Archive for the tag 'French Bulldog Veterinary'

Ask the French Bulldog Vet - Spaying Gone Tragically Wrong

lorihuntdvm August 14th, 2008

I have just spent one of the worst weekends of my life.  On Friday morning I took my apparently energetic and healthy little 4.5 month old girl to be spayed.  About an hour after I dropped her off I received the call that she was dead.  What I was told is that they didn’t even get her under - that the pre-anethesia medication was all that she had been given.  The pre-anethesia included morphine.  I was told that when they came to get her she was blue.

My questions:
1.  Do most vets monitor small dogs after they have been given meds like morphine to make sure that there is no adverse reaction?

2.  If so - could anything have been done?
3.  Is giving morphine as a pre-anethesia a common practice when spaying?

I dropped off what seemed to be a perfectly healthy little dog for what I understand to be a very routine surgery.  I had planned to pamper her this weekend after the spaying - cleared all activities.  Instead I ended up mourning her death.

When I first found this vet I had talked to three others and discussed their familiarity with the breed.  I went with him because I was assured that he had 4-5 current frenchies and that he was very familiar with the breed.  I live in the Phoenix area and will be getting another frenchie - I really fell in love with the breed.

I didn’t see any recommended vets listed for out here - how do I make sure I am getting quality care for my beautiful little pups?

Dr. Lori writes –

What an absolutely awful thing to have happen.  I am so sorry for you and your little girl and I can only imagine how heart broken you must be.

You mention morphine, but were there other drugs in the pre-anesthetic cocktail?  I do believe if pre-medications are to be used, the dog should be monitored.  We have our surgery recovery area right in the midst of our main room, so the pets are always in our sight.  It is possible if they saw her fading they could have intubated and given her meds to turn her around, but that is hard to say for sure, without knowing exactly what happened.

Many veterinarians do use pre-meds.  I choose not to use them on frenchies since anesthesia can be so hard on them anyway, that I believe the less drugs in their system, the better and easier recovery.  I have an anesthetic protocol on the frenchbulldogZ site, http://www.frenchbulldogz.org/learn/anesthesia.html.

While it isn’t perfect or all inclusive, it is certainly a good start. Please do let me know if you find out any other drugs were used.

I am so very sorry

Editor’s Note: I’m so sorry for the tragic loss of your little girl. You’ve gone through every Frenchie owner’s worst nightmare. You mention that there aren’t any Frenchie vets ‘where you are’ — if you email me and tell me where that is, I’ll be happy to try to find you a good reference in your area. Again, my deepest condolences on your loss.

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Ask the French Vet - French Bulldog with Missing Parts??

lorihuntdvm July 3rd, 2008

My 5 year old Frenchie has been plagued with recurrent UTIs. We have done antibiotics repeatedly. We recently took her to an Internist and he discovered she only had one kidney. Is this common in Frenchie and is there something we can do to help prevent these reoccurring infections?

The Internist wants to discuss some surgical options. I am a little hesitant about resorting to surgery.

Any suggestions or something that might have been overlooked?

Dr. Lori writes -

I do believe recurrent UTIs can be common in frenchies, but your little girl is the first I have heard to only have one kidney. I suspect that this is at the root of her UTI problem.

One suggestion may be changing her food to a more urinary tract friendly diet, whether it be prescription or cooked.

I have also found some help with recurrent bladder problems in using some of the joint support supplements, like GlycoFlex III, there is anecdotal evidence to support that it lubricates the surface of the bladder making it tougher for bacteria to take root.

Joint sumplenets are never a bad idea for frenchies, so you don’t have much to lose by trying…

Good luck with your sweet girl and kudos to you for going for the best vet care you could get to help her out!

Lori Hunt, DVM

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Ask the French Bulldog Veterinarian - Frenchie pup with hemis?

admin July 2nd, 2008

Hello. I’m considering purchasing a 5 month old Frenchie boy from a very reputable breeder.

He was just xrayed and he has 2 hemis. The vet says it is no problem and he has no signs of problems.

Should I be concerned? Thank you.

Dr. Lori writes -

No, 2 hemis does not concern me at all. In fact in my book, that is an excellent frenchie spine! The OFA study of frenchie spines shows little evidence to support that hemis have anything to do with the back problems that frenchies can experience, i.e. Intervertebral disk disease.

A better question might be to ask if any familt members have had any back problems.

Good Luck with your puppy and how nice that you have found a breeder who will X-ray pups before they leave!

Lori Hunt, DVM

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