a beloved doodle's sudden death - searching for answers :(

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Hi,

I apologize in advance for the very sad and somewhat lengthy tale I'm about to tell. The reason I'm sharing it is to hopefully protect my family's remaining dogs :( 

About 2 weeks ago, my sister's friend's dog became very ill and suddenly died. The dog suddenly began vomiting and being very lethargic- she took her dog (about 5 years) to the vet and while there overnight, Lucky died in his sleep :( My sister was of course concerned about the safety of her schnoodle Odie, who had recently played with Lucky, and also my doodle (Reggie), my mom's dog, and my other sister's 2 doodles, Bentley and Oliver. She told us all what happened - that the vet was not able to determine what killed Lucky, but that we should all keep a close watch on our dogs, since they had all played with Odie recently. We were all so sad for Lucky and our friend. :(

About 3 days later (last Saturday), my sister's standard goldendoodle Bentley, 4 years old, vomited twice in the night. He was still acting playful and energetic, so she didn't get too worked up - our dogs all throw up at lease once every couple of weeks, eating grass, too much rawhide, etc. About 2 days after that, he began vomiting more, and acting lethargic, (though no fever or diarrhea) so she took him in. The vet performed a bunch of tests and xrays and couldn't figure out what was wrong, though his white blood cell count was really high and it showed a lot of gas in his GI system- they hooked him up to an IV and gave him an antibiotic, no improvement in 24 hours, so decided to do a surgery to see if there was something stuck in the intestines that could be causing the gas/infection. The results of the surgery were that nothing was IN the intestines, but the intestines and bowels were not moving/working. 24 hours more of IV and antibiotics... Bentley briefly got a little better, walked around and pooped outside, seemed very happy to see my sister, then a couple of hours later suddenly took a turn for the worst and passed away :( He really was the most wonderful dog and companion, and as I'm sure you all can imagine, our family is just devastated by his death.

While our hearts are broken over the loss of Bentley, we are also very concerned for the well-being of the other dogs :( Though most of the info above is what I was told by my sister, at one point she was too upset to call the vet so I called for her (the vet happens to be our very sweet uncle) and talked to him about what was happening. I asked about Parvo (the other dogs are all puppies and have recently been vaccinated) and he said no, Parvo symptom is low white blood cell and Bentley's was high. I asked what he thought was happening, and he said his best guess was that maybe Bentley ate something that was toxic to his system. He said that he thought if it was some kind of contagious disease, the other dogs would have fallen ill by now. My family and I have wracked our brains - we are all SO careful about what our dogs are around, so we cannot figure out what he could have ingested that would have poisoned him. The clinic is doing additional tests to try to figure out what happened, but my fear is that we'll never know.

I guess my reason for posting is this - has anyone experienced or heard about an illness like this? We are all stunned at how quick and serious it was - Bentley was SUCH an active and healthy young dog, and this appeared and killed within a span of a week. What could have poisoned him to affect his GI like that? Could it have been some kind of tick? (He has had lyme disease, though they are vigilant with the flea/tick treatment). Or was it some kind of virus/bacteria? Could he have gotten it from Lucky? (He didn't play with Lucky, but Odie did, and Bentley played with Odie... could Odie have carried the illness without getting sick?) Are all of our dogs at risk? They are all behaving as usual, although Bentley's brother Ollie has been crying a lot :( but they DO all, all of a sudden, have very runny noses and are sneezing/sniffing A LOT. Could that be allergies? Or indicate something more serious? My sister said Bentley wasn't sneezing/runny nose before he got sick. We are all trying not to panic, but are worried about our beloved dogs :(

Any advice or input would be very appreciated.

Best,
Stephanie

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Thanks Lori. They are a really sweet and special pack <3

[Gail and Bailey]

I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved dogs.  My deepest sympathy goes out to your family!  

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Thanks, Gail

[Jen and Annie]

I am so so sorry to read this story. I could not imagine what you are going through. I don't know where in the country you are located, but I always worry about Annie when she sees a frog or toad, because she always wants to approach them and investigate. I know that some frogs and toads excrete a very toxic ooze as a defense mechanism, that can cause dogs to get very sick and even die. . It may be a long shot, but it was the first thing I thought of, because I have to watch Annie like a hawk after a heavy rain when the toads come out. Other than toads or frogs, I would also look into what type of plants they might have gotten into, like the others mentioned.

[Vicky &amp; Cassidy]

I have nothing to add, but I just wanted to say how terribly sorry I am.

[Nick Goodrich]

I would like to share my story. We got Bella, a laberdoodle, 5 years ago.She was a loving, mischievous addition to our family that we simply adored. Our older laberdoodle initially tolerated Bella but came to love her as we did. They played endlessly, loved the water and playing Frisbee. If you visit my Facebook, you will see just a few of the thousands of pictures we took of our girls. But it all ended to soon...

A few months ago we noticed that Bella had thrown up. Upon our closer examination, we determined that Bella was not eating, she would drink some then throw up. It didn't take long for us to react in full sick puppy mode. My wife is a nurse and she recognized that Bella had lost some weight. I had noticed that she did not play Frisbee near as much, tiring after just a few minutes... On a Thursday we noticed more lethargy and throw up and immediately called our vet. They quickly got Bella in and upon weighing her, we noticed more weight loss...

They put her on IV's and asked if she could stay a few days for examination. Leaving your pet for the first time is hard to do but we felt she was in very capable hands. I visited every day, they allowed us to come on the weekend, so we could continue to visit and let her know she was not abandoned. Also, we noticed that even tho the IV's helped with her hydration, her weight was still dropping, she was not able to keep anything down...

One week later they suggested exploratory surgery as they thought she might have an object stuck in her stomach-I quickly agreed. Friday afternoon they called and said Bella was no better, the surgery found nothing but unusual spots on her intestines and stomach. Her stomach had "lumps" which they feared might be cancerous...

They suggested we take her to a learning hospital and recommended the "Missouri University School of Veterinary Medicine" in Columbia, Missouri. We flew out that night to Columbia. We admitted Bella to the E. R. at the hospital, they met us with a gurney and a staff of interns. Very professional! They restarted the I. V.'s and admitted her for care. They assigned a small staff of interns to watch over her.

The next morning we met with the chief of staff at the hospital. She confirmed that Bella was very ill. She suggested a nasal feeding regimen. We quickly approved all measures to get her well. We left Columbia and returned home. Twice daily, some times more, we would get updates from the staff and the chief of medicine on Bella. Unfortunately, it was never good... her weight continued to drop, she was very weak.

Finally, a week later, the doctor called to say Bella had been suffering as she could not swallow and that bile had been backing up into her throat. She was so weak, she could only stand to empty her bladder-there was hardly nothing in her stomach... We scheduled a visit for Friday morning. We flew up early, a very quite trip, the answer to our question was so evident, but we could not discuss it. Upon our arrival the doctor met us and tried to explain that there were no more options; we quickly said we do not want to go on like this, Bella would not want this. We asked see her one last time.

Bella was able to walk in and quickly lay down between us. We sat on the floor on each side of her for a long time, the tears would not stop flowing, even now, the pain is incredible. I motioned to the vet to start the process and as the needle was depressed, Bella looked up and grinned her silly smile, closed her eyes and died in our arms...

Afterwards, we arranged to have her cremated and the remains sent to us. We also asked that they continue the research on the biopsy's they had done so that NO other puppy would ever suffer like this one...

Nick H. Goodrich

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Nick ~ I just read your heart-wrenching story.  You loved Bella so much and tried to do everything possible for her.  I am so sorry for your loss.  Sweet Bella - RIP.     

[Leslie and Halas]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Donna Bay & Buzz]

Oh I am so sad and sorry to hear this.  Last April, our 7 year old pure bred German Shepherd died from what sounds like very similar symptoms.  It was the day after Easter, so we questioned if someone had fed him something but we knew that was highly unlikely.  He started vomiting Sunday night and by Monday morning, his stomach was distended and he became lethargic  Within minutes (not even enough time to throw clothes on to rush to vet emergency clinic) he stopped breathing.  Total shock.  We still don't know and will never really know.  There was some speculation of it being "bloat" or "twisted stomach" but since we never did an autopsy it was never confirmed.  My husband has reason to think it may have been lawn fertilizer that was put down just days before.  We now have a 1 year old Goldendoodle and she is kept off the yard for several days after any type of treatment is done.  Even then I am nervous.  I'm ready to say screw the grass.  I would rather have dead grass then a sick or worse yet, dead pet.  Best wishes with your other pups.

[Leslie and Halas]

I'm so sorry for your family's loss.  I hope you can get some answers, just to get some closure.

[Nick Goodrich]

Thank you all for the kind words. Sometimes talking about this is a kind of therapy, it does help. To follow up some, the tests ran eliminated most everything you could think of; fertilizer, antifreeze, poison, etc etc. And my other laberdoodle never missed a meal... The doctor in Columbia hinted at a massive infection based on the white blood cells and fever. They went on with the testing for two weeks without any determination of cause. Very mysterious...