Terrier Dont
How did my rat terrier pass away so suddenly?
My 8 year old son has a rat terrier thats about 6 or 7 years old. He died suddenly yesterday, right after he was playing with his other dog. He had a physical just 3 months ago, and they said he was fine! My son is devestated, and I dont know how to explain this. He’s had this dog since he was 2.
First, you have my sympathies. To lose a loved pet anytime hurts a lot. For your son, I’m sure it’s especially painful.
Second, in the short-term, the focus is on your son. It’s okay for him to grieve. One of the great things about dogs as pets for boys is they’re an “okay” way for boys to show sides of their personality and emotion that would get them labeled as gay or girls by their peers. Stuff like crying, like showing love and affection, like being gentle, like hugging. You can talk to your son about what a great owner he was, about what he remembers most about his rattie and what made him so special as a dog. You can set up a memorial to his dog (planting a tree is a good one or you can get a rock engraved with the dog’s name). Another thing: take some of his dog’s stuff that you don’t need right now (especially food and chew toys) and with your son, go to an animal shelter or rescue group and donate them. Yes, it will be a little painful to see other dogs but your son will also be clear that despite his pet’s death, his dog is now helping other less fortunate pooches. All of these things will make your son a better dog owner in the future and a better man and human being.
Third, causes of death…obviously none of us know for sure. Only a necropsy will tell you definitely. But it’s going to likely fall into one of two categories:
–chronic health issue that general tests won’t display. Stuff like a heart murmur. Most chronic health issues (renal failure or cancer for instance) give off strong hints: the dog can’t hold down food, urinates excessively (or can’t urinate), has no energy, is disoriented. So most chronic health issues wouldn’t be in play.
–a sudden issue that came into play. Dehydration or overheating are strong possibilities. A normally healthy dog with strong drive (duh–describes most rat terriers) in hot weather may really have too much fun. It doesn’t happen often but there are cases every year of dogs that get overheated and unless you correct it quickly (fluids, cooling down the dog quickly) it can be fatal and in a short period of time. Another strong possibility is poison (or consumption of something that is poisonous). In most cases you’ll see shakes and vomiting (though not all). But that’s also a very good candidate for a sudden death.
Sudden death (assuming your vet didn’t miss something chronic and progressive like a cancer) is rare in dogs. But it does happen. Here is a list of the most common forms of sudden death in dogs:
–hypoadrenocorticism (Addison’s disease)
–subaortic stenosis (a defect in the aorta that can cause sudden death)
–aneurysms
–thromboembolic events (usually pulmonary) — blood clots that lead to sudden death
–cardiomyopathy (weakness of the heart muscles, can occur secondary to viruses or parasites like Neospora caninum in dogs)
–supraventicular tachycardia — this is the event that is probably most commonly called a “heart attack” in dogs, even though it is not like heart attacks as are seen in muscle due to arterial blockage, which are fairly rare in dogs. Other types of arrhythmia are also possible causes of sudden death.
–bleeding events — these can occur for no apparent reason but we see sudden death from hemangiosarcoma tumors which occur due to bleeding induced by the tumors and it is sometimes the first sign of a problem. Some vets label these as being among the more common causes of sudden hemorrhage in patients six years of age or above
–strokes are also uncommon in dogs but do occur sometimes
–parasites — there are reports of sudden death associated with lungworm infection, Neospora caninum infection, roundworms, hookworms and heartworms in dogs.
In any case, if your dog is a pure-bred rat terrier that wasn’t obese, it should live to somewhere between 14-17 years.
staffordshire bull terriers, the staffie don’t shame the breed
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Tags: dog, dogs, homemade, male, terrier dont shed, wanted
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 2:15 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.