Sudden death

While on vacation last week, we received a phone call from our neighbor telling us she found our 8 year old dog dead in the back yard. They just checked on her the night before and she was dead at 9am the next morning. She was in the back yard and it has been very hot out (We live in Georgia), but she had shade, water, and food.... Our neighbor said she was already bloated, rotting, and bleeding from her mouth.... Does anyone know what could have happened? She was a healthy, pretty Beagle.... We miss her so much. It was so hard for me to come home and not have her jump all over me :'(

[ginger899]

I am so sorry. This is terrible, shocking news for you, and I feel for you.
I can imagine how sad you must feel, and the loss of a dog, or any well-loved pet is really horrible.

The fast decomposition of her body could have been accelerated by either: the heat, or snakebite, possibly, or both combined.
She may have also caught and eaten a poisoned rat or mouse, or some other critter who had eaten poison.

[el_em_en_oh]

I am truly sorry for your loss. Heatstroke (hyperthermia), unfortunately, is pretty common in the Southern states.

I live in Houston, and during the summer months, make a point of only letting my girls out for 10-15 minutes at a time.

Have your vet do a necropsy, so you can find out for sure what it was that killed her.

Again, I am sorry for your loss.

***
"Do Not Mourn My Passing"

Do not mourn my passing for if you could only see
By slipping all my earthly bonds, I'm young again and free.
By day I run the Heavenly fields, my body healthy and strong
At night I sleep at Angels' Feet, lulled by Celestial Song.
So do not mourn my passing, just close your eyes - you'll see
I'm once again that frisky pup, just as you remember me.
~Author Unknown~

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

so sorry i also live in GA and have heard of servel owners lossing there fur babies from heat stroke. i dont let mine go out long and our walks have been cut in half. last week was really hot. even when the wind blew it was hot air so sounds to me like a heat stroke so sorry for your loss

[rigirl4ever]

Thanks yall.... We ended up having to get rid of our other outside dog we had. He is younger than Macie, so I guess he did alright with the heat, but he wasn't doing alright without his playmate. We have a small inside dog (a weenie dog) and he only got to play with her when she goes out. But where he is at now, there is a whole lot of land for him to run free and we get to go visit him :) We have all came to the conclusion that Macie probably did pass from a heat stroke but I feel so guilty because I couldn't afford for them to go to a kennel while we were away :(

[rigirl4ever]

I finally uploaded a pic.... that's our precious Macie that just passed away.....