My 6 month Pug old died during her spay operation yesterday. She was a healthy dog and blood work was done...?

Question

.. prior to the operation to make sure she would be OK. "Cardiac arrest while on the table" is what they told us. I have a feeling that she was given too much anesthesia. Is there anything I can/should do about this? I'd hate to see it happen to another dog, and my family is having a hard time dealing with the death.

Answer 1

Unfortunately things like this do happen no matter how many precautions are taken. It's the same with people, whenever going under anesthesia there's always that risk. She may have had a bad reaction to the anesthetic. Sometimes there are just things that can't be controlled. There is the possibility there was human error, but that's unlikely since anesthesia is monitored very carefully by the veterinarian and technicians. Your vet did everything they were suppose to do and unless you have a way to prove they did something wrong, I'm sorry to say that there's not much you can do. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Answer 2

I am so very sorry for your loss. You could have an autopsy performed, if anesthesia was the culprit it wouldn't be difficult to determine.

But, things happen sometimes that nobody, not even the most experienced and devoted vet can predict.

If it were negligence would you pursue damages? It would be within your rights but it would also prolong your family's agony and the vet who performed this routine surgery, who undoubtedly feels horribly sick about it already, might never recover professionally. If your vet has been loving and attentive and has never given you reason to doubt his skill or ethics then, give him a break. He needs forgiveness as much as you need to heal.

Think about it. I know it's a hard thing to do but, maybe, extending your hand in forgiveness may allow both your family and your vet to move on with a heart less heavily burdened by this tragedy.

My heart goes out to you.

Answer 3

First, my heart goes out to you on the loss of your Pug. I did some checking online and discovered several instances of Pugs dying of cardiac arrest. Here is an excerpt of one instance and the link below under "Sources": "UPDATE 12/5/06-We are very sad to report that Altair passed away yesterday. She went in to be spayed and went into cardiac arrest before she was even put under anesthesia. The doctors think that it was an allergic reaction to the pre-anesthetic injection or a heart condition that we were unaware of."

Here is another with the link below under "Sources": "Now I get the shocking news that you went into pulmonary and cardiac arrest during the nose trim and neuter."

Finding two instances on the Internet does not mean that your puppy died of the same reasons, but it may give you some comfort to know that you are not alone.

I worked for a vet for over two years and it is impossible to predict the outcome of a routine surgery, let alone a complicated procedure. My heart aches for your loss. Like all highly bred dogs and cats, Pugs have some genetic tendencies (the noses we love cause breathing problems, all births must be c-section because of the size of the puppies' heads, etc.) that sometimes come out in the worst possible ending.

Wishing you comfort.

Answer 4

First, I am very sorry for your loss. Losing a pet during a routine surgery is a terrible thing. To answer your question: Pugs present a larger risk during routine surgeries due to their "pushed-in" faces. I always ask my vet if he is familiar with Brachycephalic (dogs with a shortened muzzle, like pugs, bulldogs, boston terriers), as there are some steps they can take to lessen the chance of a problem during surgery. Before surgery, a general physical exam should be done to make sure that your pug does not have an elongated palate. Many vets (mine included) use the anesthetic Isoflurane which is often a bit more expensive but safer due to the fact that it is easier to control the level of anesthesia, with a much faster recovery time. You could ask your vet what type of anethesia was used during the spay.

Answer 5

It likely was from an underlying heart problem, not anesthesia. There are several heart problems that are undetectable and can cause sudden death or cardiac arrest when a dog is sedated or put under anesthesia.

Answer 6

Go to www.craigslist.com find the Rant & Rave section also refeered to as R&R. From there find your local Craigslist site, Post your story there. Don't be rude or slanderious, just say what happened and ask if anyone else in the area has encountered this with that particular Vet... If you get one reply or RE: post then okay, see what they think. However just 2 dogs out of the thousands they fix sadly enough are good odds. If you get more then 10 replies I'd start asking questions... Document all those replies and demand to see the Vet and vet tech's training records.... Ask around ask everyone who's your Vet?, get info but don't bad mouth the vet incase it was truly something that just happened with no blame to place. If it seems to happen often then say why your asking.

Answer 7

First of all, i'm so sorry for your loss! It's a horrible thing to lose a pet ever, but especially shocking in a routine operation.

Unfortunately even the most routine surgery has risks. Despite all precautions, a small minority of animals have a bad reaction to the anesthesia, even if it's perfectly done. That's why you have to sign a release form.

How have you felt about the vet practice overall? Have you found them competent or haphazard? With the number of spay surgeries any practice performs, they are probably very aware of exactly how much anesthesia it takes to put any dog under--unless there was a horrible accident or someone completely botched it, I would tend to assume that your poor pug was just one of the unluck minority who have an unavoidable bad reaction, but it wouldn't hurt to ask around at the vet's and see what the techs or nurses say.

Again i'm sorry for your loss.

Answer 8

A cardiac arrest to such a young dog could mean it had a heart defect that wasn't detected until they were doing the operation. Its not uncommon for a dog to die during surgery anymore than it is for a human being.
Doctors and vets don't go out of their way to harm their patients. It was an unfortunate incident. There are plenty of other dogs out there looking for a home you need to help another one. The only thing a lawsuit does is line a lawyers pocket with money.

Answer 9

Here is a link that has some good info. A vet answers questions about anesthesia death. He also provides info about how anesthisia death and cardiac arrest are related. I am so sorry for your loss....

http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/danthdeath.html

Answer 10

I am not sure what you can do
I am very sorry about you lost
I lost my 11 month old puppy last month
My six year old daughter is having a hard time with it
I Told her, we will look in to getting another one in the spring.
One day she ask when are we getting an puppy, the next, why her puppy died
Good luck
God bless