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Death of my lab

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My 12 year old lab died last night. Could you please help me with what happened? It started in the morning after his walk. He had trouble getting up my steps, not unusual. He was ovweweight and had leg and hip problems his whole life. When I brought him in the door he seemed to fall. He then lay down and stayed put for a while. A little while later he got up and moved to the rug. Thinking is was his hip, I covered him and put a heating pad on him for a while to make him feel better. He refused to get up to eat, but seemed to be resting comfortably. Moved around a little during the day and just rested. Dinner time came and he refused to eat. Still staying put in basically one spot, but we did get him up to pee outside with a little difficulty. Didn't think much of it because it was snowy outside and we thought his leg and hip were bothering him. Later that night he layed on his side, not belly as before and his breathing was very heavy. Didn't seem to really know we were there. Would not even drink water. Sometime between 3 and 5:00 am - I fell asleep by his side he died. What do you think happened. I am so upset.

Symptoms: Breathing, Drooling, Lethargy, No Appetite & Anorexia, Collapse

Could I have saved him? If this was what it was could I have done something to save him or prolong his life. I would really appreciate your opinion. Thank you

One Response to “Death of my lab”:

  •   Cristina Bettencourt says:

    January 26th, 2009 at 09:26 PM

    I'm so sorry you lost your dog. 

    This is just an educated guess.  Unless you had a autopsy (we call it necrospy) on your pet, we'll never know what happened.  One common old dog disease that I see cause sudden death is a ruptured splenic tumor.  They bleed into the abdomen.  Sudden weakness/inability to rise and white gums are the signs.  Bleeding from a mass around the heart can cause similar signs without the pale gums (they don't lose as much blood-the heart gets compressed and can't pump effectively).  Heart failure can also cause signs like this. These are the most likely things that come to my mind..... all bad and not always treatable.  Hope this is helpful.....Once again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

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    Cristina Bettencourt
    Love to help you with your pets! We're located around the corner from Churchill High School at Blanco Road and West Avenue in the great city of San Antonio, Texas. Go Spurs Go!

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