We lost a very dear member of the family 11-17-12. I went out yesterday morning as I usually do to let the dogs out to play, when I discovered Brutus had died in the overnight hours. We brought Brutus to our vet for an autopsy to figure out what had happened, mainly to make sure it was not a contagious disease that the others could contract. The vet determined that Brutus’ digestive tract had malfunctioned, and he was completely backed up and had internal bleeding. Since there were no external signs, we could not tell. Looking back, there wasn’t much to go on to indicate this abnormality. I did notice recently that he seemed to have trouble having a bowel movement, but I unfortunately wrote it off as constipation. We asked what may have caus...
ed this, but the vet said she cannot be certain unless a biopsy is performed on the intestine. (We will decide soon if this will be done.) Our main concern now is the other dogs. Especially Brutus’ stallmates. (Holly, Peyton, and Kallen) Our vet said the main causes of this are normally 1) birth defect, 2) infection, such as e-coli, and 3) poisoning, such as rat poison.
We haven’t ruled out the poison, but at this time the others seem ok. Holly, Peyton and Kallen go in to the vet Monday for an exam, and we will then decide on the rest. They all seem to be having normal bowel movements, so hopefully this incident is isolated.
If it was an infection like e-coli, (dog foods, including diamond have been recently recalled for e-coli) we feel the others would also have gotten sick. Our thought at this point is that Brutus’ digestive tract was very weak due to birth defect, and he may have ingested something that the others could handle, but he couldn’t. Again, unless we decide on a biopsy, it is speculation at this point. We do know (now) that this issue is common.
Brutus was the father of only one litter of puppies, (with Holly, including Blaze, Gizmo, Mishka, Maximus, Cane, Nala, and Sasha.) He, along with Holly, was the face of Frosty Meadow Farms. Their picture is at the top of every page of our website. His picture is the profile picture of Frosty Meadow Farms Facebook page, and he was the favorite of many people that have met him. He was a wonderful dog and will be missed.
Our hope is we can all use this as a learning experience. Since this issue is more common than we knew, I would advise everyone to periodically check on the bowel movements of their husky. If they seem constipated, perhaps they should be watched more closely, and a vet should be contacted.