My brothers dog died tonight...

My brother had an 8yr old Bison, from a rescue. they got him about 6 yrs ago. His name was Louie. Anyway- yesturday afternoon (after running around all morning and being fine-) he all of a sudden wouldn't respond to my sister in law. He dug a hole in shale and laid there- lethargic. He vomited a few times and also had loose stool. They thought maybe he ate something bad? Anyway- they took him to the vet today- She said he was very dehydrated- and would do xrays & blood work. She called them an hour later- and said he was on a respirator, having coinvulsions and she was doing CPR......what should she do, let him go or keep trying to save him? ........He passed away a few hours ago.
My brother has 3 other dogs, one of them a new puppy- about 3 mos old. They also have like, 20 chickens.....which yesturday- Louie was playing with. What the heck could have caused him to get soooo sick, and die?? ANY IDEAS????? Please help.........
I told them an autopsy shoudl be done- my brother agrees, my sister in law says no....she can't do it & wants him home asap.................
Write back soon!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sorry for your families loss.
The only way that you might find out for sure what the cause of death was would be by a necropsy. Didnt the vet get an idea of what the problem was through the x-rays and bloodwork? There are so many things that it could have been, it might not have been an external cause, could have been something like liver, kidney or even brain problems. Maybe they could talk to their vet again and see if the vet can shed any light on it.

 

There are so many different things that could be.

It sounds a little like what happened to my dog Samantha, one day she was fine, the next morning she wouldn't get up, she just wanted to sleep. She didn't go to the bathroom so I don't know about her stool and I don't remember her vomiting that day. I took her to the vet, they said she was very dehydrated and they did a ton of bloodwork on her, said her kidneys were bad but they didn't think that was what was wrong. Tested her for everything, did x-rays, finally said they thought it may be cancer but didn't know so I took her to the emergency clinic/internal specialist and he was able to do more bloodwork and finally an ultrasound that showed she had chirrosis (sp? - what alcoholics get) of the liver and she was dying of liver failure and kidney failure. They said it had been chronic but didn't really bother her until that day, that day everything just shut down. They said there was nothing they could do that would make her any better - her liver was shot - they could do things to prolong her (blood transfusions, etc.) but she looked so miserable I had them put her to sleep. I'm crying just writing this. That is just my story...but like I said, it could be a number of things. The vet told me so many different things that could be wrong with her with her symptoms, some of which were contagious, etc. so I would do the autopsy or at least do bloodwork for the sake of the other animals.

 

Yes, I also have trouble with the thought of a necropsy but in this case it is worth it to make sure there wasn't poisoning of some kind that could endanger the other dogs. My dog died suddenly two years ago and I couldn't bear to do the necropsy. When I got Nala about 2 months later, I was consumed with worry and would follow her around the backyard, wondering if we had some poisonous plant or mushroom or something that she was going to eat and die. It was horrible.

Peace of mind is a very good thing.