Sudden death in kennel

[TomJr]

My female English died Saturday night. It was the middle of the night and looked like she got up and puked up her dinner. I didn't see anything but dog food in the mess.

I found her sitting funny with her head down. She did a sort of staggering run and hit the door then fell down and went into a seizer. Her whole body tensed up and she stopped breathing and I thought she had died but then started breathing again like she had been running fast and her whole body relaxed. I picked her up and moved her to her bed. Then I held her for 4-5 more of the same so she would not run into the wall again. The last time when her body relaxed she didn’t start breathing again.

There was a little slobber and foam, no blood. Also during one of the seizers she pooped a little and it looked normal.

Any ideas?

I was thinking that stomach flip thing, something she ate or a venomous bite... She also had been bred but was not showing yet, was bout 30 days in.

[Sask_matty]

You should take her into your vet for a post-mortem, it might cost you but if it is something that could have been prevented you should find out, so that your other dogs don't ever run into the same situation. Its about the only way you can really find out what happened to her.

[driftwood blue]

most likely one of 2 things

heart attack
or
stomach torsion..not always with bloat but when they twist they often vomit and death is rather quick when the stomach turns and shuts off the blood supply thus no bloating.

sad to say neither can be fully prevented
and as of yet they have not been able to make just any dogs stomach twist

lots of times the bloating happens first and will cause the stomach to turn but not always..

[Big N' Blue]

Agree with Driftwood blue. I had a female years ago that was 30 days bred and same thing happened. Stomach torsion. Sorry for your loss.

[TomJr]

I had another dog die last night, this dog was outside in our orchard 10 acre area with 6foot fence. Took this one in for a necropsy...

My thought now is poison that someone is tossing over our fence.

He was alive around 9pm when someone drove into the parking area below our house and he barked a bit. This morning after search when he didn't come when called, I found him dead and the ground where he was laying was torn up as if he had been moving his legs franticly just as Rose did between the relaxed state and the seizers.

I live 2 miles from the nearest neighbor at the end of a Forest Service road and there is a trail-head below our house. Damn Forest Service built it and the trail around our house as close as they could to our property when we closed the road that used to pass through our property. We asked them to build the trail 100 yards away but instead its less than 20feet in some places. So someone that hates hunting with hounds could easily toss something over the fence. Right now All my dogs are inside and I am watching them closely when they are outside for bathroom breaks. I don't even dare let them outside in the small fenced kennel unsupervised. I suspect its happening at night so will have to be extra vigilant and watch everyone that comes near the place.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

Most deffinately poison. Put a trail cam or something out. Call the police and notify them of whats happening, so when you catch someone in the act they don't think its being made up...

If you have a garage I'd put a kennel up in there for them, and like you said watch them when they go out. Chances are they probably won't come back thinking they did the job and that you'd be suspicious.

[bearsnva]

I sure hate to hear this. That is beyond low. If you catch them prosecute them under any law you can, including animal cruelty, and don't let the law try to dismiss this. It would seem a trail cam would be a good investment also, one without a visual flash. Hope you catch this scum if someone is trying to harm your dogs. Keep us posted.

[TomJr]

Turns out that the dog I had necropsied died to a Canine streptococcus infection, brought on by breathing in some plant material that festered in the lungs over several months. He never showed any signs of sickness and was running full speed up until the day he died...

He also said it was super rare for a dog to get plant material into the lungs so to have two dogs die... Sadly I had already buried the other dog so its too late to look at that one to see if it was the same thing.

Then he said this doesn't totally rule out poison. But given how advanced the infection was through out the whole body that he was sure that was the cause of death.

So maybe its just coincidence that I had two die with in days of each other in similar manner. But it sure raises some red flags and now I don't know what to think.

Talked to a person that lives a little more than 2 miles from us and her dog was poisoned last year but they never found out what type of poison was used, tested for strychnine but negative so she gave up due to cost. But it has happened in the area recently... so frustrating.

Maybe I should pick up a hound from the pound and let it have the run of the orchard for a month before I let my others back into the orchard. Might get some answers or maybe just end up with a new dog...