Sudden death of 3 month old Basset, any thoughts?

[ams08]

Hi, in my search to find an "Ask the Vet" forum I came across this site and thought I would post. My husband and I adopted a Basset Hound on October 26th. Moonpie was the sweetest little girl ever. Loved to be held and cuddled. Had a beautiful coat, great appetite, loved to play with our 7 year old Beagle (the only other animal in our home). On November 26th, exactly one month after we brought her home, she suddenly collapsed and died. (I'll paste the specific timeline and details below). We had an autopsy done, they found the cause of death to be Myocarditis. I know this can be caused by Parvovirus, however, the pathologist specifically says in his report that he does not believe this to be the cause as there were no changes in the small intestine. They found this to be such a rare case, that they sent everything to an institute of pathology to due further testing pro-bono. We waited for months for there results, hoping for closure. The results came back on January 17th... they agreed with the previous pathologists findings, but could not find any causitive bacteria. I've had a very, very difficult time dealing with all of this and am hoping for any thoughts... ideas... has any else ever heard or something like this happening? I've done research on my own and have found a number of articles linking lyme disease or tick-borne illness to myocarditis, but I couldn't really find any cases where it happened so suddenly. She was only 3 months old. I would be happy to send the Patho reports to anyone interested. I have them in PDF form. I should also mention that we had her to her vet a week or so before and he said she was perfectly healthy. She came from a litter of 12 puppies. All other puppies are healthy, with the exception of one male puppy that died early on, prior to any of the other puppies being adopted out. I don't have the specifics, but they had an autopsy done and he died of an under-developed heart. Not knowing why this happened, I am very reluctant to adopt another dog or bring any other animal into our home. I did take her everywhere with me... we went to the park, the post office, trips to town together... maybe I exposed her to too much too soon. If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading. I appreciate your thoughts.

Moonpie's timeline...
Born August 23
September 3 – dewormed with Nemex 2
September 18 – dewormed with Nemex 2
October 4 – dewormed with Nemex 2
fecal check - + for roundworms, neg for coccidia and hookworms
October 15 – Nemex 2
October 16 – Fecal check through lab, + for coccidia
Neg for roundworms and hookworms
October 17 (8 weeks old) – Canine Distemper-Hepatitis-Parainfluenza Vaccine
Parvovirus/Lepto Vaccine
Treated for coccidia with Albon for 10 days.
October 26th – We adopted her.
November 16th (12 weeks old) – Rabies Vaccine
Canine Distemper-Hepatitis-Parainfluenza Booster
Parvovirus/Lepto Booster
November 24 – She did have a weird episode that at the time we wrote off. She was playing outside, I heard her crying
and yelping and she was sitting on the front step urinating. My husband had seen our niece and nephew run over to her a few moments prior and we assumed she had just been frightened. I picked her up and she was fine.
November 26th – She woke up around 6:30am like usual. My husband went and picked her up from her crate. Carried her outside so she could go potty – her back legs collapsed – he commented to me that maybe her legs were asleep – then he said it looked like she couldn’t breath. He brought her inside and laid her on our bed and she was gone. The night before she had eaten all of her dinner, was playing with our 7 year old beagle, everything seemed 100% normal.

[dogs4life]

Welcome to GP, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm not a vet but maybe I can share what I see from what you wrote.

Since you already did a necropsy, which are difficult to pin-point cause of death most of the time, I can only comment on some discrepancies and maybe you can ask the pathologist or necropsy tech/vet/path.

Injury on Nov 24 and paralysis on Nov 26, does not add up for me. Is there something else going on? A back injury can cause spinal cord bruising and inflammation causing paralysis. If it were injury related the pathologist most likely noted it in their notes, as post traumatic shock can be deadly? Did you tell the pathologist about this?

Since your dog was adopted, did you ask the shelter or rescue group you got your dog from about Moonpie's siblings or report the death to them? I see in your message the other pups are fine, are they still fine today?

HTH

I did test live horses and dogs for viral vs bacterial infections based on cytokine profiles from whole blood and white blood cells (buffy coat). I'm not sure if this is valid after your dog is dead or even if the vets have preserved blood samples you can evaluate. I'll try to dig up a reference for you if you are interested.

[LilacDragon]

I am wondering about the breeding. Particularly because a littermate died of a cardiac issue.

I did a quick search and nothing is mentioned of heart issues prevalent within the breed. That doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't any, just that there aren't so many that the breed club feels that they should be checked for before breeding.

Also, I noticed that she had her parvo booster 10 days before she died. If this was a live virus booster, is it possible that she had a sensitivity to it?

If she had a "pre-existing" heart condition, it may have gone unnoticed by your regular vet. I know that SAS in large breed dogs is often overlooked by general practice vets and there are no signs until the dog suddenly drops dead.

I am sorry I don't have any answers for you. It certainly sounds like you did everything right.

[Kymcole25]

Welcome to GP, sorry to hear of your loss!
I'd have to agree with Kendra, the time period in Moonpie's injury and her death just doesn't make sense.
Did you happen to notice any shortness of breath, or fatigue in Moonpie's last days? I just did a little reading about Myocarditis, and it seems that it can be caused by several different infections, the most common being an infection of the heart. Which makes a little more sense to me, seeing as a litter mate died due to an underdeveloped heart.
You may want to contact the shelter/rescue group/breeder and see if they have any new information.

[LilacDragon]

Having reread about the episode on the 24th - it sounds to me like the puppy was frightened by something in the yard. The OP states that she picked the puppy up and she was fine.

Weakness in the back legs just before the pup's passing would not be an unusual symptom of a cardiac event. Same with the difficulty in breathing.

It certainly would be interesting to know the health statis of the rest of the litter. With two pathologists not being able to find a bacterial issue, I can't help but think that this may well be genetic.

[dogs4life]

Originally Posted by LilacDragon

It certainly would be interesting to know the health statis of the rest of the litter. With two pathologists not being able to find a bacterial issue, I can't help but think that this may well be genetic.

Agree 100% and maybe a cardiologist needs to look at the surviving members of the litter before they are adopted out. Just a note about the bacterial issues, postmortem cultures and biopsies are tricky, so false negatives and positives are not uncommon.

[ams08]

Thank you for your thoughts and input. All other puppies are doing fine. I definitely would not call the episode she had on the 24th an injury. She was 100% fine immediately afterward. After everything had happened, I had looked back on that and thought maybe she was having some sort of chest pain. Or it really could have been that she had just been frightened. My husband was outside as well at that time so we know there was nothing else that happened to bring on the episode. She was playful, had a great appetite, had normal BM's and urination, 100% healthy up until the very end.

To the person who mentioned a possible vaccine reaction.... this was one of my first thoughts. I would have to call the veterinarian to find out if it was a live vaccine or not. I did come across an article regarding two boxer puppies that passed away in the same time frame post vaccines, and I had mentioned this to the veterinarians and the pathologist and they did not seem to think that it was likely.

Based on everything, and really just the fact that we may never know exactly what happened, do you think it is negligient for me to bring another dog into our home?

[Cassiepeia]

Based on everything, and really just the fact that we may never know exactly what happened, do you think it is negligient for me to bring another dog into our home?

Not at all. What happened to your Basset pup was terrible and unfortunate but it seems like it was unique to her. Bringing another pup into the home shouldn't be a problem and I encourage you to do so.

Cass.

[Snow_dog]

Yeah, my dog, Pay, a 13-year-old Chow Chow who was blind and diabetic from a stroke died on Firday. I know how you feel. I saw her old tie out and I almost cried.

[Swiftwind]

I am so sorry to hear that you lost your pup, that is extremely sad.. I was wondering, too, if Moonpie's death could have been due to the vaccination. Were you able to find out the average span between the time a dog gets the vaccine and the time the allergic reaction takes place? I'm wondering if 10 days is too long a span, and therefore could be ruled out as a possible cause.

Here is one possibility that is worth reading up on:

Neosporosis

"Most infected dogs have no symptoms. When symptoms occur, neosporosis is most severe in newborn puppies, infected during gestation when the parasites move from the bitch’s tissues to the fetus. Puppies suffer paralysis, particularly of the hind legs, and often do not survive. Adult dogs may suffer from an illness similar to toxoplasmosis in cats, or they may develop dermatitis." (Neospora caninum and Neosporosis: A Parasite of Dogs Causes Abortion in Cattle)

[muggsmom]

I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

Based on everything, and really just the fact that we may never know exactly what happened, do you think it is negligient for me to bring another dog into our home?

You are obviously a caring, loving and diligent owner, I think it would be a shame if you did not bring another dog into your home. There are many other dogs that deserved to be loved by your family. YOU DID NOTHING WRONG!!