This all happened several years ago, but I still wonder what happened...

Willie was 8 years old, still acted like a pup and didnt have a single white hair on his muzzle, a male neutered golden retriever. We'd had him since he was a pup. Three times he'd had weird episodes, almost like seizures...the first time was after he came inside from going out to the bathroom...this was when he was 3-5 years old. he laid on the floor and i sensed something wasn't right. It's hard to explain but he was completely disoriented. He tried to get up but just rolled over, and tried to walk but couldn't really. We got the vet on the phone but as we were talking, he got better and then was fine.
Several years later he had another similar episode, not quite so severe or as long. And about a month before he died he had another, but i wasn't there to see it. Otherwise he was a very healthy dog.

One morning a friend of mine was over. We were playing with him and he was acting totally normal. A couple of hours later we decided to go to the barn for a trail ride. Before we left I noticed he was acting a little strange. He didn't come when I called, and I walked over to him and he just ignored me completely, which he did on occasion but it was weird to me because it was so out of the blue. I got him up, got him to drink a little water, and left.

A couple of hours later I got a call from my parents. They said he was sick and had to take him to the vet. I didn't realize it was serious but they said they'd pick me up on the way. I got in the car and was shocked, the poor dog was completely limp and seemed to have a hard time breathing...it's hard to explain but he took one big breath and then there was a pause before the next one. we got to the vet they took forever to come out and get him. Then they took him in the back to work on him.

needless to say, he didn't make it. they told us that his heart stopped and they tried CPR but it didn't bring him back. i wish they would have let me go back there and be with him, i had a feeling he wasn't going to make it and i know it would have made both of us feel so much better. but that's beside the point...does anyone have any idea what could have been wrong with him? we didn't get an autopsy done...I wish we would have but the day after he died he was taken away to be creamated and I was too much of a wreck to decide about the autopsy before that.

i know it's almost impossible to diagnose something just from a post, but i was just wondering if anybody had any ideas about what might have happened?

Meghan,
Sorry to hear about your dog, though it was some time ago, it never gets easy. I saw that nobody had replied to you and I didn't want you to think that nobody didn't care.
These symptoms are unfamiliar to me. Wish I could help.
Thing to remember is to not beat yourself up on the choices you made. I'm sure he doesn't blame you.
I'll keep these symptoms in the back of my mind, so if I hear of it, I can reply to this message.
Brandi

Really sorry about your dog.
It is impossible to diagnose, indeed. I don't really know what happened to him, but it reminds me of my first Giant Schnauzer who had a heart attack when he was 9 years old. Never thought him ill before, as he was very active, he played like a puppy, and he tried any trick to swim daily, at least to get wet. We checked his liver, his kidneys, his eyes, his teeth as he got older, but never questioned his heart state. After the attack, he just moved extremely slowly and had hard breathing. His heart beat was totally irregular. He survived for another year. We went to the vet from twice a day to twice a month, depending on its analysis. They told me how to do for first aid if a second attack occurs, but they also told me chances were low. Even the vets could not save him at the last attack. They also told me it happens to big dogs, even if it's not quite common.

Hi. Sorry to hear about your golden. We had a spaniel many years back who who have seizures very irregularly. Our vets tested for everything and could find nothing. He would at times be looking off in the distance at nothing really and seemingly unaware that we were even present. Other times he would topple over. We were told at the Vet College that it was not epilepsy. They were at a loss.

He lived for 13 years with these episodes and was never really a strong dog nor an active one. Seizures that had been once a year or so did get much worse and no medication would treat them. We then noticed that the skin around his neck seemed to be getting thicker (or so it felt like). We took him back to the vet college and more testing showed advanced Cushings Syndrome.

This is a lack of functioning of glands producing natural steroids in the body. Without proper functioning odd diseases can crop up. They warned us that they were surprised he hadn't had strokes or heart attacks given the severity of the disease. We tried to treat him, but he worsened by the day. He would have episodes of difficult and labored breathing lasting a day or more. We finally put him down as the vets diagnosed he was having small strokes and heart attacks. It just wasn't fair to the dog to try to keep him alive when he wasn't comfortable or able to do what he once could.

Who knows if this is what was wrong with your dog, but it lets you know (along with the other posting mentioning heart rhythm problems) that it could have been one of many things or a combination of problems from genetics (breeding) and not a disease.

I guess vets can't always know the answer to everything.