Sudden death of a 3 and a half year old Golden Retriever

[mr3856a]

Hello,
We had a 3.5 year old Golden named Riley who died suddenly two days ago. I wasn't here, but my mother, who is a nurse, said he was fine, when all of the sudden he had a seizure, flipped over on his back with legs extended and shaking, eyes rolled back in his head, and was dead within a minute.

I know Golden's are prone to epileptic conditions and this certainly appears to have been a seizure, but he was perfectly healthy, had never had a seizure before whatsoever, nothing even close, and all of the sudden this happens. From what I understand, normally an epileptic seizure will not kill a dog, certainly not the first one. Does it make sense to anyone? Has anyone experienced anything like this?

The only other piece of information which may (or I suspect may not) be relevant is in the past few months, he had developed 2 or 3 sores, one on his neck, and two near his mouth. They came at different times and all healed with cleaning, but I wonder if this might be symptomatic of anything that might possibly be related to his death?

We did not have an autopsy done, though I was tempted, but I am wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar or may have answers.

Thank you so much,
Mike

P.S. That's Riley on the left, with his brother Max

[lisabnfl]

I am so sorry to hear about your golden retriever. The same thing just happened to our golden 4 days ago. I was there when it happened and the details your mother described are exactly the same thing that happened to our Roscoe. He would have been 5 in October. No signs or symptoms of any. The night before he was outside playing ball with the kids and was perfectly fine. We are devastated to say the least. We did not have an autopsy done either but hate now that we have no idea what happened. Again I am sorry and know what you are going through.

[ZorosMom]

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.  I don't have a clue what could've caused Riley's death, but I know how you feel.  I just lost my 2.5 year old Zoro on July 16th.  Very quickly and I'm still left with unanswered questions.  My gut tells me something different.  Please keep your head, especially for your other dog.  She/He will need you, as my girl needs me right now.  It's hard but you have to.  Again, I am so very sorry for your loss but he is in a happy place right now and is waiting for you.

[Jaybay]

I am so sorry for all of you.  Unfortunately, without an autopsy there is absolutely no way of knowing for certain what caused the seizure and Riley's death.  There are many things that "could" have happened - stroke, blown aneurysm, even a brain tumor that finally invaded a critical area. Another possibility is some kind of toxin either from an insect or plant or something in his living area.

It's hard enough to lose a dog who has reached his senior years, but I can't imagine the pain of losing a young, otherwise healthy dog.  The only grace here is that he didn't suffer.  You gave him a great life and obviously loved him.  That's the most important thing: his life, not his death.