Hi could anybody give me some advice?
My brother just lost his 4month old puppy, the saga began 4 weeks after getting Trixi, she was a miniature Yorkie) trixi chewed up a rubber shoe and became very ill, she looked dizzy, was being sick and foaming at the mouth, wetting her self running into walls, upon being taken to the vets, she was put on a drip and started an intense course of worming paste, the vet was sure that the shoe had nothing to do with her condition because she didn't pick up after being made sick! After 3 days at the vets she became better and was allowed home, Trixi spent the first two days howling but soon went back to normal, but last week digested some chocolate whilst around a friends house, they rushed her to the vets immediatly and she was made sick and sent home with medication, and was fine, the following day however she became quite ill and had thge same convulsions as before, she was admitted to vets once more, he gave her valium and put her on a drip, he had never seen a dog like this befor and was baffled, apparently although chocolate is very poisonous, because she was taken to the vets straight away and made sick she should have been fine, but the vet had trouble stabalising her blood sugar level and after 12 hours gave up and very sadly passed away.  Trixi also had a umbilical hernia, I am certain that she had something more wrong with her, can any one Help explain, or have any advice, because he is blaming himself for letting her get hold of chocolate!!

How sad.  Sorry I am unable to offer any explanation for the unfortunate events with Trixi but I just wanted to say that I am sure there are lots of us whose dogs have eaten chocolate.  I know it's not good for them and can cause problems but mine have eaten chocolate on the odd occasion with no nasty side effects.

Has your brother contacted her breeder?  If she was from one of my litters I would certainly want to know.  Easy to say I know, but he shouldn't blame himself.  If she was getting veterinary care then he did all that he could.

sounds a bit like epilepcy.

It would be very young to be epilepsy - that doesn't usually start till over a year old, and being sick (as in the first instance mentioned) isn't normally a symptom.

Could possibly be a storage disorder, they are rare but we have a fatal one in schipperkes which is why we test before breeding but not all forms have a test available.  Depending on which type as to what age the puppies show symptoms some will suffer upto about 12 wks then no more problems for the rest of their lives others will go yrs without symptoms then suddenly deteriorate and die.  Balance problems and walking into walls etc makes me think this possibly some sort disorder similar to schips as these are the first symptoms as well as epileptic type seizures and behaviour changes that indicate the problem, as the Cerebalum is basically dying.

If it was a storage disorder then there is nothing you can do about it, you can advise the breeders so that they don't breed with either parents again as most are recessive so need a gene from each parent to cause the disease.  Unfortunately with no post mortem there really is not a lot you can other than tell the breeders of her death and the symptoms maybe they've come across it before within the breed.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, it's especially hard when they are so young.

Just to say i wouldn't beat yourself up about the chocolate, my dogs have eaten it on several occasions (usually sneaked it from somewhere) and they never had any nasty side affects.

I hope someone can help and give you more advice

Actually i forgot to say that my dog had a fit a couple of times when we took her for long walks but the vet gave her some medication and told us to give her lots of water and she was ok.... however she had a couple of mini strokes and eventually had to be put down because of a bigger one and she looked dizzy and was walking into walls etc.

Just to add to the comments about chocolate - chocolate CAN kill. However it is the quantity and type that is eaten that is important - the darker the chocolate, the more lethal. A large dog would have to eat a large quantity to kill - a small dog only a relatively small amount and, as someone said, if acted upon quickly, before it gets into the blood stream, there shouldn't be a long term problem.

Daisy