Sudden Death in 1 Year Old Golden Retriever

Question
QUESTION: Hello, My 1 year old Golden Retriever suddenly died in his sleep 4 days ago.  He was up in the morning jumping around like usual and an hour later, after laying back down, he was dead on my Parent's bedroom floor.  The vet said that there was something in his trachea, but he didn't gag, cough, nor even move. My Parents were laying right next to him the whole time.  He also hadn't eaten anything since the day before.  He was being treated with Baytril (antibiotic) and Clomipramine (in case the constant licking was a compulsive disorder) for a pseudomonas infection do to a hot spot that he kept licking and it wouldn't go away.  Do you think there could have been another underlying cause of death and he really didn't choke or suffocate?  If you have any information, we would greatly appreciate it.  We just can't seem to fathom how he could choke on something from the day before.  My Dad said he was drinking a lot of water the day before as well, and I know that sometimes means something with the heart.  Besides the hot spot, he was healthy, energetic, happy pup.  We miss him dearly!

Thank you so much!

~ Kristen

ANSWER: I am really sorry to hear about your dog Kristen! What a terrible loss.
You said the vet said there was something in his throat. Does this mean you had him to the vet's and he did a post-mortem exam on him?

If the vet found something in there what was it? If you don't remember call them tomorrow and ask them. It is very possible for a dog to choke quietly on something soft. But to be lying in front of your parents and just die would seem to me that his heart gave out. Did the vet do a complete post-mortem exam inside of him? I wonder if he didn't cough up a piece of food that got stuck in his trachea.  Again, it's very rare but some dogs have a megaesophagus which means they have pockets in their throat and that could cause a major problem too.

Nothing he was taking has the side effects of sudden death listed on them so I doubt it was one of the drugs. This might be one of those mysteries that are never solved. This is a rare thing of course but it happens.

Either way, without the pm exam it's all a guessing game.
I am truly sorry you had this happen to your sweet boy. Finding out what happened helps with closure but sometimes we have to accept that we might never know. If you find out any more from the vet please let me know.
My heart and prayers are with you.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Jana,

Thank you so much for getting back to me and for your kind words, that meant a lot to me.  I tried to respond for a few days but your messages were full.  I found out that my vet did a full PM exam and everything else was fine (including his heart), except for the foreign object lodged in his throat.  Forgive me for my lack of medical terms, but he said that the flap in his throat that moves when he breathes was stuck back and he had a hard time flipping it back over.  When he did, the object was there.  He just said it was white, something like a rawhide or something that was once soft and got hard by the time he got to it.  As he tried to retrieve it, it went further down and the only way he could get it out would be to cut it out and he didn't want to do that, considering he had looked at everything else and realized that the object was the cause of death.  The Vet said it could have been something there from the day before considering he hadn't eaten anything that morning.  It could have been lodged and then dislodged when he moved and was greeting my Parents at 6:00 AM.  See that was Willie's routine, get up around 6:00 AM, go into everyone's room and give them kisses, get all excited and then go back to sleep for a few hours in one of our rooms.  So him being up and in their faces that early raised no flags, he was perfectly fine.  Like I said in my last note, no noise, gagging or anything.  Thank you again for your responses, we greatly appreciate it Jana!

Answer
Kristen,
Thank you so very much for letting me know this. I will take this as a warning to all other dog owners that give rawhide chews. Many, many deaths have been reported in dogs over these during the last 20 yrs or so, but they remain as popular as ever.

So what happened to Willie, to put it in layman's terms, was that the chunk of rawhide had become lodged under his epiglottis, which is the flap that covers the trachea when we eat so we don't get food in our lungs, and then it became lodged over his trachea which then suffocated him.

Such a tragic accident for such a young and great dog. I really appreciate the follow up and I will not let Willie's death be in vain. I will spread the word around and we will call it Willie's Rule. "Always stay with your dog while they are chewing on rawhides and then take them away and put them up if you leave. That way they can't get one stuck like that when no one is around."

Chances are so rare of something happening like this but as you know, they do. Maybe even better would be to tell others to only give the smaller treats that they chew up and swallow.
Either way, he will be remembered. I keep all of my questions so I will always have this one.
Take care Kristen and thank again,
Jana