I don't know the reason of my puppy shitzu's death

[Jay_N]

Just yesterday my puppy shitzu sadly died. I don't know what the exact reason was and I would like to know, but I can tell you what the symptoms were. The day before yesterday my puppy (Bandi) was throwing up and had diarrhea (as my grandma told me, we live at her house). I was at school and my mother was working, and I got home first since my uncle picked us up. I noticed that there was diarrhea in the cage where he is kept for some time durring the day and he didn't look excited to see me (he usually jumps and scratches at the cage) and he didn't walk, he just stayed still as if he were really weak, he didn't even open his mouth. My grandma had mentioned that saliva was dripping from his mouth earlier. So then my sister and I took bandi out and gave him a bath to see if it would make him feel better, but he remained the same. Later on at around 7 pm our neighbor came over and noticed my puppy and suggested to give some pedialyte, and so we went to buy it when my mom got home. It was really difficult to get him to drink some of it, the whole day he refused to drink or eat anything. We used a needless syringe to try to give him some of it, he struggled a lot, I held him while our neighbor tried to give him some pedialyte. He managed to get some in. I was holding bandi while i was kneeling, and then i felt something warm and smelled something horrible, I noticed it was blooded probably mixed with diarrhea, but there were a few very small chunks that i dont know what they were. When i stood up after noticing the substance , it kept squirting out of him, as if pressure had built up. We gave him another bath and cleaned out his cage and let him sleep. Since our school is pretty far away we wake up at 4:30 am. I checked up on him and he was laying still , but alive. After school my mom told me the news, that bandi had died, she said when she got home after taking us to school, she  noticed he died...

So I would like to know if anyone has any diagnosis on what could have caused his death. We would have taken him to a Vet but we just moved to Puerto Rico and didn't have a vet yet..

Was it a virus,parasite, food poisoning? Please respond, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Ghilly]

It would probably be a good idea to get him checked out.  Although it would be kind of soon for him to get sick, since the puppy died on the 18th and this is only the 20th.  That would mean that your other dog got there yesterday, and it would be too soon for him to have been exposed and showing symptoms already.  Has your other dog been vaccinated?  Older dogs are sometimes more able to fight off the effects of parvo, even if they haven't been vaccinated, but he will still need supportive care.  If your mother will take you, I would definitely get him to a vet and have him checked out and maybe even vaccinated if he's not showing any clinical signs of the disease yet.  It could be that he is acting funny because he smells the sick (or even dead, dogs noses are EXTREMELY sensitive) puppy, so don't panic yet.  But if your mom will take you to the vet with him, then definitely take her up on it.  Be honest with the vet, tell him everything, and see what he says.  Good luck!

Ghilly

[Jay_N]

Im worried about my older dog. He wasnt here when my puppy was sick, he was with my dad about two hours away for about 2 days. I got him back the day after my puppy died and now im worried that he could catch the virus if it WAS parvo... Right now hes acting a bit strange.. I took him outside to do his business and all he did was urinate and he was constantly sniffing around and chewing on grass. He seems sleepy and right now he is next to me sleeping...

I'm about to tell my mom to take him to a vet. I belive there is one about 40 min away from my house...

[ginger899]

Parvo virus is really easily transmitted between dogs, or if your puppy went somewhere an infected dog had been. And like Ghilly says, the virus lingers a long time where an infected dog has been, and those places have to be disinfected really well. If he had had his vaccinations, he would have been protected. If he caught the virus from grass it would've had to been grass an infected dog had been on. It's not your fault, that you believed your puppy had been vaccinated because that's what you were told.  It is a terrible and virulent disease, and most often fatal.

[Jay_N]

Thank you for your opinions and you sympathy :) , they are really helpful. My puppy was given to us by a friend of my dad (they said he was vaccinated but who knows if they were lying). But most of the symptoms of parvovirus which i researched a little just now fit into the symptoms my puppy had. He did have an unusual disgusting odor unlike anything i have ever smelled and he probably did catch the virus from grass. I live in high altitudes and high humidity, it could probably have something to do with it.

Thank you again :)

[Ghilly]

Awww, sweetie, I'm so sorry to read about your puppy.  :(

You didn't mention whether or not he had had his puppy vaccinations, or how old he was, but all of the symptoms you listed - not eating, being very lethargic, and especially the very bad-smelling, bloody diarrhea, sound to me like your puppy died from the parvovirus.  The only way to tell for sure at this point would be to have the body necropsied (have an autopsy done), but just to be on the safe side, I would not get another puppy right away.  Parvovirus can live in the environment for more than a year, so before you think about getting another puppy, you are going to need to scour your home from top to bottom with a bleach and water solution on the areas that can tolerate bleach, and spray the rest of the place down with Lysol after thoroughly washing it.  You might even consider spraying your yard down with a mild bleach solution if your puppy had been in the yard because the parvovirus can even live outside in the dirt, and if you get another puppy, you don't want to take the chance of that one getting sick because the virus was already in your home.  

Of course, until you find out that it definitely WAS parvovirus, these are all just precautions that I would take if I were you.  But I know that people will often get another pet to help get over the loss of one, so I wanted you to be aware of what could happen if it was parvovirus that killed your puppy so that you didn't end up going through more heartbreak with another one.  

Ghilly

[ginger899]

I'm so sorry your little pup died. It is so sad, and I send you big hugs. But I can tell you gave him the best you could at the end. You weren't sure what to do, but you tried to help him. It was probably way too late though. It would be very hard for anyone here to try and guess what was the matter with him. It could possibly have been a virus, something like Parvo virus. But that is just a guess.
If you do get another pup in the future, always make sure he has his puppy shots at the vet's which will help to protect against catching viruses.

[have 2 kids]

I'm sorry for your loss.   Unfortunately none of us are able to tell you what happened to your puppy.