Older Dogs Death

Question
Hi,
  I hope I can give you enough info so that you can help us.
This all happened within a period of 5 days.
My husbands 11 year old rottweiler mix refused to eat on Monday. Tuesday, he still would not eat and was lying around more than ususal. On Wednesday I called the vet and made an appointment for Thursday.  On Wednesday he started vomiting, just a frothy substance.
On Thursday he was still lethargic, vomiting and was starting to have diarrhea. That afternoon my husband tried to get him in the car for the vet appointment and couldn't get him up.
He called the vet and rescheduled for Friday morning and asked his son in law to help get Zack in the car.
The vet said that Zack was dying and was suffering and asked my husband if he would like to put Zack on an IV until Monday or have him put to sleep.
My husband said he didn't want zack to suffer anymore and because of his age, decided to have him put to sleep.
My husband was so upset that he didn't ask for any blood tests to find out what happened.
Now, we are both having a hard time because we wonder if Zack could have been poisoned. (we have another dog and are worried for her)
My husband also said that Zacks temperature was below normal (96 degrees)and that he noticed a bad oral odor coming from Zack in the car on the way to the vets.
I know we can't redo what we should have done, but maybe we can have peace over losing our beloved friend.
Thank you,
Sherry Moore

Answer
So sorry for your loss.  It is never easy to lose a beloved pet.  But is sounds like he was very sick and sufferring and at 11 years old, he did have a good life and your husband made the right decision.

My guess would be that he was in Kidney Failure because this will cause poor appetite, bad breath and vomiting.  To be on the safe side, I would recommend that you have a chemistry screen done on your other dog to rule out any potential poisoning so treatment can be started early.  However, in Zack's case, I believe it was due to old age.

Take care,
Dr. Fry