Our Dog Just Died

[nahkit]

I got a call from my daughter a few minutes ago to say our dog died early this morning. She let him out first thing this morning (around 5 a.m.) and half an hour later she found him dead at the side of the house.

My daughter says he had what looks like a bite mark on the side of his neck and there were a couple of streaks of blood where he'd dragged himself back to the house. She also said that she thought he had some broken bones by the way he flopped when she picked him up.

She was pretty upset when she was telling me this so it wasn't entirely clear what had happened but everyone is telling her it must have been a snake. I'm trying to get my head round it and I'm thinking that if it was a poisonous snake then surely there wouldn't be any broken bones and if it was a constrictor then why didn't it eat him (he was a small terrier type).

There is a pack of five dogs belonging to a neighbour that are really vicious and sometimes get out and have been around our house late at night and early morning but my daugter said she didn't hear any noise at all so I don't think they got him.

The only other thing I can think of is that a couple of times last year there was a large water monitor not far from the house, would they attack a small dog?

I don't really know what to think, I just wondered if anyone on the forum has had a similar experience?

[KC 71]

Sorry to hear that m8- maybe a snake !

[itchybum]

Probably a snake.

How old is the daughter?

Some times a dead limp body can feel like it has broken bones it it because of the way it flops around.

[Cuban]

Easy enough to check if bones have been broken or not by comparing legs either side, unlikely that each limb would have a break in the same place.

I dog that is recently killed/died will be very limp; from my own experience, easy to mistake this fro broken bones when one is used to feeling a live dog with active muscle tone.

What is the nature of the bite? Spacing of puncture wounds etc? Are you rural enough to expect large snakes/lizards? Is there any indication of the dog vomiting, either mouth or on the ground? Difficult to tell after death but a snake bite that delivered venom will often show in dilated pupils. Bleeding from gums, eyes, anus.

We are also in the KK area and get some "bad" snakes, I wrote up an encounter with a small King Cobra a few months ago, have seen two large Pythons in the past 7 years. To kill even a small dog so quickly I suggest that this means that if it is a snake it is one that should be removed from the area, one way or another.

A dog on dog death would follow from one having the other's neck in a grip, but I would expect there to be other signs of fighting; ear damage, blood on teeth, marks on skin, other fur under claws etc.

Looking for the tracks left by a large snake might help your investigation.

I am sorry for your loss.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Cuban

[somtampet]

sorry for your loss,maybe a monitor could do enough damage to kill a small dog

[nahkit]

Probably a snake.

How old is the daughter?

Some times a dead limp body can feel like it has broken bones it it because of the way it flops around.

My daughter is 24 so were not talking about a small kid but she was really upset over the phone so it was hard to get a clear story from her.

[nahkit]

Easy enough to check if bones have been broken or not by comparing legs either side, unlikely that each limb would have a break in the same place.

I dog that is recently killed/died will be very limp; from my own experience, easy to mistake this fro broken bones when one is used to feeling a live dog with active muscle tone.

What is the nature of the bite? Spacing of puncture wounds etc? Are you rural enough to expect large snakes/lizards? Is there any indication of the dog vomiting, either mouth or on the ground? Difficult to tell after death but a snake bite that delivered venom will often show in dilated pupils. Bleeding from gums, eyes, anus.

We are also in the KK area and get some "bad" snakes, I wrote up an encounter with a small King Cobra a few months ago, have seen two large Pythons in the past 7 years. To kill even a small dog so quickly I suggest that this means that if it is a snake it is one that should be removed from the area, one way or another.

A dog on dog death would follow from one having the other's neck in a grip, but I would expect there to be other signs of fighting; ear damage, blood on teeth, marks on skin, other fur under claws etc.

Looking for the tracks left by a large snake might help your investigation.

I am sorry for your loss.

Thanks for the reply, I'm not in the country at the moment so I just have to go on what I've been told. My wife says there were two puncture marks on his neck so it sounds like a poisonous snake.

The project where we live is very overgrown and we come across various snakes from time-to-time.

My daughter said his eyes were open when she found him but he was already dead. She didn't say anything about him vomiting. They already buried him and I dont have any information on where he was bleeding from.

I suppose its a pointless exercise my posting here and speculating, I just wanted to get it out of my system.

[DesertRose]

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.

[qdinthailand]

Hit by a vehicle? a motorbike maybe?

[nahkit]

Hit by a vehicle? a motorbike maybe?

Thats doubtful but not impossible. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac so there is no through traffic and only one other house is occupied in the street. The guard does come down our street early each morning to turn off the security lights but the dog has never shown any interest in him (by that I mean hes never run after the motorbike). My daughter sent me some pictures this evening and he looks to have quite a large puncture wound, not at all what I imagined when she called me this morning.

[meatboy]

sorry for your loss nahkit its always sad when something like this happens,what the wf.told me last night that snakes are very active this time of the yr.looking for a mate,one hr later her freind came and told us she had one in the garden in the afternoon and 2 doors away had seen 2 and we live on a moo-baan.what your daughter have said sounds like he didnt suffer.