On Jul 4, 7:31*am, "Dushichka" wrote:
My dog died on Tuesday night.I don't know what happened.he was fine, just
fine until Saturday evening when he refused his dinner.He vomited a bit on
and off through the evening and Sunday, I called my vet but she was not too
worried as he was still taking water. I had an appointment at the Uni Vet on
Monday morning.Vet took bloods and tested urine,bloods ok but bacteria and
blood in urine, he said he was slightly dehydrated, so to return to my vet
in the morning for fluids and antibiotic while he did urine culture.

*Tuesday morning I took him in and picked him up in the evening --its not a
24 hr vet so he would have been alone -I was supposed to go back in the
morning.He was lethargic but responsive but not even drinking. He then
vomited brown liquid and opened his bowels, it was black and tarry,he died
( in my arms.He took 3 deep breaths and he was gone. I just cant believe
it. My vet feels it was septic shock from infection. Is this possible? I
just cant get over how he died so quickly

I'm very sorry, indeed, for your loss. Yes, septic shock, or any kind
of shock can kill very rapidly. Feet, tail and ears being icy cold is
an indicator of shock, but not of what kind. Black and tarry stools,
however, suggest large blood loss from the intestines, meaning that
his immediate death may have been from exsanguination (blood loss).
But that could have been just a late result of the shock, not
necessarily a cause. One thing, if you want to followup, is to find
out what the seven-day results were on the blood cultures. They may
have been negative at the time of death, but most cultures are left to
brew for at least 7 days and sometimes the culprit bacteria doesn't
show up until the 7th day, so those results may be positive by now.
If the blood cultures were positive, then it does suggest septic
shock, and the identification of the bacteria might suggest what organ
was infected. It may have been kidney, but there may also have been
something going on with the bowels if his original symptoms were
gastroenteric.

I am sorry to hear that they sent him home while lethargic and not
drinking, even though they are not a 24 hr. vet; I might have thought
they would have a referral service to an animal hospital for any of
their patients who become seriously ill. However, it is easy to say
that after the fact; hindsight is always 20/20 and he may not have
looked very bad at the time. I know that is no help to you now, and I
am very sorry to say anything that would add to your pain, but if you
can stand it, you have the right to request an autopsy to try and help
you sort out the sequence of events if you really need to know. That
is why I am saying it now, even though it is the last thing you want
to think about at the moment, but you only have now to decide about
that.

If you have any other animals, a good emergency plan might be to have
the number of a 24 hour service handy so that you don't ever have to
go through something like this without help or alone again. It must
have been terrible for you, and the feeling of helplessness must have
been just overwhelming. My heart goes out to you.

--tension