dying dog

Question
I have (had) a 4 year old Inuit sled dog whose (5) pups are 9 weeks. She had
not been loose for at least five days prior to her death (and so could not have
gotten into any kind of poisonous substance in that time period). She had
been in excellent condition until the night before her death. Deterioration
was rapid - about 12 hours. Puppies and mom lived outside in the snow
(normal) but we brought her in the house when we realized she was sick. She
laid on a wooden floor with radiant heating (after spending her life outside)
but never panted. She had very dark pink gums. No stomach distension or
pain on palpation anywhere on her body. We gave her sub-cutaneous
lactated ringer's - she was not dehydrated. All puppies and mom were walked
and fed (kibble in the pm, seal in the am - normal for this place and breed)
twice a day for weeks prior to her death. Puppies have thrived. The first sign
that something was wrong was that she seemed unable to hold her foot
properly when walking and walked on her joint, foot facing backwards. She
was very weak and unresponsive . She appeared thirsty but immediately
vomited up all water - probably about 1.5 litres, the same amount we gave
her subcutaneously during an eight hour period. Two normal stools in a
twelve hour period. At one point in her deterioration she was unable to get up
at all and we transported her in a tablecloth... and she was completely
unresponsive. Later she did get up and ask to be let outside (she then had
enough coordination to scratch at the door) and curled up in the snow to go
to sleep and died.  Though she'd been offered a caribou skin to lie on - which  
older dogs generally appreciate, she'd declined this in favour of a snow bank.  
I've been raising and working this breed of dogs for almost 20 years and I've
never seen or heard of anything quite like this. Any ideas?


Answer
Lynn this is really beyond my expertise. Dark pink gums can mean many things from some sort of toxic exposure to some type of illness she picked up.

I suggest you re-post this to one of the vet's here and ask the same question. Just copy and paste it in the question box to save time.

I hope you can get some answers but most vets will tell you that without a necropsy there is no way to know for sure what it was.
I am so sorry for your loss and I hope you find the answers you seek.
If you do find out, please let me know.