What could have killed this dog? Symptoms listed.?

Question

Before anyone starts trash talking, this wasn't my dog. It was my brothers and I personally think he should have taken it to the vet months ago, but my brother never would. This dog was a blue heeler. For the past year my husband and I have both thought it had mange, because its fur was falling out and it had sores on its body. It stopped eating a few days ago. One eye was kinda glazed over and the right side of its face was paralized. Well, it died some time last night. I know my brother won't have any testing done on its body, since obviously he wasn't overly concerned with its health before it died. Any suggestions for what this could have been?

And before anyone suggests that I call animal control to report him, we don't have one. We live in a small country town, and the local sheffifs department will not "waste" time dealing will reports of animal abuse. I have heard it before from them.

Bob: Your preaching to the choir here. But unfortunatly I can't make my brother do anything. He is an adult, though not a good pet owner, and can go tomorrow and get another one if he wants one.

This dog was only about 5 years old. And he has looked sickly for a long time. I have suggested over and over for my brother to get it to the vet, but he always said it took too much money to do that because vets want to do too many tests. Duh?!? I am in debt now for vet bills on my babies, but that is what it takes when you love your dogs.

But like I said, I can't make my brother never get another dog. I can suggest it, but he can do what he wants. Sadly.

Maureen: I appriciate your help, but to answer your question, me and my husband didn't try to take the dog, because #1: my brother wasnt willing to get rid of it and short of stealing the dog from him, how could we "take" the dog from him? #2 I have 6 dogs of my own to take care of and we are in NO position to take on another one.

Even if it was a living creature, my brother owned it and if we had just gone in and taken it, it would have been stealing.

Goyo: So now this is my fault??? Because I didn't commit theft, risking getting arested (which my brother could have done if he had wanted to), by stealing the dog? I have children. I am not about to steal an animal from anyone and risk me getting put in jail or having a huge fine. I offered to take the dog to the vet myself and I constantly stayed on my brothers case about getting the dog vet care.

Somehow I knew someone on here would take this and turn it around on me to be my fault, even though it wasn't my dog. Typical of some people on Yahoo answers.

Fisherwoman: You have some nerve! I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't neglect this dog, my brother did. Just because I didn't go into my brothers yard, steal the dog, risk bringing whatever the disease it had into my yard with my dogs, risk getting arrested (and oh yeah, my brother would have called the cops if I stole something that belonged to him), doesn't make this mine or my husbands responsibility. Short of forcebly taking the dog, we did what we could, by suggesting over and over that my brother take the dog to the vet and by even offering to drive it there myself. I have even called the sherriff office, for your information, and they wouldn't get involved.
So I guess according to you, me and my husband should have taken a shotgun and gone to his house and put the dog out of mesery ourselves. Sorry, but I am a mother and my first responsibility is to my kids and I was not about to get arrested for shooting someone elses dog. Must be nice to be perfect like you! Oh please!

Answer 1

I am not going to tell you that you did the wrong thing. I think
the dog probably had cancer or suffered a stroke. It's to bad
that people don't take care of thier aniamals. People who really
do care understand the suffering that the dog most likely went
through. They rely on us to do something, and is our responsibility to do what we can.

I have several dogs myself and I know what can happen if you
bring in a sick pet and you certainly don't want that around
your children either.

Your brother should be horsewhipped and I will gladly do it for
you. It may be against the law to take someones pet, but
for a second think about this in another way. What if it was a
child, would you have just let it suffer to. Your not to blame
but alot of people like myself love pets and I would have more
but due to laws and financial reasons I can only have as many
as I do. I wish you had said something before the pet died,
maybe you could of gotten some help in another way.

I am glad the pet isn't suffering anymore, but your brother
can't be a very good person. The next time you see someone
doing something like that to a pet, call another town, and I am
sure someone will do something.

Answer 2

Hi, there is the possibility that it was mites, also known as mange and scapies. They burrow under the skin and at first all you see is small places where the hair gets thin, but then as it progresses the dog ends up with whole patches of bare skin and sores begain to appear. The mite presence on the dog slowly but surly wreaks havoc on the dogs amune system, and very often left untreated can end up with the dog getting a serious infection. How long it takes is up to how healthy the dog was to begain with. I have never seen mites at the point when the animal dies and never want to, so I don't know if paralizing happens, but it could, and I wouldn't doudt it if the infection is what caused the paralisys. I am not an expert on the matter, but that is one of the possibilitys. Hope that helps

Answer 3

Well aside from absolute negligence on the brother's part, it sounds like some type of parasite. Usually the come from the dirt and unless they're treated, they will begin to infest the animal. First they produce sores and then they cause serious mange. Once the dog's health was failing from the state it was in, it could have suffered a stroke which would account for the paralysis.

And I'm sorry, but I would never have let the animal suffer for that long, regardless of whether there was animal control or not!! I would have kidnapped it and taken it to a better place myself if I had to! I am an animal lover and my take on animal abuse is, if you stand by and let it happen, you might as well have done it yourself!!
Yeah, and before you start trash talking, I grew up in a small rural town too, and when an animal got really bad off and nothing could be done for it, we used a shotgun to put it out of it's misery!!!


No idiot, it isn't your fault alone, but God Almighty, how can you take no responsibility when you say that you watched it for A YEAR and were totally unable to find any way to help the poor animal. Give me a freakin' break woman!!! Most people can change their entire life in a year, but you couldn't do one thing for that animal!!! And I have kids also, but when my neighbors were abusing their animal, and we tried to help it, they called the police! Sure they did, and when the police got there and saw what was happening to the animal, they applauded us for risking our own safety and good name to help that dog! None of us went to jail, but they sure as h**l almost did. And after it was over, the dog was in a better place, not with them, and the authorities made sure they could never have another pet.
You sit back and try to wash your hands of this whole incident, but I guarantee you if you had involved the court system in your jurisdiction, they would have had the police down there doing their job.
No, really, it must be so easy for you to trash other people on here as self-righteous as you are!!!
By the way, if you don't want the answers that people give, DON'T ASK THE QUESTIONS!

Answer 4

wow!!
That poor dog....my guess he/she had mange but it is hard to really say what the dog had.
Why wouldn't you and your husband try to take the dog from your brother and care for the dog? I am not trying to "trash" you I understand the pain you must have felt knowing that your brother could be so "cold" with an animal.
I too live in a small rural area and the police department in the county that I live are too busy with meth labs and drugs, but we do have two shelters that are in the county, I would have at least contacted one of them, if the shelter got involved the dog my still be alive.
I hope your brother doesn't get any more pets.

Answer 5

sores with hair falling out in patches.. sure sound's like mange.. then again, if he isn't a responsible pet owner.. it could be malnutrition...

I know your not your brother's keeper... but if he talks about getting another dog, really try to discourge him. I have 2 dogs that were rescues.. and I am currently fostering a cockatoo.. and in all honesty animal's that have been neglected and abused are sooo hard to rehabilitate...

good luck with your brother...

Answer 6

Whether it was your dog or not, you and your husband allowed your brother to abuse this animal, what a shame. Living in a small town is an excuse, a poor excuse..............The dog very well may have had mange, but that doesn't account for the sores, those were likely hot spots and I'm not going to get into that with you, since you did nothing to help the animal, but that's not likely what killed him. It sounds like it suffered a stroke. I guess that makes it "okay", you can feel proud that your brother's actions didn't kill it, it was too strong for that to happen, it fought for it's life for a year while you and hubby sat back and watched it happen. Hopefully he died without pain, but sadly, he died alone..........Freakin' losers that have no business caring for an animal, let's just not take care of you three, and when you are wishing someone would help you, we'll just sit back and watch, cuz "we couldn't do anything about it, you are adults, right".

Answer 7

The dog could have been allergic to something, but not like a minor allergy, like a major one it would be a allerigic too. It could of been something it eat or something outside. It could also be a million different things. You should bring it up to your brother and ask him why he didn't get it tested.

Answer 8

i know what u mean won't waste time on an animal.....crap they don't do much any way ya'd think it give em something to do.other then eat all day and pull over ppl they don't like ...we do have a dog catcher but he's as useless as the cops so i call outta county where the give a darn....ok that rants over

i would think it was the mange that endded the poor things life..and a crappy one at that atleast now there is no pain... it's a skin infection of sorts ..i think never had a problem with it (knock on wood)...if he would get another animal i would find someway for getting it off of him so it doesn't have to indore any pain....

Answer 9

I'm going to let someone with more expertise than me try to diagnose this for you, but I just want to say that some states have humane investigators who are licensed through the state and not any particular county. You might check into that.

Answer 10

probably heart worm. go to your local SPCA and give them a report of animal abuse. if they dont help call up the ASPCA. and report it to them. then they should tell you what to do. That is sick what happend. In no way is this your fault. But your brother is sick