@brat17 first off, I am so sorry that your dog passed. I had mine for 16 years and he was bitten by a snake. I still miss him and I think I always will. I too worried about the what if's but it just made my grief worse. It doesn't bring them back. I think when we have PTSD we may be prone to the what if strategy. So be aware of that type of thinking. I had a few other big close calls with my dog and I understand what it feels like. The loneliness...all that. I get it. Hugs to you!
Regarding the possibility of poisoning. As far as I am aware a Vet will pick those signs up very quickly. The first time you took your dog in to be assessed there would have been very acute symptoms of bait being used. He would have told you and recommended you report it. No Vet will even begin to suspect poison and
not tell you.
If a Vet suspects poison/baiting they will hammer you with questions about food, open packets of rat-sack anything that may have accidently led to the poisoning and
then start treatment for it asap.
There are a few symptoms that show up very quickly with poisoning or baiting. It sounds as if your Vet was on the ball and diagnosed your dog correctly.
Some symptoms of baiting are things like the gums go extremely pale. Excessive drinking and slobbering. Heart-rate will go up dramatically and the dog may be over-excited. It's quite an acute event. Also there most likely would be bleeding in the faeces or urine. (Depending on the bait of course).
From having seen a dog poisoned with bait and what you have described it really does sound like some sort of cerebral event that was effecting your dog.Seizures and brain things in dogs can go completely unnoticed for a very long time and then even seem to resolve but then return and take the dog.
Cerebral events or disorder in puppies are much more obvious. In old dogs, just like people they can be largely unnoticed. The strange gait and collapse part of your description definitely seems to indicate a cerebral/seizure type of malady.
And the treatment and costs and the pain of not being able to let go. I don't know that they do any good in the end. All dogs will suffer terribly with cerebral events and the fact that he walked away from you...this is a very clear indicator (from growing up with lots of dogs and animals) that they sense they are going to die and tend to go alone. As if they are saying I am going ahead...I will see you there when it is your time. I can only pray I have the grace to be so calm about it when my time comes to be just like that.
A dog that get's baited is very touch and go right from the outset. Your dog appeared to recover without treatment for being baited. That is generally a sign that it is
not bait.
Your dog lapsed (or had the first 'event'), rallied and then re-lapsed. I cannot know for certain but I am sure your Vet could put your mind at rest on this
@brat17. He would have looked for the most obvious symptoms first and baited dog symptoms are hard to miss. Give him a call if you feel up to it.
I grappled with the why...even when I knew exactly what caused my dog's death. I was grief stricken. Really inconsolable. It still brings tears to my eyes. I blamed myself for letting him go and lay down next to his favourite tree in the garden - without checking first that there was no bloody snake there! (However I had never once checked for snakes at any other time in his life!) This was the grief talking. I had no reasonable expectation that a snake would bite him there at his tree. In fact more than likely he's come across lots of snakes that just slithered away.
I think your Vet is correct. It doesn't make it any easier but I'd go with that.
As for your ex friend. Leave that alone for now. You are reacting and searching within grief. Completely understandable but keep a rein on anything like accusing. If this nags you too much. Ring your Vet and see what he says if only to give you a sense of comfort.
Again I am so sorry.
