I was thinking the same...except it sounds as if the dog was treated for epilepsy. Usually before a dog is treated for epilepsy, other causes for seizures are ruled out including but not limited to a tumor somewhere. I wonder if this dog had a tumor that was causing the seizures and that caused her death???? BUT then again if there was a tumor or something else weird neurologically, not a whole heck of a lot you can do so maybe the better choice was to treat for the possibility of epilepsy, reduce the frequency of the seizures through RXs and focus on quality of life w/o billing the owner for an MRI and an extensive work up with no good answers at the end anyway. Who knows? You know, that's how vets (and some old farm vets today) still practice. I'm old enough to remember having an old dog and not knowing the Latin names for every ailment. I have no idea what our first mixed breed died from. I think she was 15+. My sister's husky, our next dog lived to a nice old age, I remember the vet suspecting cancer at the end but he sent us home w/o any testing and just suggested we spoil her. Good advice. Then we rescued a GSD and all hell broke loose <G>. Someone called looking for a puppy y-day. They lost a 6 year old male who had quite the history of issues and it sounded like they had been on the phone the whole weekend. In the past year they spent over $4,000 on 2 surgeries and truthfully as the gal related the story, I'm not sure I would have done the second surgery, which more or less turned into an autopsy w/ no answers. Now if I was getting the picture from just a phone conversation, why didn't the vet? Then, thinking about our conversation later, I realized perhaps the family so in love with their boy may have said "try anything". Tough questions. Nice family and they may have found a puppy. I'm very sorry for your friend Jessica. It's very difficult to talk to someone who has just lost a dog and get the medical questions answered. In time, let us know if you get to the bottom of this. Kathy, member GSDCA, DVGSDC Celebrating generations of Dual Titled TC'd Champions visit _http://www.pinehillgsds.com/_ (http://www.pinehillgsds.com/) In a message dated 8/8/2011 1:16:48 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, pcooke212@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: OMG!! That vet should be ......................I don't know what!!! How tragic!! My deepest sympathies to the owners. Sounds like untreated epilepsy or similar neurological disease. What kind of vet treats an animal this way??? If it is any consolation to the owners, the dog was probably completely unaware and not in any pain. Paula Home of BIS, BISS, Multi-Group Winning, AKC JAM/AOE, International & American Champion, Bronze Grand Champion Asgard Harley Davidson v Plamark, HT, PT, CGC, TC, HIC, OFA CHIC #64047 (Hips, Elbows, Cardiac, & Thyroid), 1st male German Shepherd Dog Grand Champion, Lifetime #1 GSD in California & Michigan (AKC Stats as of 7/22/11), 2011 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Invitee. ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Jessica Keene <jkeene2005@xxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Cause of death? (not GSD) Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 23:55:33 -0500 A friend of mine informed me that a few hours ago they suddenly lost their mixed breed bitch, i was wondering if any of you have heard of this and know what may have been going on. She began having seizures around a year ago, the vet told them to watch her and gave her a dose of something (she cant remember the name) and they slowed down from being several a day to a couple a week. a few days ago she had a bad one and they brought her in and the vet gave her another high dose of something (still don't know the name, ill have to post it when she remembers) and she got better and was ok yesterday but today she had no interest in walking (which she loves) and wouldn't touch her food and didnt want water at all today, they called the vet and he told them it was just her recovering from the seizure still and the meds and she would be fine. Well, within a few hours of calling the vet she put her head down and got very stiff and stopped breathing after about an hour. During that hou r was back and fourth between stiff and not stiff but she was completely unresponsive, she had been "out of it most of the day". The intervals of being stiff then not where minor and subtle. any ideas what this may have been??? if you need more information I can ask the owners. They are not sure what caused the seizures when they started, they just showed up suddenly. Jessica Keene http://www.gsdjunior.webs.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2011. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================ ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2011. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================