Limping, trouble breathing and then dog died.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh, I am so sorry. This sounds like such a tragic situation.

I'm afraid I don't have an exact answer for you. It sounds like this could have been some type of an allergic reaction, perhaps to an insect sting. Another possibility could be if you have venomous snakes in your area, it could be a snake bite.

In a cat, I could connect the limping and difficulty breathing by saying it was some type of a stroke, but this is quite uncommon in dogs.

The other things that I can think of would be quite rare. One possibility could be if he had somehow electrocuted himself. Electrocution can cause extreme fluid buildup in the lungs. So, we could connect the respiration issues and the limping issues if perhaps he electrocuted himself by touching a live wire with his leg. But, more commonly electrocution is caused by biting a live wire in dogs. This shouldn't cause limping.

You didn't mention if the limping was in the front or hind legs. If it was the hind legs, sometimes what looks like limping is actually weakness due to extreme blood loss into the abdomen. This can happen if there is something like a ruptured spleen tumor or a serious trauma that caused internal bleeding of perhaps the liver.

While we will never know what happened, I can't think of anything that would cause these symptoms that would be likely to be treatable if you had been able to take him in to the vet sooner. This was obviously a very serious problem.

I wish I could do more for you. Please know that this was not in any way your fault.

Dr. Marie

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