Dog died 4 days ago - don't know why

[joniem]

We've been taking care of my son's dog while he's away, and the dog died 4 days ago.  Please review these symptoms and let me know if you have any idea what the cause may have been.  He was a part blue heeler / part "bear hound" and was 9 years old.  For some time (months to a year), he has been having trouble getting up and down to a laying position.  My son thought this was due to arthritis stiffness.  However, he still ran and got around well.  About 6 months ago, he developed a lump on his back thigh area about the size of a ping pong ball.  This remained the same size and didn't seem to bother him.  There was a smaller one on the opposite thigh.  He seemed to be losing weight in the past 2 months, but that's about the time we took him in, so I thought this could have been due to him getting more exercise and/or not as much table scraps.  He didn't appear to be sick and ate well.  He often coughed/gagged which sometimes led to vomiting.  My daughter noticed about 6 weeks ago that he seemed unsteady on his legs and stumbled briefly.  Four days ago was the first day he clearly appeared unwell.  He had a BM which started out thick and black (blood?) and then turned green and loose.  This happened in this house in the morning which was unusual for him - he never went in the house before - this indicated to me that he couldn't hold it.  He also vomited.  He went outside and just lay down on his side throughout the day - moving to a different place every hour or so and clearly having problems rising and getting back down again.  We have a large fenced-in back yard.  He wouldn't lift his head or get up when anyone approached him, and he seemed to be breathing heavily at times, rapid heart beat, and shivering.  I called the vet to take him in, but his wife said he was in surgery all morning and out of town in the afternoon, but would be seeing animals at 4:30 that afternoon (he has a mobile hospital that would be at a nearby parking lot).  I thought that may work okay since I wasn't sure I could lift the dog by myself, and my husband would be there to help me at 4:30.  I checked the dog often throughout the day (I work out of home), and he seemed the same.  At 3:30 when I finished work, I went into the laundry room to get a blanket so we could lift him with it and put him in the van (the vet's wife said the vet could examine him directly in the van), and I found the dog dead in the laundry room (there is a pet door leading outside).  He had been in there for about an hour and I checked him prior to this and he seemed the same as he had been all day - laying on his side.  The day before he seemed fine.  Please let me know if you have any ideas what may have caused his death.  We already had him cremated at my son's request, but it bothers me not knowing the reason he died.  Could he have had cancer?  Thank you.

[joniem]

I guess as Ghilly mentioned above, "Unfortunately, everything is going to be guesswork since he was cremated before a necropsy could be performed" is so very true.  It obviously could have been a number of things and not even relating to his prior symptoms as you mentioned.  My son did mention the possibility of getting a necropsy to find out the reason when I called him right after the dog died, but I questioned whether or not he could afford to do so.  I didn't know what that would cost.  Now I'm wondering if I should have done that.  The peace of mind in knowing what happened may have been worth it.

Regarding the lumps - the owner of the crematory mentioned they could have been nothing as well - he said he's seen lumps on dogs the size of both of his fists put together that were removed successfully with no complications.  Yet, his wife told me about their dog that they had to put down (sheltie) who had numerous similar lumps which were cancer-related.  The dog had to eventually be put down.  Her description of her dog's stools at the end described exactly my son's dog last stool.  The bottom line is I guess we'll have to live with not knowing.

Thanks for your posts. You've been helpful and I appreciate your responses.

[ginger899]

One lives and learns when it comes to dogs. The more experience one has, the better to learn what to do next. It can be a bit scary when you realize that they often show signs of serious illness when it's too late to do very much about it. That can depend on breed to a great extent. Some are built like little battleships (hence mine. He was a Jack Russell. Only World War 3 could have really bothered him!) My dog now, is a bit of a wuss. If she gets bitten by a tiny ant she runs to me for help. If she passes wind, she looks dismayed!

You can't blame your son for thinking it could have been arthritis. That's the first thing anyone might think of when a dog shows stiffness or difficulty rising or jumping into a car, etc. It still might have been. The exact cause of death wasn't established. It could have been something unconnected to that gradual loss of mobility. Also, the lumps.....they may or may not have been connected.

[joniem]

I'm sorry about your dog.  It's not easy going through something like that.  When you say a Senior Blood Panel over 8 or 9, and my son's dog was only 9 - maybe he wasn't really considered a "senior"....?  His difficulty getting up and down over the past year or so probably wasn't due to arthritis like my son thought but rather something else...?  I don't think my son had him to a vet in the past year at all, but that's something that should have been checked.  You know what they say about hindsight. I'm only guessing that that was a part of his problem because it was much more difficult for him to get up and lay down on the day he died - it appeared to be more in his backside - which was where those 2 lumps were.  We also have a pet of our own who is only 2.  I'm definitely going to keep the Senior Blood Panel in mind for him.  Thanks!

[ginger899]

Well, he was running around just fine till one day when we were in a field and he suddenly didn't want to go anymore. He was 14. But very active, and apparently healthy. He didn't seem to have 'slowed down' at all!
I carried him home that day, and at dinnertime he didn't want to eat (very unusual) Then he started to tremble. I took him straight in to the vet that evening. The vet thought it was a tummy upset, and gave him something to settle his stomach. Later that night he ate, and seemed better till about 2 days later when it all happened again. When he did a 'business' I noticed his stools looked flattened a bit, and he was having a hard time expelling them. Sometimes he'd lift his leg to pee and nothing came out. The vet asked for a urine sample, and it had blood in it. They gave him antibiotics. He was a little better but still not right. So the vet did an x-ray and other tests, and discovered the tumor. It was huge and inoperable. No radiation or chemo would have helped, besides I wouldn't have wanted to put him through chemo at his age.
He lived another 2 weeks, quite happily. Occasionally he needed Rimadyl and muscle relaxants. Then one night suddenly he couldn't pee and was in some pain. I took him in to the vet and they tried drugs, but those didn't work. That night I had him put to sleep.

I think the only thing we can do for senior dogs (say, over the age of 8 or 9) is to have a Senior Blood Panel done at the vet's every year to check for many possible problems going on. Some things wouldn't be detected of course, but it would give a pretty good picture of the general health, and any changes that might be going on under the surface. Then there would be a head start with treating anything that cropped up.

In UK it costs around £130, it can be less, or a little more. That would be approx. 250 dollars. I am having my dog tested this year, even though she seems very fit and well.

[joniem]

That's basically what the vet's wife said when she found out he died - that he must have had something really serious going on to die so suddenly after first showing symptoms that something was wrong.  But I'm wondering if the stiffness he's had when rising and laying back down again or the lumps on his back thighs or anything else mentioned in my first post were first symptoms of something that may take time to develop that would eventually cause him to die suddenly the way he did.  

Although the vet's wife also mentioned that it's highly likely that the vet wouldn't have been able to help him if it was something that serious - that would cause him to die so soon after showing obvious signs of being ill - that "if only" I would have done this or done that - would it have saved him?  If I had driven him elsewhere earlier, would it have saved him?  I guess I'll never know without knowing for certain why he died, but I'm hoping someone can shed a little light on more possibilities or reasons for his death by recognizing certain symptoms and comparing them to their own experiences.  Thank you for your insight.  I'm hoping others will respond as well.  Out of curiosity - what were the symptoms your dog showed the last 2 weeks?

[ginger899]

I am sorry he died. I know he wasn't your dog, but your son's, but still, it is very upsetting.

The thing that bothers me about dogs generally is that they are so stoical, it can often be at the eleventh hour when they start to display symptoms of illness or distress. With the dog I had before, he ran around quite happily with a huge cancerous tumor on his bladder and prostate. Of course, I didn't know it was there -didn't know he was ill until the last two weeks when it was too late to do anything about it.

Unlike humans, with dogs it can sometimes be that we don't get much of a warning before a serious illness makes itself noticeable.

[Ghilly]

I'm very sorry to hear about your son's dog.  It's never easy to lose a beloved pet, and when it is sudden and unexplained it makes it even tougher to come to grips with.

It's very possible that he did have cancer.  Cancer CAN be a cause of the stool being green, but there are numerous other causes as well, so that's not a given just because he passed green stool.  Bile is bright green, but as it moves through the intestines and is processed by the body, it turns brown.  When there is green in the stool, it means that the food has passed through the bowel faster than normal, which is the case with diarrhea, so it is often green when diarrhea is involved.  

Unfortunately, everything is going to be guesswork since he was cremated before a necropsy could be performed.  

Ghilly