Bernie was a rescue who lived with me from the time he was 8 weeks old. He had pectus excavatum, an unusual deformity of the breastbone, which results in compression of the heart and lungs. In other words, his rib cage was not supposed to 'spring' as he matured and he was not supposed to live past 5 months of age without major chest surgery. On November 8, 2010, he experienced an odd occurance of paralysis. My vet of 30 years thought Bernie might have tick paralysis, inspite of an hour long 'tick search' that turned up no tick. The paralysis continued and it was felt that he had a embolis in his spinal cord. I let him go on November 12; when I said goodbye to him, his dark expressive eyes were still there, but his body was gone. He was a special dog, the most photogenic dog I've ever owned!
Rest in peace sweet boy!