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.
Tags: altering, anesthesia, French Bulldog Veterinary, spaying, surgery, veterinarian
admin July 20th, 2008
I just took my 5 month-old French Bulldog male Wilbur to the vet to get his last set of shots and for a routine checkup. The vet was very concerned that Wilbur still had 3 of his K9 baby teeth while his adult teeth were almost completely grown in. I haven’t been concerned up until now because I assumed they would just fall out on their own. A few days ago he had all 4 baby K9 teeth, but lost one on his own.
The vet said that it is imperative that we schedule a surgery to remove the baby teeth before they cause gum disease. He said that I will need to leave Wilbur for the entire day and they will put him under anesthesia. I am very hesitant to put my baby under for something as minor as pulling baby teeth, especially because I know how dangerous it can be for short-nosed breeds. Do you think that the baby teeth need to come out immediately and warrart anesthesia?
Are there any other options besides anesthesia? I don’t want to risk his life for something so small!’
Dr. Lori writes -
Retained baby teeth can affect the bite of an adult frenchie by not allowing the adult teeth to come to the appropriate spaces. This can sometimes result in teeth hitting the roof of the mouth, etc. However, that being said, I am hesitant to anesthetize him for JUST that. If he is 5 months old, I suspect he is coming to the age of neutering, which is when I usually recommend to my clients that we remove any retained puppy teeth, since they will already be under anesthetic.
As for other options, there really aren’t any… other than wiggling those teeth every chance you get and see if you can work them out on their own.
Lori Hunt, DVM
Tags: anaesthesia, French Bull Dog, French Bulldog, Frenchie, puppy teeth, surgery, veterinarian
