Accepted Answer

I am so sorry to hear about your dog. It must have been horrible to find him this way.

If this just happened today, the best way to have the most accurate answer would be to have an autopsy done on your dog (called a necropsy in animals). I can let you know how to arrange to have this done.

From your description it sounds like the blood came from his mouth or neck, but you did not see any signs of trauma and he does not have any known ingestion of any toxins.

My greatest suspicion would be that he had an internal bleed in his stomach and the blood you saw was vomited up. The bleeding could have been caused by a ruptured vessel or even a bleeding disorder (where he developed a condition that prohibited him from clotting his blood normally). Dogs can also rapidly develop a condition called hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) that can be quite deadly. However, often you will see blood in the stools as well.

The second option is that the blood was coughed up from his lungs. This too may this result of a ruptured vessel or even from a ruptured mass (cancer) in the lungs.

I wish that I could give you a more specific answer. I will tell you that death from a hemorrhage is often described as quick and painless. I hope this was the case for your boy.

Dr. Beth

Expert:	Dr.Beth
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Accepts:
Answered:	1/4/2009

Dog Veterinarian

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota