My dog died

Question
Hi, I am hoping you can help me get some understanding about my dog's
death. She was fine until 11 p.m. weds. night. She started vomiting all of her
food up. I new it was odd so I took her to the vet the next morning. The vet
did a heartworm test and it came back positive. I could not afford the
treatment that very day so I brought her home. She was drinking A LOT of
water put throwing most of it up. The vet told me to give her imodium so I
did. She stopped vomiting but continued to be listless. At about 9 p.m. she
had what I thought to be a light seizure. It lasted a few seconds then her
heart started pumping really hard but she seemed to be fairly alert. She was
holding her head up looking at us. We decided to bring her in for the night.
There were no more seizure like episodes until 2:30 a.m. she started having
violent seizures that never stopped. I've never seen anything like it. She
eventually died around 5 a.m. My husband and I have been wondering if she
could have been poisoned. To add to this she was a stray that we have had
for about a year we had another stray we took in at about the same time we
got Gypsy (the one that passed away) that left a day before all of this
happened and haven't seen her since. That's why we wonder about possible
poisoning. When she was having the violent episodes she was foaming at the
mouth. My husband and I are at a loss. We just do not know what to think. I
do understand that heartworms are a major illness. It's just really hard for me
to believe that what we went through last night was caused so immediately by
heartworms. If you can help us understand it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Answer
I am so sorry for your loss. No, the heartworms rarely cause instant death. Drinking water and vomiting are not generally signs of heartworm disease (heart problems, edema, liver problems from the heart problems are more common). It is possible that a blood clot from the heartworm in the heart went to the brain causing the seizures.

I think you may be right that your dog was poisoned because of the suddeness of all these problems. You did nothing wrong.

I do hope you will do some research for future dogs and not go the other end of the pendulum and use too many drugs to "prevent" heartworms in your next dog.

When you are ready, please visit my web site for suggestions to keep any other animals you have now or in the future healthy for many years. Or read some of the posts I have made here.

Remember that she wants you to remember all the good times you had together and not just the tragic end.

Dr. Christina Chambreau
HealthyAnimals@aol.com
www.ChristinaChambreau.com