# Anyone have an idea?



## Sadie12 (Oct 9, 2012)

My four year old shih-tzu passed away on Sunday morning. 
Here are the details.
On Wednesday, I had her at work with me. At about 1:00pm she started licking the air furiously, I know this often means they have an upset stomach so I gave her some water and kept an eye on her. Within half an hour, she returned back to normal. She was fine until Friday when I got home at about 9:30pm and noticed that her head was cocked to one side and she was walking a little bit off balance. I looked in her ears and noticed that one ear was very waxy and red. I thought maybe she had gotten into a spat with one of the other dogs or maybe got scratched while playing with the cat so I cleaned her ear and she seemed much better. She was still walking a little bit weird so I thought maybe she had an ear infection (she had the cleanest ears, normally). I put some ear drops that I had from a shih-tzu I fostered in her ear and thought I would give it until the morning to see how she was doing. She started drinking a huge amount of water (to the point where she looked bloated) and threw up some of that water. This is where things get a bit complicated. 

She was a raw fed dog for the past 3 years. I am planning a vacation for in about a month from now so thought I would try to give the dogs a bit of kibble here and there to make certain meals while traveling, more simple. She got about a quarter of a cup of kibble in the morning. I figured she was probably drinking because the kibble had made her very thirsty and I know she doesn't drink unless I'm there with her. She also had a habit of eating excessively and would often drink too fast and throw up a little bit of water. She was throwing up water and completely undigested kibble. One of my other dogs also threw up some of the kibble so I thought "ok, clearly this doesn't agree with them". 

Everything was ok after that for a few hours and we went to bed. 

In the early morning she had thrown up what looked like a HUGE amount on partially digested kibble and while I was cleaning it, I noticed she was walking VERY differently than normal and seemed significantly off balanced. I called the emergency vet and they told me it was probably an inner ear infection that had been festering for a while and the pain of it could be making her nauseous. I packed her up and went to the vet (An hour drive) and in the car she threw up a significant amount... and would randomly whine and then scream. By the time we arrived, she was very lethargic and not capable of walking well at all. 

The vet said it looked as though she had eaten something toxic and decided to give her an IV as well as a round of antibiotics via the IV. Because it was a long weekend, I was told I had the option of leaving her there until Tuesday or waiting for the IV to finish and then bring her home. She was looking much better but decided to leave her there because of how far I live from any emergency clinic. 

I called at around 5pm and they told me she was still very lethargic but was able to walk properly. She passed away that night. 

Other details
-My large dog also threw up some of the kibble and had very loose stools after. She's 65lbs and had about 3/4cup. 
-I gave my cat about 4 pieces of kibble (also raw fed) to keep him busy while the dogs were eating, he had extremely loose stools after as well. My other shih-tzu who ate the same amount as the one who passed away, was completely fine. 
-There is absolutely nothing that could be toxic to them in my home. Every cleaner, every plant... everything is pet friendly. The only opportunity she would have had to eat something toxic would have been while at work on Wednesday. I work in a pet supply store and everything, again, is pet friendly. The only thing I can think of would be that maybe a customer dropped medication or something. Would that be a reasonable timeline is she did ingest something toxic (especially considering her odd behavior on Wednesday).

I'm wondering too if she could have had a very bad reaction to the kibble (as my larger dog and cat seem to have had as well) which could also account for the ear being gunky. 

Sorry for the length of this post. Even the vet doesn't understand the timeline for the events and I'm having a very hard time now knowing. 

Does anyone had any ideas?
Thanks


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## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

I'm so sorry for your loss - that's awful! What brand of kibble did you feed? It sounds like the kibble was the cause, since you had multiple animals that reacted to it (except for the one dog). It could be something in the processing of the kibble that caused it, since they were normally raw fed. 

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

Was a necropsy done? It's so hard to guess at what happened but I'm very sorry for your loss.


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## Sadie12 (Oct 9, 2012)

Hey,
Thanks for the quick response. I gave them Acana which I honestly think is one of the best kibbles... I can't imagine that there was anything wrong with the kibble itself unless it was truly just a VERY strong reacting from her. It's also what she ate for the first year of her life.


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## Sadie12 (Oct 9, 2012)

No, I didn't do a necropsy. Honestly, when they called I just said "ok, I'll have to call you back" and it took several hours for me to compose my thoughts as well as being in full blown panic mode because of the other dog who had started acting sick. 

Thank you both for your condolences.


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

How awful. I am so very sorry for your loss.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

So sorry to hear about your dog's passing. It is very difficult to tell what happened. I have never heard of kibble being the culprit, but something in my gut tells me there was an underlying issue.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

Wow, that is terrible. So sorry for your loss.


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

I am so very sorry for your loss, I know all to well what you are going through the not knowing why a young dog passes so sudden. I lost my 5 year old boy Max almost 3 weeks ago it too was so sudden with no reason, I have made myself crazy trying to figure it out.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

I am very sorry for your loss. Having gone thru similar I can understand your since of need to know what happened. My boy died 9 years ago at around 4 years of age (he too was part shih tzu) and to this day I still wish I knew what happened to him.

My sincere condolences. Things like this remind me to never take life for granted..


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## lily (May 16, 2011)

Sorry for your loss,karen


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