Why did my dog die?

[carole12]

My 14 year old bull terrier had begun to 'slow up' since January 2008.   No longer did she run around or play.  Now and again I did see her panting just a little for no reason, but not often enough to be concerned.    She did seem lethargic but we noticed she could get a 'move on' when she wanted to !!    She slept alot more and wouldn't go into her favourite places in the garden to soak up some sunshine etc, so there was a change in her but due to her age - this would be no surprise.   She was healthy and not ill.   Over the years she was given anti-biotics for kennel cough.          We seemed to have a bad flea infestation this season and Kirby got alot on her.  We treated her with Frontline and a natural tea-tree shampoo for dogs.   After that, only a few were left on her but we noticed her fur falling out and, over a period of 4 weeks, we decided to try and get her fur restored back to normal.  She wasn't scratching alot.    She wasn't ill at all and the allergy had not affected her in any way.   We took her to the vet and she was given one shot of cortisone, anti-histamine, more Frontline down her back and a booster shot of vitamins.   The next morning my poor dog was panting and coughing internally (much like kennel cough but without the gagging).   She was also a little restless and had a swollen tummy.   In a panic I phoned our vet and was told 'hang in here - she will calm down'.   Hours later my poor girl was no different and had now begun to show signs of a little pinkish watery blood coming from her mouth.   I phoned the vet again and told her my dog was salivating, panting and internally coughing.  I was told it was normal from a cortisone shot and it would stop by the next morning.   It was dreadful to see my little girl in such a state, but one does take the word of one's vet !!   That evening my angel was dead.   Words cannot describe how devasted my husband and I were.                        Our vet did a free post mortem as she was concerned that she had in fact done something wrong.   She also did not charge us for the cremation.     Our vet told us that the only organ to be affected was her liver which was 'distressed' and her lungs were clear.   She said that the verdict of Kirby's death was :  stress from the flea allergy - allergy to anti-histamines and her age.      I find this so hard to accept because it gave me no clue as to what Kirby died from whatsoever !!     My vet could not explain Kirby's coughing.                   There is absolutely no doubt that the drugs she was given brought about her death, but in what way I do not know.                 Can you help to give us an answer.       My vet did tell me that she had to use 'drastic treatment for a drastic problem'.      Kirby's problem was NOT drastic at all and I so wish now that I had used holistic treatment for her.    She was old but not ready to die !!!    

Carole

[carole12]

Thankyou Shannon, Ghilly, Suzi-q............................for all your replies to me.   I am feeling alot better now and I do believe my on-line vet was right as well.   Thankyou for telling me a little more about the anti-histamine and steroids making the heart beat faster.     I still wish I had not have taken her to the vet that day and even so, I do feel my own vet, who knew Kirby well, should in fact have tested her first.   She did say Kirby's lungs were 'a little wet ' after the P. Mortem exam but that would have been normal since her death the night before she said ..... but what vet will ever admit that the drugs brought it all on!!   She was very defensive when I told her my baby had died - and even though I was crying - her first line of defence was not 'I'm so sorry' but it was an immediate ' it wasn't the mootie ' !!!   The fact that she told me she had to perform 'drastic action' for Kirby's flea allergy as well made me look back and realise maybe she'd overdone things.    On a 14 year old pet, surely she should have known better.                      

Anyway enough of that now.        Kirby may well have suffered long term with a heart condition that may have caused her weeks - maybe months of a suffering - and tablets with horrible side effects for her.      

I do so hope that one day we shall be reunited with our much loved pets.   I cannot believe that anything God creates, simply goes into oblivion as if it never existed.

Again, thankyou all so much.

Carole
xx

[rootietootie]

Yes, I agree, steroids do cause the heart to beat faster, and in turn make it work more.  That does make really good sense what the online vet told you.  I really think that is what happened!  He probably was in heart failure, and that can cause fluid build up in the lungs causing the cough.  (I am a nurse and am familiar with these things in humans, but it seems dogs get so many of the same things as humans) He probably was in CHF for a long time, which would explain his slowing down over time.  The flea allergy was nothing you could have prevented and he needed to be treated.  You did the right thing by taking him to the vet.  I think it was just an unfortunate series of events.  I think he was going down hill anyway, and probably wouldn't have lasted too much longer.  I have the same issues with my dog who recently died.  He was also slowing down, but jeez, when they are 13 years old you really expect it.  I sometimes beat myself up wondering why I didn't notice things that happened slowly over time and realize that he was getting sick,  but the as I was told by a vet, even the most vigilant of pet owners don't  pick up on the beginning signs of things in dogs, and dogs don't show major symptoms until they are REALLY sick.  Unfortunately dogs just like humans get sick and in the end there is really nothing we can do, they die.  Jeez, I am not trying to sound morbid or anything, I just want  you to know that we can't beat ourselves up, you didn't do anything wrong. I know you feel the need to know what happened, I understand that, I really think that online vet was right on.  You know what has helped me deal?  I bought one of those little photo albums, and I collected all the pictures of my dog (benny) throughout his life with us, and I made a chronological story of his life, and wrote in comments next to the pics, etc.  Sort of like a scrap book.  It makes us sad to read it , but I really think it helped us gain closure to his death.  I try to remember his life and happy times now, and that scrap book has really helped.  Much luck to you, I know it hurts, but time will help.  Hugs... Shannon

[suzi-q]

I know that antihistimines does cause the heart to race.  

I am so very sorry for your loss. I understand why you cannot get closure, but you have to try.  Just put in your mind you did EVERYTHING RIGHT for your dog.  You would have never done anything to hurt her, only help her.  Take comfort in knowing you were a great mom and your dog lived a beautiful long life.  It is so hard to see them go.  I wish you comfort and peace.

[carole12]

Many thankyous for your reply to me.       May I just say a couple of things to clarify regarding Kirby.

1.     Kirby had bad fleas about 5 weeks ago at end of February/beginning March 2008.

2.     We treated with Frontline, but because we had bathed her on the day we got the Frontline with a natural really lovely tea tree shampoo, we were told to re-apply Frontline one week later, instead of 30 days.      

3.   .   Kirby was fine.  No reaction to the Frontline at all.   I re-applied one week later and she was okay with her second application (same bottle).

About 4 weeks later I sprayed a little more but only in places where I could see a few more fleas.   Her blankets had already been washed in a 95 degree wash.   She'd had no reaction to the Frontline in any way 2nd or 3rd time round.

4.       Her fur began falling out after her first initial flea infestation.
I suspected a flea allergy.        Kirby was not ill nor was she suffering in any way from her flea allergy.    Just hair loss.

5.      After her shots of cortisone, Frontline on her back (more!!) and anti-histamine, vitamin injections, she seemed fine.    

This next vial of Frontline was given to her by the vet about two weeks after her last application.

I did tell our vet that she had been treated with Frontline previously.   She never asked me when the last application had been.    

6.     Next morning Kirby was panting and had a swollen tummy which was hard.  She began coughing internally (by that I mean sounding like kennel cough without the gagging at the end) - she was salivating from all the panting.    

She was restless as well.

7.     The vet said the panting was normal as was the swollen tummy from the cortisone shot.

8.      The vet did add that it seemed very quick to get these symptoms as they normally came about 2 to 3 days later.

9.       When I saw little droplets of pinkish watery blood coming from Kirby's mouth I phoned again but was told by the receptionist that the panting would stop by morning, and that it was all a normal side effect from the cortisone.

That evening Kirby died.  

7.      My vet said she wanted the P.M. done for her own satisfaction just in case she had done something wrong.    She also never charged for the cremation.      

Her telephone call to me after the P.Mortem started off this way :

' We can all relax - we can all rest - because it was none of those things'  (I thought Kirby had died of a heart attack).   The only organ to be affected was her liver which was distressed, but her lungs were clear and there was no distension and no torsion'

(All I can say is that the distension must have gone down because her abdomen was definitely blown up and hard from the cortisone -  (which the vet had CONFIRMED to me was a normal side effect from cortisone).

I asked her what on earth all the coughing was about the previous day and she said she had no idea.

She gave a verdict of :      Kirby's age, her recent allergy to fleas and all the scratching which had caused her stress plus an allergy to the anti-histamine.  

8.    Kirby's lungs were also clear from the Post Mortem.

9.     An on-line vet who replied to me and to whom I had given the finest of details regarding Kirby's last day as well as her sudden slowing up since just after December - when she had stopped playing and running around (which we assumed was old age)....wrote that she was highly suspicious that Kirby had congestive heart failure, which, with the steroids, had taken her over the top.     She told me that the steroids were extremely dangerous given to a dog with possible heart problems.

My vet never mentioned a heart problem from the Post Mortem.

A necropsy was never done by the way.

This is why I cannot get closure.   I just do not have answers.

What are the side effects from having an allegy to anti-histamines?

Many thanks

Carole          

[Ghilly]

I am SO sorry to hear about your poor girl!  My most sincere sympathies to you and your family on her loss.  :(

You said that her stomach was swollen up.  That is a symptom of bloat, or more correctly, gastric torsion and volvulus.  This happens when the stomach twists and flips over on itself, essentially shutting off the route that food takes to get into the intestines.  When this happens, death comes within hours if immediate surgery to invert the stomach is not done.  One of the most obvious symptoms of this is a swollen stomach, that's why they call it bloat.  The fact that your vet did the necropsy free of charge and didn't charge for the cremation makes me suspicious that she was trying to "make good" for something, but I am suspicious by nature so perhaps it's just my own distrust of people coming through.  It just doesn't sound to me like "stress from the flea allergy" as your vet said.  

Ghilly

[rootietootie]

I am sorry to hear about your dog, I know it must be hard for you and you are searching for answers.  I suppose with the fur loss it does sound like a reaction to the flea medicine or the cortisone. .  I have heard of front line being toxic to some dogs also.  I read on here someone made a post about it.  Maybe they will come along, if not try to look for it.  Did your dog get two treatments of frontline without waiting a month between?  Not sure it means anything, but just looking for something.  To me it doesn't sound like your vet did anything wrong administering the  cortisone.  That would be a basic thing to do considering your dogs condition at that time.  I would think it would be more of the flea medicine thing then an allergy to fleas and anti histamines.  Maybe her age made her more vulnerable to the affects of it.  I think the coughing and you said she had bloody froth from the mouth? That is a sign of end stage pulmonary edema/failure in humans, maybe the same for dogs.  I wouldn't worry too much about it because it can happen at the end when systems fail because of any reason or disease.  That "internal coughing" you heard might have been that too.  In humans it is called "the death rattle".  I know you are hurting and searching for answers, at least you know she lived a good life and made it to a nice old age.  If it were me, I would chalk it up to her age, the things that happened at the end, were going to happen anyway, (fleas etc.)  It was just that since she was so old her organs weren't able to tolerate or break down the chemicals the way they once were.  Probably even holistic things would have been too much.  Don't blame yourself. That is easy to do in these kind of situations, but the fact is, you had no clue, and you did what was right for her to take her to the vet.  God bless, hugs... Shannon