Lost our 9 year old boy, Timber Unexpectedly Yesterday. Please Help. - Page 1

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Val Hi King Timber

by Val Hi King Timber on 03 February 2020 - 08:02

Hi All.
I haven’t been on this website in many years. I’m going through a really ROUGH time. My heart is so heavy and sad.
Timber has always seemingly been in good health. No signs or symptoms of anything different. Yesterday my husband was in and out of the backyard getting the grill ready for super bowl Sunday. Timber was with him the whole time. Running around and following by his side. He took a 15 minute break to come inside to hang some curtains for me and went back out and immediate back in and told me something was wrong with Timber. I went outside and Timber was laying upright but he looked very odd. His ears were laying back against his head in a way I had never seen them and his eyes also looked very different. He also had pooped on himself. While my husband cleaned him up, I cuddled him on the floor trying desperately to assess the situation. His lips, ears, feet were cold, tongue was bluish and he had labored breathing. He was unable to get up and we didn’t want to move him. He kind of settled a little bit with us being there holding him and talking to him. We thought if we can get him to kind of perk up a little bit we’ll take him straight to the emergency vet. Moments later, he kind of stiffened up and had that weird look in his eyes again and suddenly his breathes were few and he was gone.
We are incredibly lost and extremely broken. How does a healthy 9 year old GSD go from happy go lucky to sudden death in under a half hour???
Now this morning I’m just reaching for any answer I can find. All we can think of is that he had a heart attack. But why at 9 years old??? With ZERO symptoms.
I would love more than anything for your replies in helping us trying to figure this out so that we perhaps may have some answers which will offer some closure.
I am also very confused that I couldn’t find any of his pedigree information here. Looked under profile and nothing. I have an account but it’s like nothing had been saved.
Thank you very much in advance for your help. And please, for me, go and hug your GSD a little harder today. 💔

Koots

by Koots on 03 February 2020 - 09:02

So sorry you lost your Timber. I cannot offer any ideas of what may have struck him other than what you guessed. I do think that he was loved and did not suffer, so in that you can take solace. Glad you were there with him to comfort him.

Q Man

by Q Man on 03 February 2020 - 10:02

It's a very hard thing to lose your loved one...I am so very sorry for your loss...It sounds like what you called it...He must have had a Heart Attack...and then maybe another that caused his death...
You must keep the positive thoughts of him in your mind...It's not good for him or for you to dwell on his loss...So concentrate on the good times and how many great moments you had together...

~Bob~

Western Rider

by Western Rider on 03 February 2020 - 10:02

His pedigree is still in the system. Look under pedigree search not profile.

German Shepherd Dog Val-Hi King Timber 9.3 years ago

DuganVomEichenluft

by DuganVomEichenluft on 03 February 2020 - 11:02

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's never easy, especially was extremely sudden and unexpected.
My 1st thought was bloat. With the stomach or spleen.
I'm not so sure about the heart, but I'm not a vet.

Sorry again.

Brandi

by Nans gsd on 03 February 2020 - 12:02

So sorry for your loss I know how deep this cuts and seems to stay with you until eternity. Especially when you do not have another dog to hug and love, hope you will consider your good times with him forever. Agree that it "sounds" like a heart attack or something just shut down. Again my deepest sympathy for you as doggy parents. Nan

 

Just for your own information I had this happen to a 6 1/2 year old Samoyed Bitch but did not find out that there was heart troubles in  her lineage for another 20 years later.  


by ValK on 03 February 2020 - 14:02

sure it's sad but take a look from another perspective - would it be better for your dog to have prolonged suffering due to physical decline, which is not avoidable with aging?

TIG

by TIG on 03 February 2020 - 14:02

So sorry for your loss. Hold tight to the good memories

Sudden death at ages 7-9 (these days used to be 10-12) is often classic for hemangiosarcoma. Hemangio is a blood born cancer that salts tumors throughout the body. The two most common locations for primary tumors are the spleen and the heart. The cancer forms tumors filled with fragile blood vessels which eventually rupture & hemorrhage ultimately resulting in a fatal bleed out. I've only known of a few heart ones Inc one of my dogs found on a necropsy and even tho the dog was gotten to the emergency nothing could be done.

My experience with the spleen version is it is not unusual to have a minor bleed which results in diagnosis but even here the damnable part is diagnosis comes so late there are few options. Spleen removal gives you 60 -90 good days. UPENN had success in a trial with a very expensive version of Turkey tail mushroom extract extending life up to a year. Unv of Minn is the primary researcher working on both early detection and treatment. I will link to a post I wrote when my Rem died from this. We know that hemangio is familiar tho it has not yet been established as genetic so if you have contact with his breeder or sibling owners let them know. They can try generic turkey tail or the boxer benedryl/ Tagamet protocol as a hopefully prophalectic measure.

Another possibility is bloat, torsion or intestinal intrasupection (sp? -telescoping of intestines) tho I believe these have different symptoms.

Bless you for loving and caring for Timber all these years.


TIG

by TIG on 03 February 2020 - 14:02

This has links and info re hemangio.Rem was a dog always by my side. When I got up one morning & she stayed on her cushy I knew something was wrong. The vet said if it was anyone else I'd say the dog was fine. We agreed on a songram of the belly and thus the diagnosis. She did well for 2 mo then another slow morning where she just wanted to lay in the sun and I knew it was our time to say goodbye.  Ah.. the damnable part of owning dogs....

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/community.read?post=785214-the-hallmarks-of-a-good-shepherd

Hold tight to the good times.


by GSCat on 03 February 2020 - 15:02

I am so sorry for your loss. Having a pet cross the rainbow bridge is really, really hard.

From your post, the first thing that came to my mind is the dog might have gotten into charcoal lighter fluid. I checked the ASPCAPro website and found charcoal lighter fluid has moderate toxicity, and to my surprise, learned that charcoal briquettes are also toxic (low toxicity unless large amounts are eaten).

If you have a propane instead of charcoal, there might have been a leak that displaced the oxygen, or carbon monoxide.

There are also many pool, lawn, garden, car chemicals, etc., and plants and mushrooms that are toxic to dogs.

Here is the Summer 2007 issue of the ASPCA Veterinary Hotline Newsletter

https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/pro/files/aspca_vlpp_summer_2007.pdf

Here is the ASPCA Pro website https://www.aspcapro.org/

I hope you are able to determine what happened.

God's peace to you and your family.
 






 


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