Dog died suddenly

Question
My 12 year old beagle died suddenly last night.  The emergency vet said that I could send him away for an autopsy but that it would take 2-4 weeks.  I chose not to, and now I am struggling with not knowing what happened.  Especially because I have a 16 week puppy at home.  My beagle, Charlie, was fine yesterday morning.  He had a history of seizures and had benign cysts on his body and grew more as he aged.  The seizures were untreated as they only occurred every other month or so. He had his check up in October and everything was fine. Yesterday, he ate his breakfast and then played outside all morning.  I gave him and the puppy a Super Breath Dog Bone at 2 and he was still OK.  At 5, we came home and he was acting as though he had an upset stomach- lying around and not eating. I thought the bone might not have agreed with him, since it was the first time I had given these bones. At 7pm, we went out for an errand and came back at 8.  He had gone to the bathroom in the house which was unusual.  He seemed weak so we moved him to his doggie bed where he slept.  At 10pm he rolled off of his bed and I noticed bloody diarrhea coming out of his rectum.  We wrapped him up and rushed him to the emergency vet.  Less than 20 minutes later, before we even got to the vet, he passed away.  When I looked at him after he passed, I noticed that his stomach was distended.  The vets said it sounded like it could have been internal bleeding, and that his epilepsy might have contributed to his death.  I have scoured the house and back yard for anything that looks like it might have been eaten and there is no evidence of anything out of the ordinary. Do you have any ideas?

Answer
Melissa,

First i would like to tell you how very sorry i am. They really do become family members. I had to put my dog Skipper down a few years ago.

I have heard of the super breath dog bone and i just looked it up and read about it. The only out of the ordinarily ingredients i can find is kelp and some contain peanuts. It seems like it is a good product. I can't say for sure if it was the treat but it is something to do with his stomach.There is something called torsion or  canine bloat, It affects mostly large dogs but smaller dogs ( I assume your beagle is a 16 inch ) ? Will get this also. Sometimes they eat dry food and it will swell in the stomach and it makes the stomach twist and thats when the problem starts. Sometimes it can be as simple as too much air in the belly and it will twist things around. in either case it will cause an obstruction. it can cut off the blood supply to the spleen.

 This is NOT something you did. I spent over an hour reading up on the super breath dog bone and looking up torsion and reading everything i could find,nothing at all puts any blame on the dog owner. With his history of seizures that could also add to all of this.

After our Skipper passed away i found a web site called critters.com. It is memorial for our 4 legged love ones that pass on. Go there and take a look at Skipper,There are 3 he is 1 of 2 with a pic,one of his pics he is wearing my glasses. It gave me great comfort to have that memorial for him. I think it costs $35.00 for a lifetime posting with pics.

There is a poem called RAINBOW BRIDGE. Please look it up and read it. When i am down and thinking about Skipper i read my copy and i know i will see him again. My heart really goes to you.

Keep an extra eye on your new pup,he is going to most likely get sad over the loss of his friend.

If you have any follow up questions please feel free to ask. Charlie is in a good place and he will always be in your heart.

Gary
thepuppyguy@yahoo.com