A very sad story & input needed

[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 & 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

[Christine & Camus]

I'm really sorry to hear this, but have nothing more to suggest other than perhaps contacting the Vet school at the University to see if they have any advice to offer.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I just read the update. Please try to make sure the media gets told of this. Publicity may lead to answers.

[Star and Goldie]

I absolutely agree! You need to contact the media ASAP. they will do the serious investigation side and hopefully get some answers.

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Let's hope!

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Good idea, F

[charlotte bednarsh]

The more I'm reading the comments, the more I feel you should contact the veterinary school in your area.  If there appears to be a cluster of cases with similar symptoms, the vet school would probably be aware of an outbreak, or would probably want to track the occurrences of a cluster of unusual illnesses, and explore potential causes as well as treatments.  The media is a great idea because more people might come forward if this has happened to their beloved pets.

[Stephanie & Reggie]

I definitely plan to. Our vet actually went to school there, so there's a chance she can connect us with someone right away. I don't have the details on what happened to the third dog. Hope to get some more info about that tomorrow. Poor pups :(

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Stephanie, I'm so sorry to read this post. It's just nightmarish. I think others have made some great suggestions as to possible causes.  Other things that came to mind are whether the dogs had any exposure to chemical fertilizers or pesticides? Also we have problems in this area with blue-green algae causing our lakes to become toxic at times. I see you also have this problem in parts of Wisconsin. When the algae is in bloom it is deadly if ingested.  Were the dogs swimming in a lake or pond recently?  I hope you can get answers and soon and that there are no more dogs effected.

[Stephanie & Reggie]

Hi Ricki,

Re: fertilzer/pesticide. I'm not sure about Lucky, and actually not sure about Bentley either? I will ask my sister. I have to say I really doubt it (we are so careful) but I will ask. Our dogs haven't been in any lakes this year - we are actually worried about algae and other bacteria that is often in the lakes in early summer, so have been avoiding it. But thanks for the ideas. I'll keep everyone posted on what we find out.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

While certain kinds of lawn chemicals (especially certain types of weed killers) can be dangerous to dogs, the effects are rarely this devastating and immediate. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Insecticides are the fast killers I think since most of hem are neurotoxins.

[Stephanie & Reggie]

I did check into all of the areas the dogs have been playing - no chemicals or insecticides... but I did think of that as well.