For those who have lost a puppy-if there are any veterinarians out there, please read

At about 12pm, our dog (my gf and I) Buddy passed away. He was 14 weeks old and the scenario of his death is just super strange. He was normal and playful Friday and Saturday. Friday night we were watching a movie and my gf noticed some wiggling on her. It turned out it was a tapeworm larvae that came out of Buddy's rear. We freaked and did some research and found out the medicine for a tapeworm is inexpensive and works pretty well. So, we go to bed and she takes him to the vet saturday morning.

Saturday morning, they come back and the medicine that was given was Drontal. We had these 3 chewable tablets in the shape of a bone. The vet said to take one and a half of these pills and in 3 weeks, take the other 1 and a half. Buddy was 7.7 lbs, so toxicity shouldn't have been a concern. So we did it and everything was normal with his behavior that day. Throughout the day, he had to urinate a lot, I would estimate about 12-15 times. Well, they said some side effects of the Drontal were possible vomiting and diarrhea. So, we figured that peeing is not a problem, since the medicine is probably just flushing everything out. Saturday ends and here comes Sunday.

Sunday is when the vomiting started. Anything he was eating, he was throwing up. Like I mentioned, vomiting was a possible side affect of drontal, so we're thinking no big deal. We would lower his amount of foods and several mins later, he'd throw it up. He was still acting normal as far as behavior, just couldn't keep food down.

Monday, I go to grad school and she takes him to the vet. They say it might be a sensitive stomach, b/c the drontal shouldn't be doing this stuff. So, she gets some sensitive stomach food, some Amoxi tabs and some Metaclopromide. These things were supposed to help w/ the upset stomach and to keep the food down. Well, that didn't work and he continued to vomit. Some food went through digestion b/c he would poop still and he was peeing as well. He was a little sluggish and lethargic, but that is common in anything and everyone who spent 2 days vomiting.

Tuesday I wake up to Buddy gagging. He was still throwing up. Once he calmed down, I took him outside and he peed and pooped. That was the last urination he would do for over 12 hours. My gf took him to the vet after I left for school and I was in contact w/ her throughout the day to check on his progress. He was left there and they hooked him up to an IV to pump some fluids and glucose in him. He also had a catheter put in which he wasn't making any urine the time he was there. He was also jaundice throughtout his body. Lab work said his BUN and creatine were way up and that we were to take him to a specialist to be ultrasounded.

We took him and the results showed that he had a stomach lining that was a 1cm thick, when normally it's about paper thin. The radiologist said he had never seen one so thick and it is especially puzzling in a puppy. His kideys were also bright which he thought was showing inflammation in there which would explain the lack of urine production. Well, we take him back to the vet w/ the news and they hook Buddy back up to the IV and catheter and that we are to take him to an overnight animal hospital to be monitered.

Upon arrival, he is weighed and then proceeds to pee on the scale. I felt like doing jumping jacks b/c that was big news. They suck up the urine w/ a syringe and take his vitals. They admit him and tell us to call anytime. HIs medicine that night was for more fluids, a dopamine drip, lasix hourly, mannitol, pepcid (for the irritated and swollen stomach), ampicllin for a possible Leptospirosis infection, and Chlorpromazine. They had to be very agressive about getting his kidneys to work or else there was no hope. We leave and are exhausted as all get out. I had a horrible night sleeping and was dreaming/thinking about that scenario the entire night and even woke up in a cold sweat. We called the overnight hospital at 10:30pm and 5:45 am to check on his progress. He was producing urine, but they didn't know if it was the right kind of urine - the kind that also had the waste that needs to be excreted.

We pick him up at 7am Wednesday morning and take him back to his vet. They hooked him back up to an IV and we were gonna wait until they drew more blood to check his BUN and creatinine levels. When the results came back, they were lower than b/f, but still too high. They were going to test his urine to see if it was the good kind of urine. If not, there was no hope of getting him well and we would have to put him down.

While we were waiting for the call, I just got a feeling that I wanted to see him. My gf's mother was w/ us and she wanted to see him as well. As we were getting into the car, the vet called and said that Buddy had a heart attack and died. So we rush over there and say our goodbyes.

It was a very weird situation b/c 3 doctors didn't know what happened. We live on a 3rd floor apt and so he never gets out of our sight. He did have a tendency to eat grass and dirt sometimes, which is where the leptospirosis may have come in. He never ate poop and never ate garbage and never came into contact w/ any kind of chemicals except frontline flea medicine - he didn't have any fleas, but b/c he likely got the tapeworm from ingesting a flea we didn't want to risk it again (frontline was put on him Saturday).

The company who makes Drontal asked for our permission to perform an autopsy to see what happened. Of course we agreed. Hopefully something can be learned from what just happened. His leptospirosis test is supposed to come back tomorrow(Thursday) and we'll find out if he was positive or not for that. If he is negative, we have a super mystery on our hands with 2 broken hearts.

Thanks for reading this long.

 

We live in Round Rock and we got him from breeder in Corsicana. He was a boston terrier. I am a fan of that breed if more of them are like Buddy; he was great.

 

No, breeders name was Michelle.

 

I already had that planned. When we first got him, I gave her updates on his progress. I will write her again, but I'm just waiting to find out what caused his death first.

Thanks everyone for the support. I have a science background and took an anatomy class where we had to disect ago dog. I don't know near enough to offer suggestions to the vet, but my mind is driving itself crazy still trying to solve this mystery. Hopefully the test results will help add some closure to this situation.