On Tuesday, my year and half old, 4 pound chihuahua puppy died at the animal ER. I had her six months from the Humane Society so I don't know her entire history but she was high energy and healthy. I came home after work around 5:30 and let my dogs out to pee in my fenced back yard. I don't leave them unattended but they have been known to eat juniper berries in one corner (i spend my time shooing them away from stuff) and some bird poop. I had my eye on her the whole time BUT could she have grabbed and swallowed something in the four minutes or so? it was dark
they had dinner and the next 5 hours the dogs were on the couch with me and nothing eventful occurred. as i got ready for bed, i assumed she was under a throw blanket (they are all under the covers all the time) but there is 20 mins or so where i didn't see her. i went to bed and some dogs- including her- typically come in a few minutes after. 10 mins later she gets on the bed but uncharacteristically, she sat and was staring off into the other room. i touched her and said 'honey, do you see something?' but she just stood still. after 5-10 mins, she was still doing it so i shined a light on her and her eyes were squeezed shut as if in pain. i didn't mess around and jumped up and drove to the emergency vet in that moment. I guess i just felt something incredibly off. They said she had a low heartrate and asked 'could she have gotten into pot? she seems stoned'. i don't do drugs and live alone (but i am in NV, one of the states that has had an explosion of medical marijuana). I also don't take medications of any kind nor have Advil where they could get at it. They ran blood tests which were clear (but i was told THC doesn't show up). they kept saying 'toxin' and queried me about any poison, medications or toxic substance she could have gotten into (they even asked me about rat poison!!). they ultimately kept leaning towards her getting thc thrown into my yard. they were observing her and she stopped breathing; they performed CPR, tried to push lipids through to capture toxins and then she was on a ventilator as she was brain dead.
-i asked about trauma (could she have fallen off the couch?) and they and my primary vet agree that puppies are more resilient than that. -I have crumbs and old kibble under the oven and all my dogs have stuck there noses under there (they have enough room for that but not enough to open their jaws) so i have wracked my brain if crumbs that had cleaner on them that over time toppled underneath there but the vet's reaction was that this was something swift and awful. She went from fine to dead, no vomiting etc. but THIS is the closest i come to 'something toxic in the home'. (and of course feel like a horrible monster i didn't vacuum under there)
-She DID have an event: On the Saturday, i think, maybe Friday, she choked on a treat. she wasn't coughing, etc so i felt her airway was totally blocked. after panicking and doing back pats, etc, i finally did a finger sweep (which i stupidly should have done in the first place) and she was good and totally normal BUT BUT she seemed hypoxic during it as after patting i put her down and her back legs started to rag doll. I don't know if it was 1 minutes or like 3 all said and done as i was so panicked. i took her to the ER right after but for 15 mins in their lobby, she seemed 100% so i didn't go into the back with her. the following days, she seemed unaffected. i asked the ER vets if this was connected but they felt, with no loss of consciousness, this wasn't likely.
I talked to them one more time last night just to see, after consideration, they felt differently but they maintain 'thc dog'. the records are being reviewed by my primary vet and she initially said it almost seemed like venom (i guess black widow is only suspect but it IS winter). She said to give her more review time and now she thinks hydrocephalus. I think she doesn't like the pot theory at all but isn't a year and a half too old for hydro? we only spoke for a few minutes; i will talk to her in detail tomorrow. i don't believe she knows about the choking event. Anyway, any input from everybody is welcome. I am stunned, heartbroken, feel guilty and responsible and can't sleep. I have other chihuahuas to look after and don't want another death. Are people throwing their joints around??? wouldn't 99% of pot cases be pot USERS with dogs?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ad72xi/chihuahua_died_unexpectedly_and_i_am_still/
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