible experience for our Rottweiler Boujee. He told them his symptoms and they laughed at the suggestion of a heart issue as we know its common in his breed. In the examination room one nurse come checked his temp listened to his heart then had to leave suddenly for an emergency.. Another nurse came in and tried to continue the examination by this time Boujee was frantic thinking he has to go through that all again (temp up the bum would set any dog off) so she suggested she give him a needle that would “calm him down” so she could continue and my partner asked like what will happen she said he will just relax he won’t go to sleep at all as my partner was worried about that with his state. The nurse said his heart sounded fine, she checked his stomach and said it just looked like food but then said oh maybe thats a bit of fluid, my partner starts to worry at this point as we know that isn’t good and he asked like what is that and then Boujee just passed out, my partner started freaking out asking why this happens you said there was no chance and she said well its kind of good now he’s asleep we can get him into surgery for his stomach and my partner said what? surgery? is his stomach what is causing all of this and they said they don’t know but it will be $2000 to go any further and he asked but what if there is something else wrong with him they said after the stomach you will need to pay another $2000 to go any further.. (we do not have that kind of money on hand). We were devastated as all they have told us so far for $400 is that he seems fine and he might have fluid but it could just be food in his stomach?? but what about the fainting?? the elevated heart rate?? the cough?? he only got bloated yesterday why not do a bloods like you are suggesting.
        He has been out of it since 12am last night until 5pm this afternoon he still doesn’t quite seem himself by any means but is walking faster and less tired from this “relaxant”
        ( I only read this today ) I will be asking the vet tomorrow to do a blood chemistry and will do some research on it tonight so I know what I’m asking for.

        – I myself thought of seizures immediately as I’ve worked with people with disabilities, a fair few months back now a couple times in the night he would wake up in our room and bark at the roof out of nowhere but I don’t know if that was maybe a shadow or a type of seizure he would do really strange things after it also.

        • Doc says:

          Hello, Georgia,
          Holy mackerel! What a story!
          It is uncommon for a patient to become so profoundly sedated for so long with a dose of tranquilizer, but it happens.
          Fluid on the stomach isn’t the typical sign of bloating (gastric dilatation +/- torsion), where the stomach blows up with gas. There is certainly a fluid component, but the gas is the more obvious thing. Those dogs can’t get gas or fluid out of the esophagus or the pylorus, so the stomach just gets bigger and bigger.
          The bloodwork may (or unfortunately, may not) show problems with liver or kidney that would slow his ability to get rid of the drug.

          Heart problems that could cause episodes like this are “episodic”. Electrocardiograms are often normal when the patient isn’t having an episode, but it would certainly be worth checking. If it is normal, there are devices called “event monitors” that can be rented. The dog wears it all the time, and it records all the time, but it doesn’t save it until you push the button. Then it saves the previous minute or so, and the next few minutes.

          This would certainly be an unusual type of seizure, and I think that looking at the bloodwork and ECG would be the place I would start.

          • Georgia says:

            Thank you for replying your words have definitely helped with our worried brains.
            We took him to the appointment where he has been several times, the emergency vet contacted them (our normal vet) and said that they can’t do a consult with Boujee unless he is sedated. So they refused to even do anything until we agreed to sedation, and after what had happened the day before and the worry with his heart we clearly didn’t want him sedated again!
            Although they refused to do anything they were helpful in giving us a number for a place called SASH in Tuggerah NSW (Australia where we live) to get a check done with his heart its the only place that can do this type of procedure.. We called and infact the only place that can do it is in Ryde NSW which is over an hour away from where we live and also costs minimum 800 and then on top of that the cost of the procedure which is to be determined on his weight and sedation.
            We are again left with no answers and only answers if we pay a lot of money which we would do in a heart beat if we have it.. so at this stage we are limiting him going outdoors and trying to keep his heart rate down at all times until we can get some money together to get his heart checked.

  553. Tiffany says:

    We just lost our 10year old pit bull tonight. He was perfectly fine all day, his normal self. Around 8 15 pm, he was asleep on the couch next to me and then he started howling a very distinct pain howl for about 5 seconds and then dropped his head down and stopped breathing. I called out to him and my son sorta shook him because we couldn’t see him taking any breaths and then be took a deep gasp for air, stopped breathing again, and took one last gasp and then he was gone. Before his gasping for air, his eyes were open and just distant. What could have caused this very sudden death?

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Tiffany,
      I wish that I had a good answer for that. It could have been anything from a stroke to heart failure. I am sorry for your loss.

  554. Brielle says:

    Hello,

    My 14 yr old Pomeranian
    Just passed away the other day,
    She seemed pretty healthy for her age
    And showed no signs of illness
    Until the moment before her death
    When she was vomiting a couple times then when I lay her down on the bed she took a few breaths and stretched out then all of a sudden she was gone didn’t even make a sound. It was the strangest thing, her eyes were still open and her tongue was out it was horrible to see her like that.
    My dad was so close with her and picked her up after she passed and was crying and I literally had to pry her from his arms so I could bury her it was so sad.
    I can tell you that I’ve dealt with so much animal death In my life you just never get used to it 🙁
    I’m not sure what happened to her but I have comfort in knowing she didn’t die alone and was surrounded by so much love.

  555. Marce says:

    Hi my little baby just passed away two days ago , it was so fast, on Sunday she was okay, Monday morning I woke up hearing like a thumb in the floor, I woke up to just found my 15 1/2 years old yorkie laying on the floor with her paws wide open laying flat on the floor, she looked scared, grasping for air and breathing fast. Monday afternoon I noticed that thing again, she was sleeping than waking up starting to walk, doing two steps and then she froze and her legs were collapsing on the floor , I grabbed her and sit her on her bed but realized that she could not hold her head, she dropped her head like wiggle on her left side and she stood like that for a couple of minutes breathing fast and hardens and after that she was just getting up and walking. I got so scared that Tuesday morning took her to the doctor. She was so excited to be there like all the times she was going to the doctor unlike other dogs she was and looked so happy, she was not looking at all as a sick dog, I explained the doctor what happened and he suggested x-rays and blood work, from the x-rays the heart looked a little enlarged and the trachea was really collapsed. But there at the doctor’s office she seemed so well. We left home with doxycycline and vetmedin, at home was okay but each time after she was getting up after sitting or sleeping, she was collapsing and her breathing changed to be kind of fad and hard. Wednesday the doctor called with the blood results and he said that the liver is slightly enlarged as well this might be because she was not breathing very well because of her trachea, and what he suggested was to try put her on cerenia and temaril p hopefully will help her with the trachea but it might have a bad reaction to the heart. I had no option I just wanted her to be better and now I feel so guilty because I think that if I might not give her the steroid she might still be with me , I don’t know. So Wednesday afternoon after talking to the doctor my husband went and got the meds so I gave her cerenia at 8:30pm without any food , after that at 10:00 pm I gave her Temaril p , she was okay only that she was breathing kind of fast and hard, at 12:00am I gave her food and the other two meds: doxycycline and the vetmedin. I didn’t sleep that night, I was checking her each moment, around 3:30 she was in her bed and I heard some strange sounds she made, I went to check on her again and she did the same sound and she was laying in her belly breathing really hard and fast , but she was laying strange in her bed , with the head towards the back of the bed and with her back in the entrance of her bed. I picked her up and I could feel her heart in my hand pumping so fast , she was breathing really fast with her tongue out and she was really wobbly her head was hanging if I would not support it. I lay her down on her flat bed and she was breathing so fast and could not move her eyes were so scared and they were moving left to right very very fast and breathing really hard and fast, she pooped a little in all that situation. I went grabbed the poop to throw it twice while I was talking to her trying to calm her down but in the fraction of a second I was just talking to her and when I looked at her she was not breathing anymore she just stopped. I completely freaked out, my baby was gone and I still don’t figure it out. I feel so guilty, now I think that she suffered so much and it was my fault in giving her the steroid, I am thinking that that might have made her heart stopped. I am so so broken, I feel so so sad , my heart is completely broken I just find myself guilty in all this ????

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Marce,
      I had some bugs in my comments, so just now seeing this. There is not enough steroid in the Temaril-P to “push the kid over the edge”, so don’t beat yourself up about that. With the weak, collapsing trachea, it is very easy to get into severe respiratory distress. With an elderly dog like this, it’s just too much sometimes. But it’s not your fault. I am sorry for your loss.

  556. Kelsey says:

    I lost my 13-15-year-old terrier mix (rescue do not know his exact age or breed, looked like a rat terrier) this past Tuesday 11/02/2021.

    On March 11, 2021, 8 months ago, I took him to the vet after he started sporadically coughing. At the time, I was already concerned he might have heart disease and fluid in the lungs because of what I had read online. However, he was still very active, his gums were nice and pink, and had a good appetite. The vet found a heart murmur on his initial exam but said his blood pressure was really good. He went ahead and did x-rays and bloodwork. The bloodwork came back normal, however, his x-rays showed an enlarged heart. The vet said it wasn’t that bad and there was no evidence of fluid in his lungs. He did, however, say we should start him on Vetmedin 1.25mg twice a day to help his heart function normally. Unfortunately, at the time there was a vetmedin shortage, so it took over a month and a half to get him on the medicine. After we started the medicine there was no noticeable improvement with his cough, some days he would rarely cough, and other days he coughed more frequently. However there were no additional symptoms, he didn’t have labored breathing or any other symptom. He’d run around and play outside and still had an appetite. He was always a finicky eater so he would sometimes refuse to eat something if he had been eating it frequently. So I would switch up the Freshpet flavors.

    Fast-word four months and I took him back to the same vet but during his weekend clinic. Mostly for his shots, but wanted him to listen to his cough as it was not getting any better. The vet listened to a video of him coughing and then listened to his heart and said the cough sounded like it wasn’t directly caused by his heart disease rather it was because his heart was pushing up against his trachea. He said if it got any worst we could start a steroid to reduce some of the inflammation.

    At the end of October, his cough was getting more persistent. Then on 11/01/2021, I noticed when he was resting his breathing would cause his ribcage to expand more than normal but it was very infrequent, then it would go back to normal. This wasn’t that frequently just occasional. I knew he needed to go back to the vet but I didn’t think it was an emergency. He was still going outside running around after squirrels and lizards etc. Even right before bed, he went out one last time and was running around so I thought he’s okay. We went to bed, then around 7 am I heard a horrible yell/cry. I was half asleep so at first, I thought he was having a nightmare, so I padded him gently saying to go back to bed. However, I instantly heard him defecating on himself and at that moment I knew something was wrong. I jumped up and turned the light on. He was lying in the bed on his side like he always does. However, he was breathing with his mouth open and tongue hanging out, with no control. His tongue was just laying to the side. His eyes were wide open, dilated, he wasn’t blinking and staring straight ahead. His breathing was rapid. He is known to have panic attacks before and the breathing was similar to this but this time he was completely incoherent, not moving his body and staring straight ahead. I rushed him to the emergency vet. It probably took all of 10 minutes to get there. While we were driving he moved slightly but was still incoherent his tongue wasn’t moving but he was still breathing, but his breathing was getting slower and his eyes were starting to get smaller. They took him back and asked if I wanted them to start CPR. I said yes! The vet came in 5 minutes later and said, “charlie isn’t doing well, his heart rate is extremely low, we haven’t started CPR yet because he has not passed yet. Even if we do CPR there is only a 5% chance that he would survive. I don’t recommend that we do CPR, the best thing we could do is let him go through euthanasia .” I was in shock. I just cried and said is that what you would do for your dog? And she said “yes, I wouldn’t revive him.” I asked if CPR would hurt him, and she said, “yes it would physically hurt him and break the ribs.” So I just said okay, then they asked if I wanted to be present. And I said yes, so they brought him back in. He was still breathing but really slowly his mouth was open and his tongue was hanging down, his eyes were open but small and he was still incoherent. They injected him and he was gone within seconds. The vet asked me about his history and said he most likely died from heart failure or a heart attack.

    I feel so guilty, I should have taken him back to the vet, from what I read he should have been on multiple medicines, not just vetmedin. How could he go so fast? His quality of life was still good, he was still running around.

    I went back to his regular vet and told him what happened and he said it sounded like he went into shock, most likely from a build-up of fluid around the heart and that the fluid could have accumulated pretty fast.

    I asked him what I did wrong, what could I have done. He said I could have brought him in for additional X-rays and if fluid was present he could have started on diuretics.

    I feel so guilty. I just thought he was okay, I knew he was old and had a heart condition, but I thought he had years. He never fainted he was never lethargic he wasn’t bloated from water, he wasn’t in pain.

    Would the diuretics have saved his life? Do you have any thoughts on what caused his death? Would this be considered sudden? should I have tried CPR? I don’t know what to do.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Kelsey,
      Certainly, more regular recheck examinations had the possibility to help monitor and manage the condition, but no guarantee that it would have prolonged the dog’s life. CPR does have a low success rate, except in cases where there is some acute insult like anesthetic being overdosed or the dog choking on something. I’m not sure that CPR would have broken his ribs, but it was unlikely to revive him. I am sorry for your loss, but it sounds to me like you did the best for him that you could.

  557. Isa says:

    My baby Dane past away yesterday , he had an infection on his left paw and he wasn’t using his right leg. Took him to the vet he was taking medication for about 4 days and then his right leg was swollen , took him to the vet and gave me the right mg of medication as the other vet gave me a very low dosis he was taking this medication for about 3 days and improving swollen was going away abs he was using his leg a little , we woke up , he tried to get on my bed but I then got up abs he followed me , I have them eggs for breakfast as he was on a bland diet and 3 hrs later he threw up , le was laying down the rest of the day . later that evening around 5 he started to breath very heavy and he didn’t want to get up at all,I felt like he was exhausted and was going to give up. not long after he passed away. I have a ton of questions as of what happens and is killing me my baby was not even a year old. And before this past 2 weeks he was healthy running and jumping around ????

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Isa,
      I wish that I had an answer for you. The only thing I can think of is that the infection might have gone to his bloodstream and caused damage to blood vessels or heart valves. Even with a complete post-mortem exam, we often have difficulty sorting these out. I am sorry for your loss.

      • Isa says:

        They did blood test when I took him to the vet on Wednesday, they said everything was normal but wanted to keep him to put the antibiotics thru an IV , for fast results and to take the liquid example from his joints to see if the infection had gone to his bones , like I mention they said his blood results came back normal, I am just in so much pain and blame my self for my baby dying so early he was not even a year., how I didn’t I notice the infection sooner before hi stated limping and not using his leg, maybe if I had he will still be here . Why did it go from him and his leg getting better to him having a hard time breathing and passing. I just miss him so much.

      • Isa says:

        Thank you Doc , I didn’t leave him at the vet as they only wanted to do the get the antibiotics through an IV just to get fastest results to do the bone test, I took him home and gave antibiotics at home and his leg was getting better and infection appeared to be going away. Blood test was normal when I took him to the vet on Wednesday. Maybe if I had left him at the vet, or maybe if I notice his infection sooner, I wish he was here with me. I love him so much

  558. Lucy says:

    Hi Doc, I am sorry to hear about the passing of so many loved pets. I am still devastated/angry/confused about the passing of the spaniel almost two weeks ago but it’s brought me some unusual peace in a way after reading some similarities in the stories above.

    I believe my spaniel Rou must have had an aneurysm. Super fit and healthy. One week away from her 4th birthday. Up to date with jabs etc. fed well. Walked off lead, lots of free roam fields to run in her whole life.
    On Sunday morning, set off at 7:30am with my bf for a big walk over the fell off lead. He put her on the leading walking back down the hill a few hundred metres (on a road) until safe again. Off lead she pottered away sniffing, then suddenly her body jolted her in the air and she landed on her side. Her legs kicked and my bf ran to her knowing something was wrong. He could see she was dying, then she was gone.

    The following morning we buried her in our field. When we went to move her body bright red blood came out of her nose and mouth.
    Is this an explanation to what might have happened ?
    At the time we didn’t want to cut her open. I feel I want answers for peace but I can see many do not get them and it’s just somthing the very few unlucky dog owners have to deal with. I am so heart broken.

    • Lucy says:

      …. Three days prior to her death on the Thursday before, out on a low-key walk, she was running around sniffing at the bottom of a fell, totally flat nothing intense, we noticed she had a tiny nose bleed. The blood only came out of one nostril and it didn’t even drip below her nose it was such a small amount of blood. Stupidly we didn’t think anything of it. Now, my heart races at the fact that could have been a possible give away to some bleed that was about to happen?
      At First because of the jolting action and instant death I thought heart attack. But the blood from the nose and mouth after death always confused me. Now after reading your website I think she must have had an internal bleed? But it still doesn’t match the super quick collapse and death…. Or does it? Thank you so much for your time and dedication !

      • Doc says:

        Hello, Lucy,
        I can imagine how devastating this experience has been. It is possible that your dog had acquired a bleeding disorder if there had been exposure to rodent poisons that make the animal a free bleeder. Certainly a ruptured aneurysm could explain what happened. Fortunately those are rare, and almost never diagnosed before they burst (at least in pets). The nose-bleed could have been completely unrelated. I cannot imagine anyone rushing in for a complete diagnostic work-up after seeing one drop of blood on the nose.

        I wish I could tell you more. I am sorry for your loss.

  559. Kara Thompson says:

    Doc,
    I know it’s hard to tell without an autopsy, but I’m hoping you can provide us with some type of insight:

    My lab/hound mix was 5 years old. Happy healthy guy.

    About three weeks ago, he had a weird cough for about a week. It went away, so we didn’t think anything of it. Around that time, we noticed he was being picky with his food (very unusual for him). He also had a bad day where he spent throwing up all day. He sometimes chewed things around the house, so we thought maybe that could’ve been why. We checked his poop, and noticed he had passed what he chewed up.

    About a week after, we brought him into the vet for an anal gland infection. Vet prescribed him amoxicillin which made him sick, lethargic and nauseous, so we took him off of it.
    He continued to be lethargic and have no appetite. He also was regurgitating food and water occasionally.

    We brought him back to the vet where he attributed it to bad allergies, into an anal gland infection which kind of had a domino affect on his food and bowels. Vet gave him a steroid shot and put him in metronidazole. The anal gland issue cleared.

    He continued to have no appetite through the course of the prescription, which our vet said is not unusual as metronidazole can have those affects.

    Saturday morning, we noticed weakness in his legs. He had trouble getting up and moving. He was still mobile to go potty and move around the house, but it was limited and he had trouble lifting himself. We took him off the metronidazole in fear that it was causing some sort of toxicity.

    Saturday night, he had a small seizure that lasted less than a minute.

    The weakness in the legs and overall lethargy lasted two more days until Monday afternoon. When I got home from work, I greeted him at his bed, he gave me a little tail wag, tried to get up, then immediately fell over, let out a howl, his eyes glazed over and he stopped breathing all in under two minutes. No foaming or blood.

    Do you have any logical explanations? Could it have been the metronidazole? Could something have been blocked from when he chewed three weeks ago?

    • Kara Thompson says:

      Also to add, when he fell over and passed, his breathing stopped before his heart. His tongue turned a purple/blue.
      He lost some weight in those few weeks, but he also wasn’t eating very much. Poops had been normal the entire time. All of this was over the course of about three weeks.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Kara,
      We have occasionally seen neurotoxicity from metronidazole, but it has taken the form of temporary incoordination, and resolved quickly after stopping the meds.
      It certainly doesn’t sound typical for an intestinal blockage. Usually they just quit eating. Often they don’t even vomit.
      I’m sorry I can only speculate, but it sounds like possibly central nervous system problems, like a brain tumor or intra-cranial hemorrhage.
      I am sorry for your loss.

  560. Vicki says:

    Hi, I’m struggling to have closure from the results of the post mortem following my 5 year old Staffordshire Bull Terriers death. He was super fit, 17.5kg, vaccines up to date and raw fed with pre made 80/10/10 dinners.

    He gave us no signs he was very unwell until the Monday morning he passed. He was completely well within himself on Saturday and out playing with the kids in the snow. On Sunday he started struggling to pass faeces (we know for sure that the last time he passed faeces normally was the Friday) and not quite himself so we gave him canned dog food we bought directly from the vet specifically for when dogs have an upset stomach. Overnight he was sick quite a lot, it looked gooey but mostly brown like the canned food he ate the previous day but very foul smelling. He was sick a few more times on the Monday morning. We cleaned him up and by mid morning it seemed like the sickness had stopped so we thought he was over the worst of it. When this happened in the past he would be given a bland cooked diet and taken to the vet if he didn’t improve. He did have a number of gastric episodes in his short life, one of which was found to be caused by salmonella 3 years ago so from that point we avoided any poultry that could lead to this again.

    After the sickness subsided mid morning he managed to sleep and then at 1pm he took himself to another room in the house. A few minutes later my husband went to see if he was ok and found him collapsed dead in the position he would have been as he was walking onto our sons bean bag but only half made it on. His eyes were open, mouth open a little and tongue only slightly hanging out to the side he fell on.

    From the physical aspect of the post mortem a lot of haemorrhagic material and undigested food was found within his intestines and stomach and a faecolith was found near his colon so it was suggested that he had a blockage and secondary sepsis. The vet hasn’t come across a case where a blockage led to sudden death so quickly so felt it important tissue was taken and examined.

    Only other information that may be relevant is that during the last gastric episode he had (October last year) the vets were beginning to consider pancreatitis as blood markers were elevated but after faecal testing concluded that HGE was caused by a virus from being out and about and if any future attacks occurred perhaps more evidence of pancreatitis would be seen. Lastly, a heart murmur was picked up last summer and he was scanned by a cardiologist who diagnosed mitral regurgitation and early signs of degeneration of the mitral valve but as he showed no symptoms of this during normal activity it was only to be monitored over time

    Samples of his intestines, stomach and faecolith were sent off for investigation. I think being raw fed they were expecting to find a parasite/evidence of a bacterial infection from his food. The results were negative for salmonella and clostridium difficile. They didn’t find any evidence of a bacteria. There was a positive result for clostridium perfringens which the vet said would be expected as part of his normal gut bacteria. The report comments that necrosis had taken place in 3 out of the 5 sections of his intestines examined.

    In the concluding section of the post mortem report, it makes no mention of the role of the faecolith (the vet said due to the time frame in which he became unwell from the last time we know he passed faeces).

    It reads that ‘the cause of haemorrhagic gastroenteritis in the dog is poorly understood. Some cases maybe associated with a bacterial enterotoxaemia although proving which organism/toxin is responsible is not possible. Some cases have been suggested to reflect an acute hypersensitivity reaction, although proving that is not possible’. (Nothing new had been introduced to his diet so I don’t think he had an allergic reaction)

    When the vet called with the final result she asked where we had been with him as she was aware of a pretty bad stomach bug affecting lots of dogs up to 100 miles away but nothing had been reported in our area but again suspects it’s just been one of those viruses picked up from another dog when out and about, a virus similar to parvovirus (his vaccine was up to date) but no matter how much testing was carried out we may never know exactly what virus was responsible.

    I still can’t get my head around how quickly he went from being his usual bundle of energy to unwell and then how quickly it took him. I’m beating myself up that he died because he had an obstruction which led to the sickness and we could have saved him if he brought him to the vets because they would have given him fluid therapy and IV antibiotics. I honestly feel responsible for his untimely death.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Vicki,
      Quit beating yourself up. When sepsis occurs, things happen in a hurry. Even with aggressive supportive care you can have a cardiovascular collapse. It would be nice if there were a clear-cut chain of events and you could pick out the tipping point, but sometimes there just isn’t.

  561. Vicki says:

    Thank you for your reply.

    Would sepsis be caused by the faecolith or by a virus?

    Would the necrosis seen in his intestine be caused by a virus too?

    It was only 72hrs max from his last known normal bowel movement to death. Would it really be unusual to cause death that quickly?

    I miss him terribly.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Vicki,
      I would say that you get bacteria in the bloodstream through dying, infected tissue. The necrosis could be caused by pressure along with infection. Yes, it happens fast.

  562. Kerri says:

    My Great Dane died suddenly, she wasn’t even 2 yet (would turn 2 in July.). She was healthy (as far as I knew) she was outside playing with her ball. She was running then just screamed out/yelped/cried and fell over dead! 30 to 40 mins prior I had given her some Heartworm meds and flea meds (heartguard/nexguard) I’m now blaming those meds! What in the world! It was very traumatic to witness. I feel like it’s my fault for giving her those meds but she’s had them before with no reaction. Did those meds kill her!?? 🙁
    I’m heart broken!

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Kerri,
      So sorry that I’ve gotten behind in my replies. Both of those medications have a wide margin of safety, used separately or together. Don’t blame yourself.

      With a large breed dog like that, I would suspect a cardiomyopathy. These birth defects in the heart muscle have no early warning signs, just sudden death. No way to diagnose ahead of time without ECG and Echocardiogram, and no way to confirm after death without microscopic examination of the entire heart.

  563. Brooke A Weston says:

    Hi Doc,

    My nearly 8 year old Charlotte the bulldog died Sunday. She was very active, took her to the vet in feb and she had a clean bill of health, only issue was her dental and we did blood work to put her under so they could do deep cleaning. Everything was fine, Saturday she ate breakfast and dinner. She was running around the house. We went out for drinks and came home at midnight, went outside and played keep away with Charlotte (it was her favorite game we would stand on opposite sides of the yard throwing her rope and she would run between us to get it). We didn’t even push her as we have in the past, the vet even said it was good for her to be active. When we were done, she had dropped the rope and went to the back and had diarrhea, came in she was moving around a lot and we noticed that. After we fell asleep she left our room and went to the other side of the house, had diarrhea. Came back to our room and laid down, not in her spot which was near my side of the bed where she slept) and when I woke up at 6am, noticed her on the other side of the room sitting up which was odd. She was cool, stiff and her tongue was out and purple. She didn’t exhibit any signs you mentioned for a heart attack. I just don’t understand, she had her balance and. was moving around the house. I am completely devastated and angry and confused. The only thing that comforts me is that she died after playing her favorite game, she literally was smiling ear to ear when we played this game with her. Because she was healthy and active and weight was perfect, I expected to have her for another 2 years. I knew this year was her 8th year and made me nervous but she was so healthy, pillar of health. She was my heart and soul.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Brooke,
      I understand your pain and frustration. This type of sudden death is difficult for us to understand and cope with. Sometimes a post-mortem exam will reveal something like a spleen tumor that has ruptured with internal hemorrhage, or an aneurysm or some other definite cause. Sometimes even with microscopic examination of tissues we cannot be certain of the cause.

      I am sorry for your loss.

      • pam says:

        My beautiful dog Frida was a chihuahua and boston terrirer mix. I rescued her from a shelter when she was about four months old and from that point on, for just over 10 years, she never left my side. She was, as chihuahuas are, very loyal and attached to one person, which was me. And I was to her. I work from home, so she was with me every day, and she slept with me in the bed every night. She was my soulmate.
        She had a cough, almost like a throat clearing maybe once a day for several months prior to her passing. It was not alarming and she would just clear her throat after drinking sometimes. She was never sick and I contributed it to her barking, as she is extremely nervous. I had recently gone away and my sitter said she barked a lot. She has separation anxiety very badly and I feel so guilty I ever went away. The last couple of days of her life she started to belly breathe and coughing more frequently. She was not panting. I took her to the vet and when I entered the exam room and placed her on the table she collapsed. The vet wisked her off, but came back 20 minutes later and said she didn’t make it. It is over two months now, and I still can’t believe it. They did a post x-ray and saw she had a very enlarged heart. I did not have an autopsy. What I think happened is that she had the enlarged heart with no symptoms. Then the minor cough started. This cough wasn’t every day until the last few days of her life, and it was extremely sporatic prior to that. The symptoms rapidly progressed the last two days and it started to affect her breathing. The excitement of going to the vet, I think, caused a cardiac event. I am completely devastated and it is only getting worse. I feel so guilty that I didn’t see the signs. I coddled her and she did not go to the vet for check-ups because she was so scared of everything and I always thought something bad would happen (I previously had a very traumatic experience with vets with another dog). She was very well looked after and pampered and I really focused on her mental state. She seemed so healthy and I of course would take her to the vet if she was lethargic and/or had any symptoms or acting out of sorts. I thought she had irritated her throat from barking. She was otherwise her complete self… running up and down 15 steep steps in my house at least 15-20 times per day… jumping on a fairly high bed at least 20 times a day and following me around, getting treats and being her normal affectionate funny self. Very alert, energetic, and had her spark and zest for life. She never panted, refused food or seemed out of sorts.
        After he sudden collapse they administered oxygen on her and said she was able to intubate w/o anesthesia and she also gave her iv heart drugs. She can only assume she passed due to a clot or stroke. She did a post x-ray and saw she had a very enlarged heart.
        Has anyone ever heard of such a thing. It is surreal to me. She was wagging her tail into the vet, and then she was gone. I can’t get past this and I miss her so so much it is unbearable. Do you think she was in pain? She was so afraid of other people I keep thinking of her being treated by a person she didn’t know and getting a tube down her throat. She was in my arms when she collapsed with a gasp. I am beside myself with guilt and sadness. Any advise or thoughts is greatly appreciated.

        • Doc says:

          Hello, Pam,
          An enlarged heart is almost always a weak, flabby heart that has stretched out of shape. Sometimes it is a heart that has grown abnormally thickened muscle, but that is super rare. Both conditions can lead to sudden heart failure.

          Belly breathing and coughing usually occur because of fluid in the lungs – there is trouble moving air. The fluid builds up because blood that should be getting pumped forward sort of sits there because the heart can’t keep up with demand. The blood vessels seep fluid into the lungs, like a canvas hose seeps water.

          If they intubated her without anesthesia, she had already lost consciousness and wasn’t feeling anything.

          The heart has a lot of reserve capacity when it is normal. In normal activity, it only works at about 50% of what it could do. If running top speed for a long time, it takes 100%. Hunting dogs who are not taking heartworm preventive often show poor endurance as the first sign of heart disease. They can’t run as far as they used to, even though they seem okay otherwise.

          If you only need 50% of heart function to sit there and breathe, you can lose 30% and a house-dog won’t show any signs. Still has 70% and only needs 50%. That doesn’t mean nothing is wrong.

          It is unusual for conditions to deteriorate so rapidly, but we see it. If the stress of the visit was enough to put her over the edge, she was pretty close to the edge. Might have happened chasing a squirrel.

          I am sorry for your loss.

  564. Oliver says:

    Thank you for this space to seek a little solace. Our 11-year-old male Airedale died suddenly at home last week a few hours after my partner and I left to go out of town. The dog sitter said he had a good evening walk, playtime, and dinner, but when the sitter returned three hours later for a bedtime potty break, they found our boy lying in the hallway unresponsive.

    He had been diagnosed a year earlier with degenerative valve disease, including moderate mitral valve regurgitation with murmur, moderate left atrial enlargement, and progressive severe left ventricular enlargement, along with ventricular arrhythmia (singles and rare couplets). He was responding well to heart meds (pimobendan and benazepril) and, other than slowing down and sleeping more, was in relatively good shape. Our vet cardiologist explained that his sudden death was likely cardiac arrest caused by sudden increased arrhythmia, and that it was likely a quick and painless end.

    We are devastated not just by the loss, which would be hard enough, but because we were not home with him at the time and did not get to say a proper goodbye. He had separation anxiety and there was a thunder storm–which he hated–during the time period in which he died. We found claw marks on the closet door near where he died, which suggests that he was in distress and/or was looking for us. Could that kind of anxiety trigger his cardiac arrest, given his underlying condition?

    It’s heartbreaking to think that perhaps if we were there this wouldn’t have happened and/or we could have calmed and eased his final moments. We’re trying to accept his loss, and focus on the 11 wonderful years we were honored with his presence.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Oliver,
      Thank you for sharing your story. I understand your regrets, but we never know when the moment is coming. You can’t spend your life hovering over a hospital bed. You gave your buddy your best and helped him be as comfortable as he could be for as long as possible.

  565. Alison Pekarski says:

    I am amazed at the number of comments on this page. I didn’t realize there were so many sudden deaths occurring with people’s beloved pets. I’m here because I just saw my neighbor’s dog, who I think was a bully or boxer type mix, dying suddenly in front of my eyes yesterday and I am shaken and so sad for the family. I walk my 2 dogs past their house daily and their dog would always run up and down the fence as we walked by. He didn’t do it in a menacing way, more like an excited, happy run that even my one shy dog grew to anticipate and enjoy, running parallel to him outside the fence in the street. It was sort of our little ritual that has happened for years now. So yesterday when I saw him come charging up to do his usual routine, full of life and energy, I was shocked when he reached the fence line and suddenly twisted into what looked like a seizure, flopping down on his side and flipping over again. I told my husband that it looks like he might be having a seizure and then he started crying out as if he was in pain. I ran as fast as I could to the house and told the owner. He came running out to him, but by the time he reached him he was pretty limp and his tongue was out a little bit. He picked him up and drove him to the emergency vet, but we found out a couple of hours later when he returned that he didn’t make it. They had tried CPR but he was gone. I couldn’t help but think that maybe his exertion running up to see us at the fence line contributed to his death, and I feel awful about it. He really was a young, very healthy looking and acting dog, and I still can’t believe how quickly it happened. Anyway, thanks for this place to share my feelings about this. I wish our pets could tell us when they don’t feel well so that we could get ahead of some of these sudden events and maybe prevent them from happening somehow.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Alison,
      That story sounds like a dog with cardiomyopathy. These weaknesses in the heart muscle are a birth defect, and they sit there like a time bomb. The dog seems just fine, no warning signs, and then one day the heart just quits. Unless you were doing routine ECGs and cardiac ultrasounds, you would never know (and nobody does that in happy healthy dogs).

  566. Abhishek says:

    Thank you for reading this.
    My boy Hero(2yo) Indian Spitz was very healthy and fine and energetic and was doing the routine stuff that he used to do. He ate and pooped very normal. He was a bit lethargic that evening but you would not really suspect. An hour after his dinner he was barking at some stray dogs behind the wall. It was his daily routine. Suddenly I heard a scream (4-5 continuous screams). I got there within seconds running and my dad was behind me. Hero had collapsed and was breathing his last. I tried to see what happened to him. His breathing was becoming weak and it suddenly stopped. As soon as I picked him up he had already peed on the floor. I gave him CPR and mouth-to-mouth. My dad is a doctor he went inside and brought dexamethasone and gave him 2 shots of 1 ml. We tried bringing him up but he was gone long before. All this happened under minutes. After 15 minutes the vet had arrived and he announced him dead. I remember giving him CPR and mouth-to-mouth even after 15 minutes after his demise. I couldn’t believe what happened suddenly to my healthy dog. My family denied any post mortem to be done. What could be the cause? I know it’s similar than many but I blame myself. I should have seen any signs earlier and took him to the vet when he was alive.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Abhishek.
      I wish I had something definite to offer you. I suspect that there was a birth defect with a congenital cardiomyopathy. These heart muscle defects don’t show you any outward signs until the heart suddenly fails. The dog seems fine for months or a year or two, and then suddenly we lose them.

      In such a case, CPR is not really able to help, thought it cannot hurt.

      I am sorry for your loss.

  567. Andrea Rockey says:

    I wanted to say how much I appreciate this article and more so the comments, stories and Doc’s responses.

    Like many others here – we suddenly and unexpectedly lost our beloved dog 5 days ago. We have been running everything through our heads constantly trying to understand what happened.

    Bella was a 5 year old lab/blue heeler rescue (possibly some pitbull as well), and was completely normal, up to date on vaccinations, had just been to the vet for her yearly checkup a few months back.

    Friday she was completely normal. It was raining out, and every time she came in the house I dried off individual each paw as well as her back, so I know I would’ve noticed if something was off. She went outside that evening, and was in the yard barking at a stray cat in the neighbors yard, which she did just about every day…trying to teach that cat a lesson ????. Within 10-20 minutes, my spouse saw her in the same spot she had been standing in…laying on the ground. When he ran up to her, her eyes were open, tongue was hanging out of her mouth and blueish/purple, and she had no pulse. He tried CPR for a while but nothing. It was so traumatizing for our whole family.

    In trying to understand WHAT HAPPENED to our sweet baby. Our best guess was a heart attack due to an unknown underlying condition. But reading this article…. At first was upsetting that my guess was wrong, but I’d rather know than wonder. And while I realize I still don’t definitively KNOW, it is so helpful to know there a lot of folks here had almost identical experiences. There is comfort in the thought that it happened fast…as most people I imagine would prefer rather than a long drawn out and painful exit.

    So thank you to all who shared their stories. A friend of mine said it best… if we knew how it was going to end – suddenly, without warning, and too soon…. We’d still do it all over again. And I would… a thousand times over. We are so lucky to get to love these animals while we do.

    And “Doc…” Thank you for taking the time to respond to everyone’s stories/questions. It has provided me a lot of relief hearing honest input, rather than something watered down for my understanding.

    Much love to all. ♥️????

  568. Justin Fernandez says:

    One of our 5 elderly chihuahua/beagle/pug mixes suddenly died earlier today. They are around 18 years old and all as healthy as such an elderly dog can be, with the exception of the one who passed today, Cookie. She had a cherry eye, seizures, ate rat poison and had to be rescued with vitamins when she was young, and looked to be having some thyroid problems the last few years as her hair was balding in several spots. It doesn’t seem like any of these things contributed to what happened today, but I thought it may be useful information. We let her outside with her siblings and she was acting completely normal, then 5 minutes later we checked on her and she was on her side, with stiff front legs, barely breathing, gasping for air, and died shortly after. Her gums were normal color and there was no foam or drool, no signs of choking. She had no chronic conditions to our knowledge, and no trauma happened, She was acting completely normal and healthy one moment, dying the next. Our best guess is a stroke, but I’m hoping someone could perhaps give us some insight on what else it could have possibly been?

  569. Justin Fernandez says:

    One of our elderly 18 year old chihuahua/beagle/pug mixes suddenly died earlier today. We let her outside with her 4 siblings and she was acting completely normal, then 5 minutes later we checked on her and she was on her side, with stiff front legs, barely breathing, gasping for air, and died shortly after. Her gums were normal color and there was no foam or drool, no signs of choking. She had no chronic conditions to our knowledge, and no trauma happened, She was acting completely normal and healthy one moment, dying the next. Our best guess is a stroke, but I’m hoping someone could perhaps give us some insight on what else it could have possibly been? She did have seizures her entire life, but nit un years, and ate rat poison as a young dog, but was saved with vitamins. Not sure if these could’ve had anything to do with her death today, but thought it could be helpful info.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Justin,
      With a sudden death under these circumstances, I would certainly be thinking of a vascular accident of some type. Stroke is possible, and while coronary artery blockages (“heart attacks”) are uncommon, they certainly do occur. They just don’t usually develop because of cholesterol plaques the way they do in people.

      It is really amazing that you have kept these guys enjoying life for 18 years. I congratulate you on that. I am sorry for your loss.

  570. CS says:

    My 17 year old Yorkie died on Christmas Day. I returned home and found her lying on the ground with her tongue sticking out. Her body was limp and she was (I believe) unconscious at that point. I thought she was already dead but she still had a faint heartbeat and was taking very shallow breaths. I tried giving her CPR but she did not respond. So I stay by her to comfort her until she passes an hour later.

    Her recent medical history includes 4 seizures in the past year and was on medication to control that. Her BUNS test was a bit high and was on fluid therapy for the past month. Our vet (last full checkup was in November) has never mentioned that there was anything wrong with her heart. In the past two weeks, I have noticed an occasional cough from her and sometimes when I tuck her in at night, she takes these rapid breaths before her breathing returns to normal and falls asleep.

    My question is, what do you think could have caused her to enter that unconscious state but barely hanging on? From what I have read, if it was a heart failure type event, it happens fairly rapidly and they die within minutes. My dog was in that state for at least an hour. Also, do you think she was suffering when she was in that state and would it have helped if I had taken her to the emergency Vet?

    Thank you.

    • CS says:

      Adding to my comment above.

      Also, she was a bit lethargic that morning, which is not unusual for her, but she was still eating, drinking, and walking around that morning so I was expecting her to pass so suddenly.

  571. CS says:

    Adding to my comment above:

    She was eating, drinking, and walking just fine that morning, so I was not expecting het to die so suddenly.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, CS,
      I would be suspicious of something more like a stroke, affecting the brain, rather than a heart event. It is unlikely that anything could have been done to restore her to health.
      Don’t beat yourself up. When a dog lives to be 17, you are doing a lot of things right.
      I am sorry for your loss.

  572. Liza says:

    Hi, I am new to this site I can relate to all of your grieving and sadness it is hard to lose pets that we mold, love and care more than ourselves and loved ones. It is unfair to just accept the way it is. Why can’t we choose where or when our pets or us dies? I lost Data at 1 am from enlarged heart and elevated kidneys last February 28, 2023 age 14 his birthday was on May 9th 2023 He yelped the night of Feb 27th I picked him up gave him gabapentin and water using syringe. He was panting hard, restless, took him outside put him in his kennel to rest didn’t help. I knew he was in pain there was nothin I can do to prolong his life he had arthritis, left knee injury, he fainted many times seizures, coughing had been on lasix and vetmedin since he was diagnosed with ( heart murmur ) mitrial valve disease since he was 5 years young.
    Smart good demeanor loving likes fetching and long walks He fought for 4 hours I knew he wasn’t ready to go I told him it was okay… Then his brother Lore who had the same disease died April 4th, 2023 he had dental and hernia surgery of last year of 2022 I was optimistic he will be okay. He didn’t start taking lasix, vetmedin and cough medicine until he was diagnosed with enlarged heart and elevated kidneys. I noticed during the night he was uncomfortable I ignored it hoping for the best. He was a toughy! like Data. Came home from work one day he vomited 5 times and his stomach was huge from ascites. I didn’t feed him waited fed him at midnight and around noon small amount I’m afraid that his stomach might explode. I already made an appointment to have vets to come to my house and put him to sleep. The hardest part was holding him while vet poke him he yelp! I rubbed his head told him he will be okay left the room so the vet and his assistant can proceed what they had to do. Vet called me if I want to spend the time with him while giving the dose. I kiss him on the head told him I love him he was gone quick! I could have his stomach drained he might live for months who knows but I don’t want to be selfish for the sake of me. I didn’t want Lore to go through what Data went through. I am heartbroken! to have lost my two wonderful Pomeranians at the same year. My life will never be the same! This is a wonderful site for dog owner pet lovers! Thank you

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Liza,
      Thank you for sharing your story. I am sorry for your loss. The stomach-draining sometimes helps, but may have to be repeated in just a few days. You shouldn’t feel bad about deciding not to go that route.

  573. Ellie says:

    Hi Doc,

    Finding this website made me realize I am not alone in the pain I am experiencing. I lost my Labrador and soul dog 3 weeks shy of his 11th birthday. He was a miracle boy from the beginning having survived almost 4 full years with diffuse large B cell lymphoma. He was diagnosed right when he turned 7. He had gone through a clinical trial where he received two rounds of a new immunotherapy drug and doxorubicin. His first remission was 16 months and his second remission was 2 years. He had come out of his second remission early October, 2023 and since the hospital still had the clinical trial immunotherapy drug, they administered that drug with a different anthracycline, mitoxantrone. He had reached the limit of how much doxy chemo he could get. His blood work (CBC and chemistry panel, etc) were checked prior to each chemo cycle and were normal and his heart rate and oxygen were always within normal limits. He was a happy, strong boy through all of his treatments and continued to take his walks, play fetch, and eat and drink as normal. He finished his last round of immunotherapy and mitoxantrone the beginning of December and the day after Christmas we found out the exciting news that he was back in a full remission. We were so happy and felt very blessed. Then in mid February our sweet boy woke up, went outside to use the bathroom, ate his breakfast as normal, and nothing seemed to be wrong. A regular and routine morning. I went upstairs to get dressed and brush my teeth as usual and when I came back downstairs I found him passed away sitting in his favorite chair. He was in a comfortable resting position and it looked as if his head fell onto his front left paw when he lost consciousness. He was not responsive and wasn’t breathing by the time I came downstairs and approached him (I had been upstairs less than 25 minutes) and his eyes were open staring blankly. I am so heartbroken. The initial autopsy found no obvious cause of death and they are thinking he suffered a rare fatal arrhythmia that put him into cardiac arrest. They compared it to young athletes who suddenly drop dead with no known heart problems. I am struggling so bad to understand how this could have happened since he has never had any documented heart problems in 11 years. They are sending samples of all organs to look at under the microscope and said they would reach out if and when they find out more. My questions would be: could the chemo and immunotherapy have weakened his heart somehow over time and caused this to happen? Should I have advocated for heart testing before he went through chemo again? All they were doing routinely was listening to his heartbeat and measuring oxygen/ basic vitals. I’m really struggling with so much guilt and just don’t understand how he could bravely fight lymphoma for four years staying happy and healthy throughout all his treatments and then have something like this happen. I’ll never be okay with the fact that I wasn’t sitting with him when he passed away. I appreciate any insight you might be able to give me.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Ellie,

      I can appreciate your concern that the chemotherapy might have caused damage in the body while it was fighting the cancer. Chemotherapy drugs are basically poisons. The reason that we can often treat cancers with them and survive is that cancer cells are greedy. They take a disproportionate share of nutrients (cancer patients thus lose weight), and they also take a disproportionate share of the drugs. Other tissues that multiply rapidly (hair follicles, gut lining) also may suffer, as they take up more than the average cell. Most cells don’t take up very much of the drug, so we survive the therapy.

      You must remember that without the chemotherapy, your friend would have been lost long ago due to his cancer.

      Your doctor’s assessment about the arrhythmia may very well be correct. The pathology reports may give more information.

      You and your friend fought the good fight and enjoyed victory for a while, but I know that you will miss him.

  574. Ellie says:

    Thanks Doc,

    I appreciate your response so very much. So is it possible then that the chemo and immunotherapy might have also weakened his heart muscles over time, causing an arrhythmia that was fatal as a result? Are there any other possible things you can think of that might have caused his sudden death with nothing obvious showing up on the initial autopsy? Cancer is the worst, but I’ll always be grateful for the miracle of four extra years with my buddy thanks to his treatments. Definitely hoping the doctors looking at things closely under the microscope will yield some definitive answers.

    • Doc says:

      Hello, Ellie,
      I can only speculate about things like this. If the pathologists do offer any insight, I’d love to hear it.

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