Hi everyone.
My St. Bernard died this morning. My husband is coordinating with the vet's office for body disposal. We're talking about possible doing a post-mortum, but not sure yet. Here's what happened:

Last night - about 8 p.m. I noticed he was a bit uncoordinated. No drooling, not dehydrated (pressed his gums, they refilled quickly), he was in good spirits, eating, drinking, active, no vomitting, no diareah. Other than the mild lack of coordination there did not seem to be anything wrong with him. Earlier that day he CRASHED into our Shep X (100 pound dog) and they both ended up in a heap. I thought maybe he pinched a nerve or something that affected his coordination.

This morning - 7 a.m. he was was more uncoordinated and extremely thirsty. He had vommited clear/yellowish fluid in his kennel overnight. Didn't think anything of the thirst initially as the dogs get kenneled at night and wake up thirsty. He started vomitting mucous and water almost immediately after drinking. He became listless and started laying around but appeared coherent - wagging his tail when we petted him, lifted his head, etc. (we're calling vets at this time looking for a clinic that's open).

About 9 a.m. - he vomits blood, convulses and dies.

Anyone have any thoughts about what happened? I didn't suspect poisoning last night as he showed no other distress than the slight lack of coordination.

I live in the desert of San Diego on five acres. He's a trash eater. The only thing that he got into recently that we know of is old food. There's no known poison around that we are aware of. We have bufo sp. toads in the area. Ditura sp. weeds.

Any ideas?

Roz.

No ideas just my prayers for you and family. nothing else to say.

Roz, I am so,so sorry. The only positive I see in a post mortem would be peace of mind so that you'll know if your other dog is in danger (ie, food, poisoning, virus, etc.) Again, I can't imagine the shock and horror of it all happening so fast. Sorry.

Roz, so sorry for your loss. I can't be of any help as to the cause, a post-mortem is probably the the only way to know for sure.

Roz, so sorry about your loss.

Roz,
What a terrible thing to happen! Just know that we are thinking of you in Virginia, and send or warmest condolences.

Geez Roz, I'm sorry to hear that. I say do the post mortem. Our condolences from Co.

Oh man, that's horrible....I'm so very sorry. How old was he? I really hope you find out what happened to him...it sounds like it could have been any number of things. Is it possible that he really cracked his head during the collision? Any pre-exsiting conditions?

What a terrible time you must be having with this. Again, I'm so sorry.

I'm so very sorry about your dog

Pancreatitis is one thing that comes to mind given the trash eating. I hope the necropsy gives you a conclusive answer.

I am really sorry to hear about your dog. Please know that you are in my thoughts and I hope you find out what happened.

After a quick googling symptoms of poisoning in dogs, this is the closest I could come to similar to your dogs symptoms and thisis also the first thing that came to mind, but I wanted to verify I had my symptoms correct.

Pancreatitis has already been covered so I did not include that one.

http://www.2ndchance.info/antifreeze.htm