My dog passed away tonight

[caesarwasagooddog]

My dog passed away tonight. He threw up his dinner, so we put him and the other two dogs out back while we cleaned it up. When we went to let them in, he was lying on the ground and wouldn't get up. My wife picked him up to carry him inside and I could see that his tongue was hanging from his mouth, his eyes seemed vacant, and he was very unresponsive. His legs twitched and he moved his head a little, but his movements diminished. His passed away after just a few minutes.

I can't imagine there was anything wrong with the canned Alpo he had for dinner, as our other two dogs had some from the same can and they are both fine.

It just happened so quickly. He was an older dog, a stray we brought in about ten months ago. He seemed like an older dog, but very spry. He had some lumps, but they looked to me like sebaceous cysts. He had a few missing / broken teeth, presumably from his time as a stray. He would cry a little if you picked him up, so I wondered if he had joint problems. We don't know what his breed was - we're pretty sure he was part beagle, maybe a beagle / terrier mix. I'll try to add a photo to this post.

So to sum up, what causes a dog who was his regular healthy self just hours before to throw up, lie down weakly, twitch a little bit and then pass away? Poisoning has crossed my mind but I can't think of anything he could possibly have gotten into. Could it have been some sort of seizure? A stroke?

Thanks so much for any help.

[melipops]

Hi,I'm sorry about your dog. It is so  sad when this happens. You were looking after a stray and you can console yourself with having done your best. Take care and look after yourself.

[lindapalm]

I'm sorry to hear about Sassy, you must be heartbroken.  You have to keep telling yourself that you did a great job, rescuing her and giving her more love than a lot of humans get.(  I feel that dogs deserve it more than a LOT of humans.)  That was a very good idea about planting the bushes and the wind chime on her grave, I'm going to remember it.  Our dog is 12, but hopefully she'll be around for at least a few more years.  Ask around from people you trust, and see which vet they use, and if their 100% satisfied.  This way, if you ever decide to get another dog, you'll be ready.  Please consider sometime rescuing another dog, maybe from a shelter.  There are so many waiting to get lucky and be adopted by a great family like yours, and shelter dogs give so much in return.

[Indigo53]

Our sweet dog, Sassy, passed away last night in the Emergency Vet's office. Over the past few months she was going slower and slower down the 13 stairs from the second floor to go out in the morning. She was 12 1/2 so we just thought it was arthritis, old age. It seemed that her entire body was tender and she was licking her paws all the time, almost in order to cope with pain, but had no sores, her fur was shiny, no fleas or visible problems. She would also lick her micro-suede bed cover. When Sassy would try and run really fast out back to go, like when she was younger, she would come back up the us all winded and panting like she was having a hard time breathing. These past 2 weeks she was doing this more often. She has always been a high anxiety dog, since we got her from animal rescue. She came from a home of animal hoarders who abused and neglected her. At 9 months she had had 9 pups who had to be taken away because she was so sick, skinny, full of parasites, and other health issues. Once healed we adopted her from the foster home she was in. We took great care of her, bought her the best dog food we could find, made homemade dog cookies, played with her all the time, and she was kept clean and up to date on all her shots and heartworm preventative. But, that wasn't enough. She keeled over at home yesterday afternoon, and began to cry like she was having a stroke. We took her to Emergency right away. She had been wobbly on her feet for 3 days and was getting worse. Would stand in front of her bowls and sway her head left to right, and kept catching herself from falling over. The Vet took her blood pressure which was extremely high, her EKG was fine, but her lungs were full of nodes which she said looked like cancer. The Vet felt as tho Sassy had neurological damage because she would be in a daze one minute standing still or walking, then falling down and crying the next. She also said Sassy's tongue began to turn blue so she was not getting enough oxygen during these episodes. This could have been causing brain damage, or, she might have had a clot in her brain. She was not in good shape, and after the Vet gave her a pain killer about 1 half hour later, our dog died in our arms. We are SO sad. She was the BEST dog in the world to us. We got her after our Dalmation of 13 yrs passed away, so she was a miracle dog in our lives. Brought us all out of a dark place, also because my husband and I had just had major surgery and were very depressed. Sassy gave A LOT of love and we gave HER a lot of love in return. Tho we have such happy memories, there is a terrible void in our lives. Our kids are pretty broken up as well. They grew up with Sassy. To cope with my grief, we buried her 50 feet from our house and on top of her grave planted a beautiful 2 ft crimson Hybiscus, and 2 purple flowing sage plants, one on each side on a raised mound with black mulch so the flowers show up well, and a black metal hook with a little chime that sounds like her collar w/license and rabies tag tinkling We also are going to paint her name on a white stone. We don't know why we lose our pets that we take good care of. It is so sad but at least we loved them and gave them a good home for a time. There are so many more to adopt out there. I do know that next time, I will not go to Petco for shots anymore, tho. We will go to a real Vet. Don't trust those fly-by-night Vets at the store anymore. Ever since we brought her there this yr  [there was a new female Vet who left 1/4 of the 6 in 1 vaccine in the syringe, and didn't appear to inject it correctly], our dog has acted ill. It's not worth saving a little bit of money. So sorry for your loss; we share your pain...

[Francesanne]

Hi, I only found out recently that raisins and grapes can be fatal for dogs. I knew chocolate was very bad but had no idea about raisins and grapes. My little dog has eaten many grapes with no ill effects but certainly not taking any chances and grapes are banned from now on.

[Got2no]

I agree - you were very sweet to take in an older dog, and he was lucky to feel loved at the time of his death.  It probably was a stroke (though I'm not a vet).  However, I have heard that a dog eating raisins can cause death fairly quickly.  Had he perhaps eaten any?  Has anyone else heard of this?
It is just a thought.

[SBF]

I'm sorry for your loss, and believe you should not worry about poisoning because...
1) Your other dogs ate the same food and appear fine
2) It would be a very unusal poison to proceed from no symptoms and an appetite to loss of conciousness and death that quickly

Seizure, stroke or some other disease no longer matter, but the love you shared with him remains,  Thank you for sharing Caesar's story.SBF

You gave him the best life you could, while you could and can honor his loyalty by planting a shrub or tree where he is buried, imagine a Caesar Rose and let your spirits be at peace as your friend runs with the pack of the Great Spirit... Native American Wisdom

[Francesanne]

Hi, don't normally visit this forum despite being a dog owner. Just wondered if the poor old chap might have suffered a stroke? He looked a lovely old fellar and it must have been a terrible and upsetting time for you. Thankfully he didn't suffer for long and you must think of the happy time you gave him over the last 10 months. My little dog is now 10 and I dread to think of the time when he's no longer with me. We've had 4 dogs over the last 20 years and it always breaks my heart when they pass away. Take good care & remember he died being loved.

[suzi-q]

I do not know what caused the death of your pup.  However, please take comfort in knowing that you gave him a wonderful life the last 10 months.  Not many people would have taken in a stray who is older.  Whatever hard life your dog had in the past, know that the past 10 months of the love and care that you have given him is what is important.  He died knowing that he was loved.  That is what is important.  May God bless you all.

[KikiMay]

Very sorry for your loss...The causes that lead to your pet's death can be multiple.
What you describe seems to me (I am not a vet!) a stroke and it can happen all the time. Especially in elderly dogs. You said it was a stray dog so you do not know about his past and maybe he had seizures befor but you do not know...
You could ask the vet to make an autopsy so you an find out the reason why Caesar died.