Why did Jake die so suddenly?

by Cindy
(Toronto)

Haley is gone 6 years now but I still wonder what went wrong. He had a good walk at 10:30pm, bound up the stairs when we came home and seemed to be in his usual spunky spirit. Then around 2:15am I was in the kitchen when I saw Jake lying by the sliding glass door. There were clumps of poo all around him and beside him was a pile of vomit. He slowly walked over to lean on the side of the kitchen peninsula and did not look well. I picked him up to find his heart beating out of control and he was gasping for air. I knew he was very sick but didn't want to go to a vet where they would have done all kinds of invasive poking and prodding. I just couldn't put him through that as I had a good sense this was the end. I went upstairs at 2:30am, placed him in his crate where he quietly lay and looked at me with very sad eyes for the last time. My son took him out of his crate at 8am where he was already stiff and cold.

The vet never gave me an explanation for Jake's death, but it has been eating at me for years as to why my seemingly 11 year old boy died so suddenly.
Your thoughts....