First, I would like to apologize on the length of this. I had moved here from Glendale almost a year ago. We moved to the Senita subdivision with 3 dogs...my mastiff, Charlie which is 3 years old, our Great Dane, Thor, which was a few months old that I was fostering, and our Chihuahua, Harley which was almost a year old. We love it here in Maricopa...cow smell and all. However, after a few months of moving here my foster, Thor, became seriously ill. He was vomiting, having diarrhea, and became lethargic. I took him to the emergency clinic in Chandler and did every test possible. He tested negative for parvo, parasites, intestinal blockage, bloat...so on. After this "mystery illness" came back with negative results on every test, all the vet could do was give him fluids and keep an eye on him. After the vet, he seemed to be doing better for a day...but then right back to being sick. So I take him to our vet which retested him for parvo, parasites, etc...and again...negative. She gives him another dose of fluids and we take him back home (after doing extensive blood work which came up with nothing). He seemed to bounce back after a few days and I found a great home for him after a couple months. He's been fine ever since then, and the new owner reports no problems. A little less than a week after Thor was sick, our little Chihuahua, Harley, became ill with the same symptoms and had died within just a couple of hours of noticing symptoms...in my arms, just as we were pulling up to the emergency clinic. I was devastated, heart broken, and angry. Harley was my world...I loved him so much. After much deliberation and begging from others in the family, we adopted another Chihuahua. It has been seven months since we adopted her and she was healthy, hearty, and very energetic. Last week she started to have those same symptoms that both Thor and Harley were having. Not wasting any time, I rushed her to the emergency clinic and they did tests...parvo...parasites...etc....and came back with nothing. As she was in the clinic, she passed away with no known cause. I was enraged. I demanded to know what happened any how a happy and healthy dog could die with no known cause or reason. The vet was very understanding of my behavior (which wasn't very pleasant) and explained that without any of the tests coming up positive, there was no way to know. It's been a week now, and I have mustered up the energy to call a friend of mine that lives in Glenwilde. She has a puppy of a bigger breed and told me that the same thing happened to her dog last week...ironically the same day that my chi got sick. He pulled through fine, after taking him to the vet and getting fluids and a few days of rice and beef. She then told me about a neighbor a few doors down that the same thing happened to their puppy and that puppy died, but didn't know the breed. She said she was going to talk to them to see exactly when this happened. My mastiff is the only on that has never been sick and continues to do well, although he is extremely hearty and BIG. All my dogs had their vaccinations, wormed, and vet checked. I feed them good food and give them plenty of water. They were never strictly outside, they were all treated as part of the family and slept in our bedroom (not our bed). The only conclusion that I can come up with is that they had been poisoned. We have a fence that backs up to Honeycutt and so do our friends (with the other dog), and so do the other people that had their puppy die. It would be very easy for someone walking to toss in something over the fence. I don't know what else it could be...we only have a grass patch in the back yard and rocks. Since I know it wasn't a blockage in the intestines/stomach, it couldn't have been from eating a rock. Has this happened to anyone else here...or has anyone heard of anything? Please keep an eye out for any strange things in your yard...or anyone throwing anything in your backyard. RIP HARLEY and WINNIE |