I would like to know why my Yorkie died suddenly...

[Jeepmom]

Just saw this thread. I would like to offer my condolences to you for everything you are going through.

[4doggiemama]

So sorry for this tragic situation. It was difficult for me to read. It's a fear that we all will have to face. RIP Tiki. ~Joanne~

[susan lynn]

My prayers are with you over the loss of your sweet Tiki. God bless you.

[AprilLove]

So sorry for your loss. Rest in peace sweet Tiki

[TeddyGrahams]

I noticed that someone said there might be a language barrier? In belize their first language is english, then spanish (my family originates from belize)

Anyway, to the OP
without saying what's been said; i'm sorry for your loss. I think put it into perspective one raisin for a dog is like a handful for us. The size proportions are different. It sounds like it was the raisins, but once again the only way to know is necropsy.

To prevent this from happening again, well don't feed your dog anything that isn't made for dogs. I'm not saying they can't get a little snack, but if it doesn't say it's for dogs (and even sometimes when it is for dogs it's not healthy) then you should look it up. It takes 5 seconds to google something before you feed it to your dog. Just some friendly advice.

I wanted to post this to kind of help clarify to those who don't know anything about Belize:
Also, I have family (and I visit yearly) in Douglass Village, Orange Walk, Corozal, San Pablo and San Pedro. San Pedro, being that it's more "touristy" has the best vets. My cousin takes her dog to a vet on that island and it's only a short flight from Belize City. Maybe you should look into where your vets are located. I know there aren't a lot tho. Belize itself, is not an island tho so I assume you're on one of the islands like San Pedro/Ambergris (which is so small you can literally ride a golf cart to each side), or Caye Caulker.

Like I said since these are more touristy they do tend to have a large degree of better medical care for people and pets

Once again, im very sorry for your loss

[KendraE]

Just read this roller coaster of a thread!! Just wanted to tell Cindy that I am so very sorry about your sweet Tiki. He sounded like an amazing baby! I know your heart is hurting so very badly, and I will pray for some peace for you. Big hugs....

[gracielove]

Threads about sickness and loss of a Yorkie or any beloved friend are always painful for everyone reading them. None of us want to think of the horror of having our precious babies sick or dying. Yet I think there is something to be learned with each experience that is posted here. I am so sorry you and your husband have had to go through this.

I have had dogs of various sizes all my life. Our Yellow Lab used to love to eat fruits and vegetables as snacks and I can remember family members throwing him grapes to catch and eat. We never knew they were toxic to dogs. Our lab never had a problem with them. It is only in recent years that I have read about grapes and raisins being so horrible for dogs. My grand daughter unknowingly gave a grape to my Gracie one day. I found her vomiting later that day not knowing that she had eaten the grape. Thankfully other than an upset stomach she had no other reaction. I think some dogs are more sensitive to them than others and I have read that various types of grapes have a more severe effect on a dog than others. I think a raisin may have a more concentrated amount of whatever toxic substance in the fruit.

Of course you are not to blame. I'm sure there are many people who are also unaware of the danger. Your sharing this information may very well save the beloved companion of someone else who reads this thread.

I also think that if your little guy had a severe kidney reaction the the raisins that the vet may have been able to prolong his life by a few days but once the kidneys are damaged there is little that can be done to save the life of the little one.

Your little guy did not know what was happening and did not expect to leave you so soon. This may sound controversial or just plain stupid but I believe that even dogs have eternal spirits and that when they die they go on to wait for their beloved owners. I'm sure atheists and theologians alike would disagree with me, however, anyone who has looked into the eyes of their well loved pet suspects there is much more going on in there than just a few brain cells that cease to exist.

I hope you can be at peace and realize that you did what you knew to do at the time. That is all that can be expected of us. I'm sure you would have turned the world upside down to save him if you knew. Kisses and hugs to your other sweet little girl. I'm sure you will be ten times more cautious with her.

[AbbysMom08]

First I would like to welcome you to Yorkie Talk though I wish it were under better circumstances.
As you have found, there are so many very caring and compassionate people here.
I am so very sorry for the loss of your little guy.
It is always so very difficult when we lose a furbaby.
There are many of us here that have been through a loss (or more) of furbabies and know what you are going through.
I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

[sashajade]

First of all i do not think there is any need for your aggressive post.....i was not trying to disprove your posts all i was doing was giving my opinion which correct me if i am wrong i am allowed to do??? or is only your opinion allowed???
I never said bloat does not happen in small dogs i said it normally happens in large dogs.....
As for choking the poster never even mentioned that her dog was choking or coughing so not sure what that has to do with it??
She also never mentioned anything to do with raw hides
I was repeating what a vet had once told me, that its rare for small dogs to have blockages as they cant swallow large items, i was not saying it never happens...

You said you were speculating well so was i and everyone else on this thread as like you said the only way to know for sure is a necropsy but as this would mean digging up the posters dog i am sure you would not expect her to do that.....

As for what you have posted here QUOTE I would appreciate in the future that you do some research before you post and try to disprove my posts. I have done the reseach and can disprove yours. end QUOTE

I would like to say again i did not try to disprove your posts and why you would think i did is beyond me i do not need to do any research to express my opinion and my personal life experiences and do not feel the need to research to try and disprove anyone elses ... in fact your research has proved nothing.....

i posted QUOTE ...my vet told me the good thing with little dogs is that they cant swallow anything big enough to cause a blockage so i cant see a raisin causing one....
Also its rare for small dogs to get bloat...END QUOTE

MY vet said small dogs cant swallow anything big enough to cause a blockage not me.... i also said i cant see a raisin causing one...not that it couldn't..... and i also said its rare for a small dog to get bloat...i didn't say they dont.... i find your post very rude and totally uncalled for....

I came on here to offer my opinion to the poster not have a competition on who knows the most.....we can all offer our opinions/suggestions but in the end they are all just speculations and the poster will still never know why her beloved dog died..... this thread is meant to be about offering support and ideas to the poster and it seems to of turned in to a mud slinging match which i find very distasteful....

Originally Posted by kjc

And I have owned Yorkies for 35 years, and have worked as a Vet Tech for 15, 5 of which were on nights to handle emergencies.

I have seen and worked on countless large dogs that came in at night with bloat, so I am very aware of the symptoms. Granted, it is rare in small dogs, but odd that my Biewer bloated on me just a few weeks ago. So it can happen in small dogs.
Bloat in Dogs: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment on MedicineNet


Small dogs can swallow bits of rawhide, and when the rawhide comes into contact with the gastric juices they will swell up and cause a blockage. Or they will try to swallow larger pieces or things which get caught in their throats. There are quite a few threads concerning choking and blockages in Yorkies right here on YT. In the Vet ER, rawhide was the #1 cause of blockages/choking seen in small dogs, at least of the ones that made it in for treatment.

Rawhide, Nylabone,Cow hooves, Pig ears-The hidden dangers

And blockages are not always caused by one single large object. A number of small objects can glom together and cause a blockage too. It happened in my dog after feeding her coconut chips. I fed them to her one by one as a tick training reward, they did finally come out looking like a stack of Pringles Potato chips. Carrots have become wedged in teeth and soft tissue in the mouth causing abcesses, small toy parts, craft room supplies like beads and such can become lodged in the alimentary tract and cause problems, even death.

intestinal blockage - Google Search

choking - Google Search

I want to emphasize these points, because this lady does not have direct access to a vet, and she needs to know what can cause a potential problem in dogs. I explained that I was speculating (guessing) as to the cause Tiki's death and that the only way to know for sure was through a necropsy.

I would appreciate in the future that you do some research before you post and try to disprove my posts. I have done the reseach and can disprove yours.

Hopefully, we will all learn from Tiki.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by sashajade

First of all i do not think there is any need for your aggressive post.....i was not trying to disprove your posts all i was doing was giving my opinion which correct me if i am wrong i am allowed to do??? or is only your opinion allowed???
I never said bloat does not happen in small dogs i said it normally happens in large dogs.....
As for choking the poster never even mentioned that her dog was choking or coughing so not sure what that has to do with it??
She also never mentioned anything to do with raw hides
I was repeating what a vet had once told me, that its rare for small dogs to have blockages as they cant swallow large items, i was not saying it never happens...

You said you were speculating well so was i and everyone else on this thread as like you said the only way to know for sure is a necropsy but as this would mean digging up the posters dog i am sure you would not expect her to do that.....

As for what you have posted here QUOTE I would appreciate in the future that you do some research before you post and try to disprove my posts. I have done the reseach and can disprove yours. end QUOTE

I would like to say again i did not try to disprove your posts and why you would think i did is beyond me i do not need to do any research to express my opinion and my personal life experiences and do not feel the need to research to try and disprove anyone elses ... in fact your research has proved nothing.....

i posted QUOTE ...my vet told me the good thing with little dogs is that they cant swallow anything big enough to cause a blockage so i cant see a raisin causing one....
Also its rare for small dogs to get bloat...END QUOTE

MY vet said small dogs cant swallow anything big enough to cause a blockage not me.... i also said i cant see a raisin causing one...not that it couldn't..... and i also said its rare for a small dog to get bloat...i didn't say they dont.... i find your post very rude and totally uncalled for....

I came on here to offer my opinion to the poster not have a competition on who knows the most.....we can all offer our opinions/suggestions but in the end they are all just speculations and the poster will still never know why her beloved dog died..... this thread is meant to be about offering support and ideas to the poster and it seems to of turned in to a mud slinging match which i find very distasteful....

Small dogs have smaller organs and systems there for small things can cause a blockage in a small dog.................

[Lou]

I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I can understand how you feel and how very hurt you are. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

I am adding my opinion about the raisins. I do think they had a huge amount to do with your baby's death. A few years ago and before I knew that dogs could not have grapes/raisins I would give my shih tzu one or two occasionally. I never connected that the day after she would be listless and uncommunicative. When she was taken to the vet she would require an iv to rehydrate her. After a day or so she was back to normal. The vet would ask if she had gotten into anything and I would always answer no. We agreed that since she was a puppymill rescue she was probably just a sickly little dog. We have always battled keeping weight on her. Well once I heard about the grapes and stopped giving them to her we never had another episode.

I'm telling you this because Cassie was always at least 11 lbs and sometimes 12 and just a couple of grapes would make her seriously ill.
That is quite a bit more than 7 lbs.

Don't beat yourself up because you didn't know. And thank you for sharing your story. People will learn from this because of your post.
Hugs
Lou

[sashajade]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Small dogs have smaller organs and systems there for small things can cause a blockage in a small dog.................

I never said they couldn't my vets thinking was that something IE food would have to be small enough to be swallowed by the small dog so in MOST CASES it would not cause a blockage.... if a dog has chewed something IE not food then it could swell on its way to the stomach and cause a blockage.... thats his thinking not mine which i made clear in my posts..... the reason my vet told me that in most cases small dogs dont get blockages is because tye and zac chewed and eat some polystyrene and i was very worried that it would swell and cause a blockage but they were fine and it came out the other end

That is my vets opinion based on his experience and i dont agree or disagree with it.... some people booster there dog every year which some vets recommend including mine but i dont agree with it and booster every 3 years, its all about personal opinion based on personal experience...

[salazark]

Cindy,

I'm just now seeing this thread. I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine what you are feeling. I do have a little experience with dogs and raisins. Here's a link where I wrote about our lab mix getting into raisins. At the time I knew that they were bad for dogs but not how bad. Please don't feel guilt. From what the vet told me, after symptoms begin it is usually too late. I'm sorry but you will probably never be able to know definitively what caused sweet Tiki's death. You are in my prayers.

Karen

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...s-raisins.html

[kjc]

Originally Posted by sashajade

First of all i do not think there is any need for your aggressive post.....i was not trying to disprove your posts all i was doing was giving my opinion which correct me if i am wrong i am allowed to do??? or is only your opinion allowed???
I never said bloat does not happen in small dogs i said it normally happens in large dogs.....
As for choking the poster never even mentioned that her dog was choking or coughing so not sure what that has to do with it??
She also never mentioned anything to do with raw hides
I was repeating what a vet had once told me, that its rare for small dogs to have blockages as they cant swallow large items, i was not saying it never happens...

You said you were speculating well so was i and everyone else on this thread as like you said the only way to know for sure is a necropsy but as this would mean digging up the posters dog i am sure you would not expect her to do that.....

As for what you have posted here QUOTE I would appreciate in the future that you do some research before you post and try to disprove my posts. I have done the reseach and can disprove yours. end QUOTE

I would like to say again i did not try to disprove your posts and why you would think i did is beyond me i do not need to do any research to express my opinion and my personal life experiences and do not feel the need to research to try and disprove anyone elses ... in fact your research has proved nothing.....

i posted QUOTE ...my vet told me the good thing with little dogs is that they cant swallow anything big enough to cause a blockage so i cant see a raisin causing one....
Also its rare for small dogs to get bloat...END QUOTE

MY vet said small dogs cant swallow anything big enough to cause a blockage not me.... i also said i cant see a raisin causing one...not that it couldn't..... and i also said its rare for a small dog to get bloat...i didn't say they dont.... i find your post very rude and totally uncalled for....

I came on here to offer my opinion to the poster not have a competition on who knows the most.....we can all offer our opinions/suggestions but in the end they are all just speculations and the poster will still never know why her beloved dog died..... this thread is meant to be about offering support and ideas to the poster and it seems to of turned in to a mud slinging match which i find very distasteful....

My apologies to you... no aggression intended... I misread your post yesterday... my post quoting you was totally out of line. My apologies to the OP also... not the time or place for disagreement.

[Lil Sis]

I am sorry for your loss. I understand the pain, and I understand your wanting answers and closure. I lost a little girl about 3 or so years ago. I wanted to know why...and like your loss I felt I could have done something different. I really beat myself up over it for a long time.

I hope time heals the pain.. Take care

Shinja