My 11 month old doggie, Jane, died last night!! I have no idea what went wrong! That morning, before I went to work, she was fine...everything was normal. I went to class after work & DH called me with the news that she had passed. We don't have any kids...so that was our baby!! I've never been so attached to a pet like this before..and now she's gone.
I just needed to get this out b/c DH doesn't want to talk about it...he's taking it really hard. My family/co-workers don't understand my grief because to them..."it was JUST a dog" 
I'd feel better if I knew was happened, but it was just a total shock. Has anyone else been through this...or am I being a bit too dramatic??
Soooooo sorry for your loss.
Losing a pet that you are close to is always difficult. Some people just don't get that attached to animals - so they don't understand. There are so many things that can happen with animals.
Several years ago I lost a cat to kidney failure and I was sooo devastated when it happened. For 2 years I took him to the vet once a week to get his kidneys flushed (he had kidney disease). Then the county changed the filtration on our water supply and it did him in within 2 weeks. Even now just writing about it I get that little 'lump' in my throat. He was a great cat.
It's hard... there's no getting around that. But, it does get easier with time. You're not being too dramatic... you're upset at the loss of a dog you loved. You gave her a good life for the short time that she was with you. ((((((((hugs)))))))))
Denise
Our cat, Cleo, died last March of natural causes. She was 20 years old, which I found out is 84 cat years. She mainly stayed in our basement and really didn't want to roam the house. She died peacefully in the basement although she had been sick. DH buried her in our backyard (she was his pet before we met). I ordered a small stone with her name and years on it and it sits in a corner of the backyard where she was buried. I do miss her and think of her especially when I'm in the basement doing laundry. She was a sweetheart. Its a death of a member of the family. I only told my co-workers who also had pets, because they can understand. Take your time to grieve as time passes it gets a little easier.
I am so sorry about your puppy. I lost my 8 year old cocker spaniel last Feb., 4 days before his 9th birthday. I got him whenn his was 10 weeks old, had him before I got married. He was my little buddy. I took him where ever I could get away with it.
He had cancer, it came up on him fast and hard. The vet told me that I we could do all kind of test on him. But it would just give us a few more week. I just couldn't put him thru that. So I decided to put him to sleep. I held him while the vet gave him the shot. I held him until he was gone. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life. I am crying like a baby just typing this.
I don't think you ever get over a pet that you loved and lost.
I'm so sorry for your loss....I know how most people feel about their pets. Did you consider finding out the cause? It's terrible that she died so young....she was very cute.
Yeah, we're taking some of the 'poop' to the vet to get answers. I think I'll feel better knowing the cause behind her passing.
Also, there was a dog food recall a few months back...but I've read that many pets are still getting sick/dying behind the food that wasn't recalled from the same company. My dog ate Nutro Natural Choice Dry(the canned was recalled & we were told we had nothing to worry about).....we're also taking a sample of that to the vet for testing. If that was in deed the cause of my baby's death...there will be hell to pay!
You are not overreacting at all, I'm so very sorry for your loss. They ARE members of the family and you form a bond. She was such a cutiepie, that face is the 2nd one is adorable.
And she was so young! Definitely try to find out what the cause may have been. Is there anything else she could've gotten into? Where did you get her?
I have a friend who works for Nutro, I can ask her again which ones were recalled. We were just talking about this (she does damage control for them after this recall situation) and she mentioned some of the wet food...I'm not sure if it was any of the dry.
She was beautiful, I'm so sorry for your loss 
One of our dogs died suddenly 3 years ago, and I was in shock for about 2 weeks after that. I functioned completely on autopilot. It hurts so much you just ache. I used to lie on her bed and cry. We got personalized memorial stones from http://www.rockitcreations.com and buried her ashes in the backyard in what is now their (we lost our 15 year old a few months ago) garden. This website has picture frames we got also, one side has the Rainbow Bridge poem and you can put her name & dates on it, and the other side will hold a 4x6 picutre - http://www.personalizationmall.com
Grieve how how you need to, and your DH will too. Don't worry about the people who don't understand. Your girl will always be with you in your heart.
Definitely save her food and any treats. I think there was a Nutro dry cat food that was recalled, and we stopped feeding Nutro because we were concerned about cross-contamination. There was also a recent salmonella recall for some treats, but I don't remember which ones.
-Lisa
So sorry about your loss . . .
I work at an emergency animal hospital and we unfortunately deal with a lot of mysterious deaths.
One reason could possibly be heat stroke. Even with weather only in the high 80's some dogs are just unable to tolerate the heat and will expire. The breeds at the biggest risk for this generally tend to be bulldogs, pugs, boxers, etc. These dogs were not built with the best sniffers and so cannot pant as well as most breeds to be able to cool off. Also, we see a lot of pit bulls with heat stroke . . .
Other reasons could be something such as an anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting . . . it is pretty common and unfortunately if you are not home your pet can be in serious trouble instantly. If untreated, most reactions of this degree can be fatal quickly.
There can also be something congenital that was never detected, such as a heart condition.
Testing the stool will show if your dog was carrying an internal parasite such as whipworm, hookworm, roundworm, coccida or giardia. I am not aware of any test that they can run on a specific food sample to determine if the diet was teh cause. The reason that only canned foods were recalled was because the canned diets were manufactured by a different company than the dry foods. The melamine found in the canned products came from a contaminated source . . . all the contaminated diets came from that same plant. I believe you can go to menufoods.com/recall for a complete list. All contaminated pet foods were pulled from the shelves and I believe that any foods on the shelf now how to go through testing to prove its safety, so I would venture to guess that your pet's food was not what killed her.
You can speak to your vet about sending your pets remains for a necropsy. They will usually have to send out tissue samples of each organ to individually study, as well as do a gross examination of the body. Even then, you may not get much of an answer as to the cause of death. Keep in mind, this can be very costly also. I believe this begins at $800 and climbs from there depending on how many tissue samples they send in. A general gross examination can be done at your vets office but many times these are very speculative and are much less accurate than labs.
The bottom line is that this SUCKS and its not easy to get through. I'm sorry for your loss . . .
I am so sorry for your loss ((((((Hugs))))))) when my yorkie died a LONG time ago I was devasted...for weeks I cried nonstop...they are our children...we take care of them, love them unconditionally. Please take care and I will be thinking about you! Very cute puppy
I know how you feel, I had to bury my 3 yr old Yorkie today. He weighed only 2 lbs. and we had just found out he had a rare disease. We had to go out of town and leave him with my mother. He died while we were gone and I feel so guilty that I was not with him in the end. I miss him so much and I keep expecting him to come bouncing around the corner, begging me to pick him up. It helps to talk about him, so try to get your hubby to open up so that he can work through this too. You also need to find out why he died. Could it have been antifreeze or some type of poison he got a hold of? Could it be a snake bite or bee sting? Or did someone hit him? I would need to get answers to be able to find closure. I hope you have more pictures and I am sure you have great memories to hold on to. I'll be thinking about you and your loss and hope you can work through this.
I am so sorry for the loss of your sweet pupper girl. From the pictures, I can tell that she was a great dog. Pets are like children ... they are a huge part of our lives, and we have every right to grieve their losses. Take as much time as you need to mourn her loss, and don't listen to people who don't understand what it's like to lose a beloved pet. DH and I both get teary when we even think about losing our beloved Tucker (7-year old golden retriever). I truly dread the day that he isn't with us anymore. We don't have any kids, so he is our baby. I hope you're able to get some answers from your vet about why she died so young. ((((((HUGS)))))) to you.
we had to put our golden retriver down last summer. we was old and not doing so well... bad hips... couldn't move around much.. my mom took her to the vets one morning and never brough her home.. she had a tumor in her kidneys...the vet said he could give he medication to prolong the envitable but she would always be in pain.... my mom did the right thing... she live forever in out hearts... me and that dog grew up together we got her when i was 6.. i am now 20...i miss her all the time
You have ever right to be upset and please dont let anyone tell you any differently.
I have said to my husband if ANYTHING happens to my baby Lacey (Sheltie - 5 yrs) he will need to sadate me. She has been going through a rough time over the past year - some type of skin allergies. I actually cry every time I go to the vet because I feel like the worst mother in the world.
Your "friends and family" need to remember that the difference between a death of a human and a death of an animal is that animal never passes judgment, give you the silent treatment, with hold companionship or love, and loves you, truly loves you unconditionally.
So I do understand why you are so heart broken and it is ok to feel that way. I truly am sorry for your loss.
Your dog WAS your baby, and you aren't being dramatic. Like all grief, it was fade with time. My last Shih Tzu was run over in front of me because I let him off his leash to play in the snow at midnight on our quiet street. A car came down the hill and Giz ran for me because he was scared. It was a week after I told my husband of 20 years I was leaving him. I sobbed all night and will feel guilty to the day I die over that stupid act of letting him off his lead. I never thought I'd ever be able to get another pet.
But, time does heal, and you'll be able to remember all the love and joy she brought you. I'm so sorry for your loss!
Jodie
Just as an FYI:
There are grief counseling services devoted to people who have lost their beloved pets. Depending on your area, there may be some local support groups also.
UC Davis, University of Colorado and a few other vet schools all have grief support hotlines. There are also a lot of online forums, but I would recommend a professional support system over some of these forums. (Just my personal experience . . . some people mean well but say things that tear us up in our grief. Some times you need someone who really knows what to say to help you walk through your sadness.)
The grief you feel over losing a pet is no different in my eyes than the grief of losing a friend or family member. Loved ones are loved and missed, no matter if they have 2 legs or 4.
Hopefully you are doing better . . . but if you need it, look up those hotlines and call.
UPDATE
We took our other dog, Jane's sister, to the vet to get blood work done, just to be on the safe side. The vet is going to call us with the results, but the initial exam went well. Our vet said that a number of things could have happened...bee sting, poisonious frog, choking, heat exhaution, etc.
We have a little over 3 acres, and the property next to us has a lake, so there are always frogs hopping around.
We're coping with it, but it's hard. Even our other dog, Katie, is grieving. We had to buy her new toys/treats to keep her distracted because she's taking it really hard.
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