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What caused my dog's sudden death after swollen gums and fever?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | neutered | 1 year and 2 months old | 75 lbs

On Sunday my dogs lower gums became swollen and he began to drool, appetite low but still ate and urination/BM normal. To vet on Monday, examined and prescribed an antibiotic twice a day for 7 days and Deramaxx for pain/swelling. No blood drawn- said was probably mouth infection Tuesday much better with no swelling, vomiting, diarrhea was almost 100% again. Thursday Temp 106, vomitX1- vet gave ABX IM coudnt find source of infection. died 3 hours later . WBC ZERO. What could have happened.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Emily, DVM

Answered By Emily, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 10th, 2017

I'm so sorry for your loss! It it's so hard when you lose a pet that young.

It's hard to know for sure what happened with Duck but with very low white cell counts I would be concerned about infection in his bone marrow such as a tickborne disease or even potentially cancer. The only way to truly know what caused his passing would be a post more exam similar to an autopsy of people. However from my experience many times we still don't get an exact answer.

Please know from what I can tell this is not anything you did or did not do or any indication of anything lacking on your part.
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