Our dog Marley passed away today - update from FB

boyohboyohboy wrote: I posted this morning that our dog marley has passed away.

The day after Christmas, we let Marley have a ham bone, just the bone, no meat. I thought it was ok, It was thick and was larger then he was. He had it about an hour. So when we took it away, it was almost immediate that he started peeing all over. He wasnt potty trained yet but he wasnt far off either. So this was not in his character. I thought maybe the bone was to salty and he had gotten to much salt and was just going frequently because of that.
So that lasted abot 24hours, then stopped. But he started to vomitt for about 24hours after that. Again, no other symptoms, and he seemed ok other wise, we discussed taking him to the vet if he didnt stop in 24 hours, but he did stop and returned to his normal self. Then once in a while, here and there, he would vomit, nothing else.
So yesterday, at 4pm, he was playing with the kids, and then he just kinda sat down weird, like his legs went behind him like a bull dog while one of the boys was petting him. He just there like that. I asked the kids to let him alone and I watched him and he never moved from that position. I realized that I dont think he could move. So I turned him on his side and laid him down. He never made a sound, his eyes were alert, but I thought something was up. I kept an eye on him.
But really from that moment he never was himself again. He never moved again, but he was alert, he responded with licking me when I pet him, but he couldnt get up. We dont have an animal hosp near us, and by the time my husband got home at midnight, we knew marley was dying. He didnt seem to struggle, but it was the longest night ever, we checked him every 15 mins. and he died at 530am.
I just dont know what it might have been, maybe a bladder infection.
I spoke to our vet today, and she said we could do an autopsy but I am not interested in doing anything more to poor Marley. They are going to cremate him and then return him to use in a few weeks.
The kids are heart broken. Especially with all we have gone thru with the murder of my BIL this past year.
My husband seems in a stupor, he said he had never seen anything die before and he was watching Marley when he took his last breath.

Just so absolutely heart breaking.
that dog I swear had such human qualities and personality.
He is missed.

PrairieMom replied: that sucks so bad. I'm sorry.

luvbug00 replied: I'm so sorry. my heart breaks for you! *hugs*
I know it would really be pointless tp autopsy. Dont stress yourself out about that.
just to ease your mind though:
The Ham bone should have been fine. We give them to our dogs all the time, along with every other animal. The only bone that we dont give is chicken. splinters too easy.
What I'm trying to say is not to worry that the bone was an issue.
It also might have been bloat. Which is common in bulldogs, mastiffs and larger breeds and breeds of cirten stature.
Bloat has no known real cause.. rumor is food then drinking water causing the stopmach to start expanding too fast, or exersize after eatting or drinking..Charlie is crated doesnt move at all (crate time) after food or drink for 30 or 50 min. as to help prevent it.
But no matter what you do Bloat has no true prevention method, it's a follow a buch of rumors and pray.

coasterqueen replied: I am so sorry Stacy for your loss. Pet losses are terrible.

Maybe something from the bone got lodged in his throat? I'm not sure. I know you aren't supposed to give animals cooked bones, but I honestly don't know why. Could he have gotten a hold of chocolate or grapes or a plant like a poinsettia from Christmas? It seems so weird to get sick so fast like that.

coasterqueen replied:
I didn't even think of bloat, but her dog wasn't a large breed. Bloat is scary stuff, too. We had to take Gavin in one time because he was showing signs of bloat after an incident.

boyohboyohboy replied: Marley was kept in a large play yard if he was not under direct supervision. He slept in a crate in our room at night.
So I know he didn't eat anything he shouldn't have. We also always put him on a leash when he went outside, he was never outside alone.

I don't recall any piece of bone missing. He was sneezing a lot, but no drainage.
Other than the increase in peeing, which had stopped, then vomiting for 24hours.which also stopped on it's own.
No diarrhea, not really lethargic until the end.

I think just as his caregiver it's my fault. He didn't do anything.
He was only 10 months old.

my2monkeyboys replied: Stacy, I am SO very sorry!!! I know your kids are heartbroken... probably you too.
Unfortunately unless you get that autopsy done you will never know what killed him. But I wouldn't do it either... it always seems so mean to me, even though they'd never know it.

coasterqueen replied:
Stacy,

It's NOT your fault. Not at all

As far as dogs not getting into anything, heck my dog has eaten chocolate so many times because Kylie has left it somewhere and then she didn't tell me right away, etc.

He could have gotten the flu. I hear doggie flu is not good at all.

grapfruit replied:

I saw your post on FB so I logged on here. I'm so sorry for all of you. I agree, not your fault!!! A friend of mine used to get cow knees and pieces of hog from the butcher for his dogs. I'm sure it was nothing you guys did.

jacobsmama replied: Stacy,

I know how you feel. We had something similiar happen to us a few years ago. Our kids were too little to remember but it is devestating and not knowing and worrying yourself over it is crazy.

Just know that everyone knows you loved that dog and that you would never put it in harms way. Sometimes things happen that we dont understand but I know God wouldn't want you to blame yourself for something you couldn't control.

XOXO
Kristi

msoulz replied:

ITA with everyone else - not your fault.

From what you describe I wonder if he had a stroke? Regardless, he was loved very much for the time he had here and that is all you could have done.

CantWait replied: I'm so sorry Stacy. It's not your fault, you did everything you could for him.

A&A'smommy replied: Girl its NOT your fault... weird things happen to dogs ALL the time. He could have gotten into some dirt and picked up a parasite, it could have been the flu (have you guys had it this year sometimes they will pick up a bug from you, even a stomach virus.

I'm so sorry for your loss!!

MommyToAshley replied: Your post brought tears to my eyes. I am so sorry ((HUGS)).

~Roo'sMama~ replied: I'm so sorry Stacy, how awful for you guys. It's never easy having a pet die, and to watch it happening and not be able to do anything must have been horrible. Don't blame yourself! It could have been anything, and even if it was the bone, it's so hard to know what you can and can't give them too... once we gave our dog a cooked ham bone, thinking he'd chew on it awhile and then be done with it. He chewed it up and ATE it in about 5 minutes, then threw the whole thing up on the kitchen floor.
I'm so sorry for your loss!