Why did my dog die all of the sudden ?

Question

My 12 year old shepered mix died today . He was fine this morning and than later today i found him lying on his side , trouble breathing with a blue tongue . We tried to rush him to the vet , but he died on the way there . It was terrible . What could have been the cause ? Maybe just old , or heart attack , or what ?

Thank's everybody for those wonderful and helpful answers .

Answer 1

12 is pretty old for a dog that size, I'm sorry for your loss just cherish the 12 years you had :(

Answer 2

A Vet can do a necropsy and find out for you or give you their best guess. There are many things that could have caused this, but a blue tounge and trouble breathing suggests either choking from something it got ahold of, maybe an allergic reaction, or possible build up of fluid in the lungs that suddenly took a turn for the worse, something like that.
So sorry for your loss. At his age, it could have been heart failure. If you call your Vet and describe what happened, they could give you the best guess.
I am sure this is very hard for you right now, to lose your dog and see it's pain in passing. Here's a site you might find helpful:
http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

Answer 3

Iam so sorry for your loss today. My wolf died 2 years ago of a blood clot on his lung. A blue tongue, I'm thinking that means loss of oxygen for some reason. Your vet could tell you better than we could, and again i am sorry, may god bless you and your beloved pet. And remember you guys had 12 great years together.

Answer 4

I'm sorry. Blue tongue probably means lack of oxygen. Could be a blood clot, or heart. If he choked, it was probably because of the trouble caused by the lack of oxygen not something you did or left out that he choked on.
12 is pretty old for that breed. It sounds like he was doing well before and had a good healthy life. He was blessed that he didn't have to have pain, loose his dignity and then loose his life.
You obviously loved and cared for him very well to rush him to the vet like that and to keep him going and doing fine that long.

Answer 5

Well, I have learned that animals will often hide there illness or injury, they usually don't show signs until it's really bad. This is part of their natural instict to mask weakness to protect themselves from becoming prey. So, please try not to feel as if it's your fault. As far as the cause...although without exploration it's hard to say for sure heart failure would be a possibility. Clearly there was a lack of oxygen since his tongue went blue. 12 years is a long life for a shepard. I don't know if finding out the cause of death will give you any peace but you can request for the vet to do an autopsy. I'm very sorry for your loss,

Answer 6

Dogs don't have 'heart attacks' in the sense that people tend to, as in myocardial infarctions -- those are usually the result of artherioschlerotic disease from elevated cholesterole levels leading to a closing/narrowing of the blood vessels that feed the myocardium/heart muscle. Dogs do have various cardiac conditions though -- GSDs have several valvular issues from what I recall and not knowing what he was mixed with, you can't know what other cardiac issues could have been there. People tend to fantasize about mixes being 'healthier' than purebreds but they aren't -- they are subject to the same issues that purebreds have and since the people producing them or allowing them to be produced likely didn't do any prior testing or pedigree research, the dogs had unknown health histories to begin with.. He could have had any number of cardiac conditions -- atrial fibrilation is one that occurs as dogs/people age -- it can also be triggered by thyroid hormone issues that tend to become problematic as they age and the thyroid gland starts to not function as well. One of the first tests we do with people in cardiac situations is a thyroid hormone level so that we can see if they are needing supplementation and then we deal with the arrhythmias as well but with dogs they don't do that routinely like we do with people and so you don't know what could have been going on with him. A clot from a fibrilating atria could have caused a pulmonary emboli, stroke or even something akin to a myocardial infarction but from a different source that we often see in people. I have had several dogs die like this, mixed as well as purebred at various ages -- I am very sorry for your loss...

Answer 7

Sorry to hear your loss. It is a truly painful thing to have happen. But you must pat your self on the back a Shepard living that long it great. Especially when he was fine up until now, he lived a life that wasn't pain staking for along time, he seem to of went fast.

Answer 8

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your pet. That's always hard when you care about them.

I doubt if there will be any way to really know for sure without having your vet perform a necropsy.

My sincere sympathies.

Answer 9

I'm sorry about your dog.

Your vet could do an autopsy on the animal if you really want a cause of death, but 12 is old for a large dog, hon -- and perhaps he just died because it was his time.

I'm sure it's difficult for you... take care ok?

Answer 10

12 is old for a dog that size. It could've been heart failure or something but most likely related to old age. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Answer 11

It could be any number of things. Maybe he had heart failure, or he could have been choking on something.

Sometimes pets just die. Every living creature has to do it eventually, unfortunately.

I am very sorry I know you must be very sad right now. Please don't focus on his death but on his life. If he lived to be 12 years old then he must have had a great life full of love. Remember him for the great pet that he was.