dogs sudden death

Question
My Old gal was a 12 y/o cock-a-poo.  On Wednesday, she stopped wanting to jump up onto the couch, but we thought nothing of it, as she sometimes has flare ups of her arthritis.  By Saturday, she was weak on her left side and it was clear that she'd lost sight in that eye.  A trip to the vet gave us the answer that she likely had a mild stroke, would possibly regain a little strength and would adapt to the blindness.  The next day she became much weaker, by that evening she'd lost sight in both eyes and the next day she was unable to move by herself. --This was the 4th of July, the vet office was closed--She slept a good bit and died in her sleep that afternoon, 1 week after the first symptom.  I don't think this was a stroke.  Could it have been a brain tumor?  She had her check up in late May and all bloodwork, etc was normal.  She had a heart murmur and arthritis, but was perky and active until a week ago...

Answer
I am so sorry to hear about your dog.

Without a necropsy, any comment as to her death would just be a guess. If your vet thought it was a stroke, then it probaby was. I had a great dog who had a stroke, recovered quite nicely after a bit of therapy, and then was lost to a second stroke four months later. Yours could also have been lost to a second stroke, just a lot sooner than mine.

If it had been a brain tumor, I think you would have been seeing symptoms that gradually became more frequent and severe (such as seizures). This seemed to have happened too suddenly to be a brain tumor to me.

Karen