Dog died after surgery.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh my goodness. I am so sorry to hear that Elvis died after having surgery.

It sounds like your vet did the same things I would do. If I take an xray and see a needle inside of a dog I always recommend surgery. The reason for this is that if the needle penetrates through the stomach or intestines it is very likely to cause a serious problem that could be life threatening.

This surgery is definitely one that can be done by a single person.

It's hard to say why Elvis died. It's possible that he had a congenital problem with his heart. Or, in other words he may have been born with a heart problem.

Bulldogs can sometimes have difficulty with anesthesia. They have a very small trachea (windpipe) and it is often hard to get an endotracheal tube in. But, where we usually see problems with the anesthetic is at the start of the procedure and not afterwards.

If you are suspicious that something was done incorrectly you can ask your vet for an independent autopsy to be done. This way another vet can look at the body and determine if there was any negligence.

My guess, however, is that this is just a very very unfortunate situation.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Dr. Marie.



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Dr. Marie replied:

It's really hard to say about his heart. One would think that if there was a heart condition it would have affected him on his first operation. But, it is in theory possible that the second anesthesia was more stressful on his heart than the first.

It is possible that this was related to him having a full stomach. If a dog vomits under anesthesia and then breathes that in then they can get something called aspiration pneumonia which is very serious. Or, they can choke on the vomit and die suddenly.

I think an important question to ask the vet was whether there was a breathing tube in place, and whether that tube was left in for long enough. When I do surgery on bulldogs I always leave the tube in until they are awake enough to be sitting up. That way if they vomit then they are alert enough to be able to either spit it out or swallow it and not choke on it.

If Elvis vomited while the endotracheal tube was in then the vomiting is not likely the cause of his death but rather a symptom. If the tube was in then this protects his airway and he could not choke. Some dogs will vomit while they are in the process of dying.

If it was his heart, unfortunately the only way to know for sure is to have a post mortem exam done with samples sent away to a pathologist. Many heart conditions are not obvious unless the heart muscle is looked at under a microscope.

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Dr. Marie.