Chat
07-01-2014, 10:42 AM
Sadly, our good friends lost their LGD last night. I was there with them when he passed at the vet's office. Very sad for everyone and we are all still grieving, he was a Pyrenees / Anatolian and would have only been 2 years old in November. "Teddy" faithfully guarded their dairy goats and was a loving member of their family. The vet is at a loss for what could have taken him. The strange thing is, out friends lost their house dog, an older smaller breed last week. He was found lying on the floor listless and would not get up or even pick up his head. He died at the vet that night. The vet believed he'd had hear issues and had a major heart attack. This was a house dog and never really had any contact with the LGD or the goats and he never went in the pasture.
The very next day, Teddy was found out in the pasture and was also l listless and would not get up or eat. he would occasionally thump his tail or lift his head a little. I cannot give a great history here because I do not have every detail of the vets findings etc, but they took him to the vet and this was a repeat of the exact same symptoms he'd had several months prior, which were immediately reversed with I believe a steroid shot and some anti-biotics. They wormed him also just for good measure. In fact, a year earlier my Anatolian had the same symptoms and he too got better right away with the same treatment. However, Teddy did not improve much and yesterday morning he's stopped drinking, had not eaten for 4 days. They got some water in his mouth with a syringe and he did swallow it. Vet got his blood work back from the lab yesterday morning and everything was normal with his blood work. His breathing had been labored but in the last few days got a lot worse. Yesterday evening my friend had to go somewhere with his daughter and a short time later his wife came over and had checked Teddy and found he'd taken a turn for the worse. By her description I told her he needed to get to the vet right away. We went over and loaded him up and rushed him to the vet. His breathing was very labored, his gums had lost their color and I could tell he was not getting much air at all. A white froth was coming from his mouth. Amazingly he still managed to thump his tail a few times when he saw me. I've seen too much to be very optimistic but was hoping the vet could pull something from his bag of tricks to pull him through. The vet hardly had time to evaluate him and not 3 minutes after we got there Teddy took his last labored breath in a room full of two crying and heartbroken families. The vet tried doing CPR and injecting adrenaline into his heart but he couldn't get any air in with the ventilator...I think his lungs were completely full of froth.
The vet is at a loss. He is going to check on some things with the CSU Vet Dept and try to figure out what happened. The vet did say something about Teddy having lost some weight since he had last been in and he was a little concerned about that. My friends cant afford to pay for an autopsy but they very much want to find out what happened and don't want to risk getting another LGD until they know.
The only thing the two dogs really shared in common was their food, Victor brand, which I am not familiar with but is supposed to be a premium brand. My friend is trying to find a lab who will test the food. They also have another dog which had been eating the same food, a 4 or so year old Spaniel and he is fine, although they have stopped feeding that food just in case.
The vet did mention something about a rare disease where the muscle degenerates, I believe he said degenerative myelopathy. But this is apparently very rare and usually strikes older dogs. This was very sudden and Teddy never really exhibited the symptoms, he was just down one day; suspiciously it was the day after their other dog died. Prior to his Teddy had been healthy, happy, and loved. He was a beautiful dog, about 120 pounds of gentle giant.
Hoping someone here might have some insight as to what may have been going on. I could get more details if need be. Prayers for the family would be appreciated, they really loved both dogs and are devastated. They are at the Doctor today with their youngest child who has been throwing up and having stomach pains ever since Teddy died last night.
Thanks
Scott
The very next day, Teddy was found out in the pasture and was also l listless and would not get up or eat. he would occasionally thump his tail or lift his head a little. I cannot give a great history here because I do not have every detail of the vets findings etc, but they took him to the vet and this was a repeat of the exact same symptoms he'd had several months prior, which were immediately reversed with I believe a steroid shot and some anti-biotics. They wormed him also just for good measure. In fact, a year earlier my Anatolian had the same symptoms and he too got better right away with the same treatment. However, Teddy did not improve much and yesterday morning he's stopped drinking, had not eaten for 4 days. They got some water in his mouth with a syringe and he did swallow it. Vet got his blood work back from the lab yesterday morning and everything was normal with his blood work. His breathing had been labored but in the last few days got a lot worse. Yesterday evening my friend had to go somewhere with his daughter and a short time later his wife came over and had checked Teddy and found he'd taken a turn for the worse. By her description I told her he needed to get to the vet right away. We went over and loaded him up and rushed him to the vet. His breathing was very labored, his gums had lost their color and I could tell he was not getting much air at all. A white froth was coming from his mouth. Amazingly he still managed to thump his tail a few times when he saw me. I've seen too much to be very optimistic but was hoping the vet could pull something from his bag of tricks to pull him through. The vet hardly had time to evaluate him and not 3 minutes after we got there Teddy took his last labored breath in a room full of two crying and heartbroken families. The vet tried doing CPR and injecting adrenaline into his heart but he couldn't get any air in with the ventilator...I think his lungs were completely full of froth.
The vet is at a loss. He is going to check on some things with the CSU Vet Dept and try to figure out what happened. The vet did say something about Teddy having lost some weight since he had last been in and he was a little concerned about that. My friends cant afford to pay for an autopsy but they very much want to find out what happened and don't want to risk getting another LGD until they know.
The only thing the two dogs really shared in common was their food, Victor brand, which I am not familiar with but is supposed to be a premium brand. My friend is trying to find a lab who will test the food. They also have another dog which had been eating the same food, a 4 or so year old Spaniel and he is fine, although they have stopped feeding that food just in case.
The vet did mention something about a rare disease where the muscle degenerates, I believe he said degenerative myelopathy. But this is apparently very rare and usually strikes older dogs. This was very sudden and Teddy never really exhibited the symptoms, he was just down one day; suspiciously it was the day after their other dog died. Prior to his Teddy had been healthy, happy, and loved. He was a beautiful dog, about 120 pounds of gentle giant.
Hoping someone here might have some insight as to what may have been going on. I could get more details if need be. Prayers for the family would be appreciated, they really loved both dogs and are devastated. They are at the Doctor today with their youngest child who has been throwing up and having stomach pains ever since Teddy died last night.
Thanks
Scott