Brian_Newcastle

No, she is the same dog. Just posted here as I wanted to see if anyone else had had the experience of JRT's or any other dog for that matter just dropping dead one day when being seemingly healthy and behaving normally.

Thankyou for your kind words. It is good to be able to talk to people who can relate. Being sudden with no prior signs led me to believe something related to the heart, but that's just a guess. I am glad that she wasn't sick or suffered before she passed.

My JRT collapsed dead the other morning with no apparent health problems prior. She was happy and running around and barking as per normal the night before. She was an unspayed female, 11yo. She was taking Advantix and Sentinel Spectrum monthly. No evidence of snakes or spiders around which may have bitten her. Is an 11yo age an average age to die? According to Google, 13 to 15 years is the average lifespan for the JRT. I chose not to get a necropsy done as it may not provide answers even if I did get it done. Anybody have any comments on JRT lifespan or experiences with the sudden death of dogs with no apparent health problems?

My thoughts are with you in this difficult time...I know how you feel.

I thought maybe a snake or a spider bite. But we don't have long grass and have never previously spotted spiders beyond the odd huntsman and don't have any trees in the backyard. Thankyou for all your replies and interest. It gives me comfort to converse with other dog lovers. According to various online sources, it says that the average age for Jack Russell's is 13-15 years.

Thankyou for your kind words. Each day seems to get easier as I adjust to not having her and knowing that she is no longer there. I suppose all people have to go through grief whether it be a loved pet or a human relative. In some ways I'm glad she died all of a sudden, rather than being sick or having to make a decision to euthanise her. Sometimes I can try and think rationally about her and other times I go to pieces. From checking her paperwork, I believe she was actually 11 rather than 13 as I first stated. Is that too young for a seemingly healthy Jack Russell to die? She was an unspayed female.

My darling Jack Russell. You were the first and only dog I ever had. I took you from a family that loved you but could not care for you anymore when you were 3 or 4. I remember I saw an advertisement for you the local paper early one morning (about 4am), when for some reason I woke up and went down the street to get the paper. I called the advertisement very early and my girlfriend at the time woke up and we went for a drive to pick you up. We drove in my sports car and it was a foggy morning. When we took you the young boy of the previous family who owned you said goodbye and shed a tear. I remember the first night we had you, you slept in the laundry but you were crying too much, so you slept in the bed with me and my girlfriend which I was quite happy with :) You quickly found a nice warm spot under the blanket. You had a skin irritation which we took you to the vet for and quickly got fixed with a change in diet. I quickly trained you to do your business on a fake piece of grass as we lived in an apartment. You were now my dog :) You ran away from me once but I found you and brought you back. You lived with me for approximately 10 years. You spent time with my mother when my 2nd girlfriend got sick of you being in our apartment. You spent time with my father while I was overseas. You lived in different cities with me. You have seen me through three different girlfriends! You played with my first child up until the age of two. You have been gone a few days but my young one still goes out to the backyard and says "Kirby" "Kirby" I'm glad that he cannot understand that you are gone forever. Up until your death my darling, you were a happy, active dog. You showed no signs of sickness or ill health. Before or in between my girlfriends, you always slept in my bed. I'll never forget the time you pinched the freshly cooked meat off my plate that I cooked for lunch and then went and hid under the bed. In the later years of your life I did not get to spend as much time with you as I would have liked. I would've loved for you to come and sit on the couch with me, sleep in my bed but my wife didn't like all the hair you used to shed around the house so our time was mainly limited outside. Please don't take this personally, it had nothing to do with how much I loved you. I had a great time with you with my second girlfriend as she didn't mind you inside and you got to sit on the couch with me for hours on end. Sleep on my lap and play. In the last few days of your life when I saw you, you seemed normal. The night before you died, I was going to come out to the backyard before I went to sleep to make sure you had food and water for the night but I didn't because I heard you running around and playing. I wish I got to say my last goodbye. You always awaited my arrival with a wagging tail. I have previously had nightmares of your death of not moving or finding you dead. You were getting up in years (about 13 I believe) and I was worried how your eventual death would affect me. A few times when I saw you lying in the backyard, I have called your name to make sure that you moved and that you were alive to my great relief. But the other morning, I noticed you lying near your sunbaking spot but it was too early as the sun hadn't come out yet. I looked from a distance for your chest breathing...there was nothing. I called your name a few times sharply and there was no answer....I knew you were dead. I approached you and you looked peaceful. Your eyes were open. There were no signs of injury. You were lukewarm, you hadn't been gone long. If I knew you were going, I would've spent as much time with you as I could've. You meant a lot to me. I wrapped you up, gave you a kiss and took you away. I didn't bury you in my backyard as it would be too much of a reminder. Tonight on my way home from work, I disposed of your eating bowls, house, bed and collar. I'm sorry I didn't tuck you in every night, I knew you loved that. I have never lost a close family member before and you are the first to go...I'm just really sad that I cannot bring you back. Some people might think it's silly but it's just how I feel. The night before your death, you were barking at the pizza boy. Everything seemed normal. I don't know why you died. You never had any serious health problems in the past and you were only 13. I thought you had a few good years left in you yet! A seizure? A stroke? Did you choke or eat something poisonous? I'm not sure... I decided not to get a necropsy as it wouldn't bring you back. Prior to this, the most difficult events I have had to deal with in life have been braking up with long term girlfriends. Well Kirby, you were with me for 10 years and you left all of a sudden. I could talk and ramble about you for hours. During the week before your death, my wife and I were arguing. I hope this didn't affect you in any way? To be honest, I took you for granted. You were always there and you were always there for me. Besides the nightmares I had, I could never really picture you gone and I wouldn't and still don't know how to deal with you being gone. Anyway, my good friend, thankyou for the pleasure of your company, thankyou for your personality, thankyou for trusting me and thankyou for making my years of 18 to 28 enjoyable. I feel empty without you and the feeling doesn't feel like it's going to go away. When I found you, your body was lifeless, it was as if you had left it. Wherever you may be now, please know that you were much loved and I will miss you forever. One day in the long future, I may be able to think about you and have a smile without shedding a tear but at the moment no matter what I'm doing, when I think about you, I shed a tear... See you my little man :'-( RIP 27/02/2014

Came home today and noticed the dog dried off the remains (mainly cooked bones) of a hot chicken from the supermarket out of the bin. Whenever she's manged to get her paws on a cooked bone previously, she has spewed it up, she has ingested a lot of cooked chicken bones this time and I am concerned for her. Any recommendations what I should do?

Will paw paw ointment stimulate hair growth? Is paw paw ointment available from normal chemists?

I acquired my dog at 2 years of age and we took her to the vet for a check up, and the vet reccommended that we vaccinate her so we did which consisted of the 1 shot. Does a one shot vaccination at two years old cover my dog for all of the major dog diseases?

hey chuckie500, I bought mine from http://www.pricelesspets.com.au/ With flea dermatitis, does the hair always grow back or can you be left with spots of no hair growth?

I had a look at my dogs ears and they have a slight smell with a black discharge but I read on some Internet pages that a small black discharge is normal. How often should one clean their dogs ears?

Where can you typically buy the whistles that dogs can here but humans can't?

I have a two year old female Jack Russell Terrier. According to the vet she has dermatitis caused by flea's. I've just started applying Advantix to her and was wondering what the differences were between Advantix/Frontline/Advantage? Another couple of questions I had were... I've put it between her shoulder blades as best as I could, does she have to be heaps active for it to spread to the rest of her skin? With washing/swimming, will this lower the effectiveness of the product? Off topic questions..... I've also got her vaccinated, but was unsure if she had been vaccinated in the past. Will getting vaccinated twice cause any problems? I've given her a 3-monthly tablet for gut worms, and am soon going to get her tested for heartworm after we've cleared up her dermatitis (or should I get this done now?) Is there anything else I should be doing 4 her?