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Bye bye Bella

Alana

Well-known member
It has been a very long time since I posted on this forum. Bella died suddenly in the early hours of the morning today and we do not know why. She was a fit and healthy dog. She was only 3 years and 10 months old. We miss you Bella.

If anyone has any experience with sudden death in a seemingly healthy dog, please let me know. She was up to date with vaccinations and the vet checked and reported no problems with her heart. Yesterday afternoon she was fine, playing in the yard with our family and last night she ate her dinner as usual and attempted to eat my daughters food as she always did. She slept with us on our bed as she always does and when I woke up to feed my baby I found her dead on the bedroom floor.
 
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Dear Alana
I'm so sorry to hear you have lost Bella - at such a young age and having the terrible shock of finding her. You may be able to find the cause with a post mortem - brain haemorrhage is one possibility - but at the moment I'm sure all you can think of is grieving and helping your family to work through their grief.

I had to have both my Cavaliers put to sleep last February, one aged 7, the other 13, so this comes with shared feelings, losing them is so tough.

:hug:

Kate
 
Oh Alana
What a shock for you and your family. I have no info on sudden death but just wanted to say how sorry I am, My thoughts are with you.

Mel x
 
Alana, I am so sincerely sorry you lost Bella, in such a tragic and unknown way. You and your family must be devastated.
Rest in peace sweet Bella. *ng*l
 
Hello Alana, I feel so sad for you, this must be a devastating way to lose your beloved Bella. What can I say except my thoughts are with you.

Sulynda XX
 
I am sorry. My first cavalier died unexpectedly at 3 yrs. She was very healthy too. We did a small necropsy but it was inconclusive. I always wonder why she died. It is very hard to lose them that way, without warning. Hugs.
 
Thank you so so much for your empathy. We are still very shocked and upset. Just little things like her excitement, how she used to come when we read our daughters their bed time stories and the feeling of her laying on my feet when we sleep and then when it gets cold she would ask to come under the covers and stick just the tip of her nose out at the end of the bed.

I think that when I bought Bella, despite asking to see papers of heart checks etc, I didn't really know what I was looking for on the document and I was very naive The breeder promised papers to be sent after sale and never were. Then when I contacted Dogs NSW about it, they had never heard of him. So I believe that I bought from a backyard breeder who was pretending to be reputable. I must be going through the "who to blame" stage of grieving. I miss my girl so much.

Sunshinekisses tell me about your new Cavalier, how long did you wait to get a new dog?

I know that I will eventually want another dog, and after having a Cavalier I am not sure I could want another breed, were you worried it would happen again? Who here has a rescue?

Kate it must have been hard to lose 2 at the same time.
 
It took me three (depressed) months to even think of getting another dog, complicated with recovering from seven months of nursing two terminally ill dogs, which became a way of life of its own. I now have a 6-year-old rescue, Ruby, but as we go on walks and do things that I always did with Aled and Oliver, I still find it very difficult to think of them - I do miss them so much. Ruby is so far heart clear, but CM/SM is always a possibility.

Ruby is my sixth Cavalier - I've usually only had one at a time over 30 years, Aled was a rescue added to the family as a welcome extra! Of these six, three have died of MVD and three have had CM/SM (two of the three had both diseases). Like you, I really don't like any other breed quite so much, but you just wait for the symptoms to start.

A friend of mine has very recently lost her Rottweiler in similar circumstances to yours - no sign of illness, perfectly normal, and then died in the night. Her post mortem showed a probable hole in the wall of her heart - apparently the heart managed to perform normally while the wall thinned, then the hole appeared and the heart just gave up. If something similar happened to Bella, she would have known nothing about it and felt no pain.

Thinking of you,

Kate and Ruby
 
My tricolour girl Bubbles went to sleep on my bed one night and never woke up. She was 6 years old and was another who had had a recent clean bill of health from the vet. She was one of those very rare dogs who was not only MRI scanned clear of SM but also CM. She was cardiologist cleared of any signs of MVD too.

She looked so peaceful when I woke and saw her that I hadn't got the heart to request a PM, so after letting the other dogs say goodbye I made her a nice grave in her favourite place in the garden.

I may never know the cause of her passing, but almost 3 years later I treasure a wealth of happy memories of 'Bubbles the Bubba' and of the six happy years we shared together.
 
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