My doxie suddenly died.

[Heartnc]

My 7 year old 12lb doxie died suddenly Monday morning. He was acting fine Saturday into Sunday morning. Sunday morning I was feeding him and his brother when I accidently knocked their food container in the floor. I cleanup up most of the food and let the two dogs clean up/eat the rest. Shortly afterwards my dog Max threw up twice. I figured it was because he had ate too much. He then threw up again later Sunday night, and it was right much, but was only dog food, no blood. He acted like he didn't feel well and I thought maybe he just had a tummy ache. I put him and his brother in their kennels at 12:30 am Monday morning. At 6:30 Monday morning I found Max barely alert and freezing cold. I'm not sure he even knew who I was. I wrapped him in blankets and rushed him to the vet. He died a few hours later. I just can't imagine what would cause him to get sick so fast that would cause death so quickly. The vet was unable to even get an IV started on him, he was too dehydrated. This dog never had any major health problems, just some small odd health issues. He drank water excessively. He had started to drink water from the toilet that he had never done before. He would also lick the bottom of the bathtub seeking water. I had him checked out, and all seemed fine. The only other problem was that he broke out in sores along his back once about a year ago. They were round, almost symetrical sores that just suddenly appeared. The vet accused me of burning my dog. I would never hurt my animal or any animal on purpose. We had a hard time getting him to heal, but he finally did. It left some scars that healed, but hair did not grow back. Also he would flap his ears so hard against his body that it would break open the blood vessels around the outside of ears and cause sores that were hard to heal. Because of this repeated issue, his ears looked very ragged and jagged as if he was a very old dog when he wasn't. I am just listed these things to see if maybe I missed something that was wrong with him all along. He had red mange at just a few months old. Maybe he had some kind of underlying bleeding issue, immune system problem? I am at a loss without him. He was such a darling, and cannot understand what would take him so suddenly.

[HemiSyd]

Change your vet. And I would think it was down to blat or gastric torsion. The vet should have been able to answer this for you though. I hate an unsupportive vet.

I'm not sure what a doxie is but FYI many dogs are suceptible to bloat if a large breed like a bully, so vomiting should always be taken seriously, unless an obvious reason for it such as scoffing too quick or eating faeces....

[zoe114]

I am sorry about the loss of your dog. My first thought is have you sprayed your floor boards with any insecticide? The other thought is the food , and then one more thought is that he might have been ill for a long time and it just happened. My dog with a low thyroid drinks water a lot. This has to be tested with a thyroid blood test, and it is easy to over look as when the dogs are getting older we asume they are just getting slower. When the thyroid is low it will start to cause other problems with the body. The hair will have issues, and the head shaking might have been mini seizure ( hey, I am just guessing on all of this) Your vet does not seem like one I would trust as he had accused you of harming your pet, he was not looking to help you any more. You did nothing wrong, but I would look at finding a good vet.  

[ginger899]

Oh boy...I am so sorry to hear about your dog.
He was drinking excessive water...you had him checked out, and he was found to be OK. He had the sores on his back...you had him checked out again. I honestly cannot see you have done very much wrong here, and you did try for him.
The only thing is, it is strange for a dog to be drinking excessive amounts of water, and when tested, for there to be nothing at all wrong....unless it is very hot weather, or the dog has been exercising hard.  So it makes me wonder if your vet missed something.

What happened to him may have had nothing to do with eating the food which spilt on Sunday. The only thing is if he kept vomiting during those night hours in his kennel, I guess it is possible it could have led to severe dehydration. Otherwise I can't tell what might have caused him to die and so quickly. You probably couldn't have known, just thought his tummy would settle in the night, and he would sleep it off. They often do. Even if there had been a big bowl of water in his kennel it may not have helped, as sometimes dogs can enter a vomiting/drinking lots/vomiting cycle, which can lead to dehyration anyway.

I am so sorry this happened though. Take care now of your other dog, as he will be missing his buddy and brother too.