MY female dobie is very sick.

star-pants

Oh that's awful!
I honestly don't know anything about getting a post mortem on a dog, but would your vet know? I guess if you can get it done at least it'll stop you wondering what it was /what if etc.

Don't beat yourself up about it if it is anti freeze - accidents happen - we can watch them 24/7 and 2 seconds you blink. Plus it's only a 'might', and if it's true - it's something you know you'll be extra careful about in future. I can understand how you must be feeling though.

iguana

Our old vet carried out that autopsy on our pup who died a few years ago. We had initially thought that Dinny died from damage caused by a shard of bone he ate on a walk. But the autopsy showed up that it was paraquat that he had eaten 10 days before he died. I can't honestly say what effect the result of the autopsy had on us. On the one hand it was devastating as my husband took him to the vet immediately after he ate the bone so if we had a clue then about the poisoning we could have stood a chance of saving him. On the other it meant we could alert the council to the poisoner and keep Dougal and later Toby out of that park.

Alfasudcrazy

Well I have decided to get the autopsy done anyway just to clear the air so to speak. What I find puzzling about the antifreeze theory is that my other two dogs were out and about too and they are fine and never at any stage looked out of sorts.
I know that they all watched each other like hawks and any thing one dog investigated / sniffed the other two had to check it out as well.

But at the same time the symptoms and time frame involved would tend to support ingestion of antifreeze.

gypsygirl

I'm so sorry for your loss Alphasud, its awful to lose a dog so young, we lost a 15 month old dobie a few years back, he had eaten a cob from the corn and it did seriousy internal damage and despite two operations, he died from the injuries, it was awful but now I remember the good times with him. I was looking at the pics of Bonnie in your other thread, what a beauty, absolutely perfect dobie. Congratulations on the new addition, of course she won't replace Bonnie but will hopefully ease the grief a little, I wish you many years of happiness with all your dogs, have you decided on a name yet??

lrushe

I'm not sure of any individual vet who does autopsies but I'm sure the veterinary college would be able to help.

Irishcrx

I'm sorry to hear about Bonnie passing, do you mind me asking what the cause was or if they even knew, she was so young. Best wishes to you and your new pack member.

NewApproach

. didnt realise the dog had died

Alfasudcrazy

The autopsy has been done and the results are presently inconclusive. Samples have to be 'sent off' for testing but I am not confident dog autopsyies are taken very seriously here.

Apart from wishing to know why my baby died from my own peace of mind perspective I feel its important to know for the safety of the rest of my dogs.

Was it something I did / did not do. Something in the food / enviornment in which they slept etc - all these questions are floating around in my mind.

I had to hand her back to the cremation place today and even after undergoing an autopsy she looked so qute and peaceful - all curled up as if asleep as I often watched her do. It used to relax me. I gave her once last cuddle and itched the back of her neck as she demanded me do to her so often.
My new Dobie is a dream too but still she has not stopped me shedding a tear or two every day since she passed.

iguana

Alfasudcrazy wrote: »

Was it something I did / did not do. Something in the food / enviornment in which they slept etc - all these questions are floating around in my mind.

Could your dog have gotten access to raisins? One of my dogs went into kidney failure in September and we were told raisins were a likely cause of the problem. We never give them raisins, obviously, but I've since noticed that someone keeps leaving raisin-bread in the park as bird feed, which I suspect Toby ate.

GinaH

Alfasudcrazy wrote: »

Electronic Fence collar.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1551&d=pg_dtl_art_news&h=243&f=0

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-news.php?t=37868

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6983279.stm

star-pants

PAWS animal Res wrote: »

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1551&d=pg_dtl_art_news&h=243&f=0

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-news.php?t=37868

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6983279.stm

All three of these refer to shock collars (for training) only.
None mention the fence collar.

GinaH

The are one and the same. Electric shock is electric shock

http://www.dogtrainingireland.ie/articles/DTI_18122007_ElectricShockCollars.php

iguana

PAWS, I think that bringing up this topic on a thread about the death of someone's beloved pet is incredibly distasteful.

peasant

PAWS animal Res wrote: »

The are one and the same. Electric shock is electric shock

No, they are not the same.

I'm no great fan of the electronic fence either (used to have one) but that's mostly to do with its unreliablity.
If you do the training for the perimeter fence correctly and if you put it up in conjuction with an actual physical barrier, the dog will only ever get shocked once, if at all.
It is not an instrument of torture and in areas where a proper fence can't be put up for whatever reason it is much better than no fence at all (or couping the dog up in a tiny cage, a so called "run")

TooManyDogs

peasant wrote: »

It is not an instrument of torture and in areas where a proper fence can't be put up for whatever reason it is much better than no fence at all (or couping the dog up in a tiny cage, a so called "run")

I agree. I had a choice of getting an electric fence for my dogs or a 12ft x 7ft run to put 4 dogs in while I was at work, I couldnt afford to fence in my half acre (was quoted €6k for supplies alone, not labour)

Now I have a quater acre fenced in and have stopped using the electric fence but it was far better for the dogs at the time than a tiny pen.