My 6 year old just collapsed and died! - Page 1

I'm totally devistated, everytime I think about her I start crying again. Yesterday she was perfectly fine and this morning I went out to her kennel to let her out and she wasn't  acting herself. I immediately put her back in the kennel and then she threw up, she threw up this huge amount of brownish/red liquid. I went and got my jeep and took her immediately to the vet, the vet took an xray and he thought there was something going on, maybe a slight blockage of her intestine. He wanted to keep her there for observation and to take another xray later that day, to see if it would pass naturally. I talked to the vet several times during the day, they said she hadn't vomitted and she was wagging her tail everytime someone walked by her crate. At 3 this afternoon, the vet took her out of the crate and then she collapsed and died.  He did an autopsy and found she had mesenteric torsion (a twist in the small intestine) and he said it was almost always fatal. It mostly affects German Shepherds.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

I'm really missing my Annie, she was the most beautiful solid black shepherd and everytime you saw her she had a toy in her mouth, she would retrieve anything! Here's a picture of my beautiful Annie!

Robin

i never heard of it myself, but so sorry for your loss! she had a very sweet face.......(hugs). if you ever need to talk about it, check out www.petloss.com chat. i lost my 5 year old male gsd to bloat last year on valentine's day, he was alive but in shock when i woke up, and dead 10 minutes later while i was on the phone with the vet. those sudden losses are so devestating. so sorry.

I am so sorry for your loss. The mesenteric torsion along with bloat, has been dicussed on the board a few times, it is brought up when someone loses a friend. Robin alot of us here have lost our very best friends at some point in time. You talk about her all you want. We will listen. RIP ANNIE.

Several years ago I had a 16 month old pit bull puppy named Angel that died from torsion. She was laying on the floor in shock when I got home and by the time I got off the phone with the vet she was dead. She had also vomitted her dinner from the night before. Since she was so young and active and seemingly healthy I also had an autopsy done, and that was their finding. It was devastaing and still very sad to think about, even almost 15 years later
I am very sorry for your loss. Your dog was beautiful

Stacy

Hi Robin  I am so very sorry for your sudden lose no words can take the pain away but please always rember your Annie will always be by your side you will know this as you will feel her there take care god bless
Rosie


My friend female had the same as Annie and she lost her to my friend female died on rout to the vet she was just 4 years old

I am very sorry for your loss of Annie. Mesenteric Torsion does not always present symptoms, and can just suddenly cause death. Mesenteric Torsion is a twist in  intestines around the Mesenteris Axi, causing the blood supply to be cut off, thus the tissues necrotize. Symptoms can be  rapid onset of shock, abdominal pain and vomiting. Some believe it is also called "Toxic Gut Syndrome" and is predominantly found in GSD's. TGS is sometimes found in dogs with MT but not the cause. It was very prevelant in the 80's in Am. Bred dogs due to close linebreeding/inbreeding. Clostridium bacteria has been linked to, (as has EPI) to MT. Many people believe if you feed yogurt, or digestive enzymes it balances out the bacteria. Hope this helps in some small way, again I am so sorry for your loss.

I know how you fell.  it will be 3 years since my black girl died form having her stomach turn in a spot where it couldn't be fixed either.  She was 6 too.

 I am so sorry for your sudden loss, Robin. I experienced the sudden death of my 7 year old GSD last December.  He was my constant companion, even attended college classes with me. He was fine when I let him outside one evening and less than a half hour later, I discovered him dead by the sidewalk. 

You have my deepest sympathy and if it would help to share more, feel free to PM me. 

Renee

I am so sorry for the untimely loss of your beautiful girl.