Symptoms overlap with many other illnesses like tick borne and can come on fairly suddenly and can be acute - elevated temp, lethargic, no interest in food.
Yes, just so people know what happened in Buzz's case....
February 2018, developed a lump low on his side behind the ribs (common w/ mean seeds). Scheduled surgery.
A day or 2 before surgery, the lump/abscess burst. Surgery still took place. They removed all they could & sent it to Ames for inspection. No foreign matter found.
Vet said maybe the foreign material washed out. Maybe not.
Buzz recovers from surgery & is fine.
Fast forward to about November 20, 2018, just before Thanksgiving. Buzz seems "just not quite himself" one day. Had a slight fever. Gave him an aspirin.
Next day the fever's gone & he seems fine. Maybe not 100%, but about 99.
Hunted the weekend following Thanksgiving. He still seemed about 99%. It was almost imperceptible, but he just wasn't quite 100%. That following week, he got back to 100%.
Hunted Dec. 1 & he seemed fine. 100%.
Hunted Dec. 2 (Sunday) & he got tired real quick & acted like something was wrong. I decided I'd take the morning off Monday & take him in. That evening he just acted tired.
Called vet early Monday Dec. 3 & made an appointment for 10:00 that morning. Buzz seemed sleepy.
Took the daughter to school at 7:30 & when I got home, Buzz was lying on the floor. Had almost no strength whatsoever. Breathing very short & rapid.
I put him in the truck & took off. Called the vet & told them to expect us & that it was an emergency.
Took 10 minutes to get to the vet. 10 minutes after we got to the vet, Buzz was dead.
So yes, pyothorax (the worst result of mean seeds, but not the only result) can be difficult to see & acts quickly.
Whether the abscess in February was responsible for his death in December, we don't know for sure, but it could've been.
The vet said in February that the seed/material could've migrated elsewhere before the abscess burst.
But when he died, the vet said the seed that killed him was most likely inhaled & moved through his lung into the chest cavity.
In the pic below, the bottom dog is healthy. Black chest cavity because the lungs are full of air, with the big white blob in the lower part being the heart.
The upper dog is Buzz. Can't even see his heart & the whole chest cavity turned out white because the lungs couldn't get air. The whole cavity was filled w/ puss. Acute respiratory distress set in & killed him. Quickly.
View attachment 9425