Occasionally in dogs ( and people too) veins and arteries are not exactly where they are expected to be, for whatever reasons, genetics, etc.
A vet I worked for was going to do Thyroid surgery on a cat, which he had done hundreds of times before, and on the first incision, he accidentally sliced throught the corotid artery, and the poor cat bled out almost before he could figure out what he had done. He was so upset with himself, but he figured the cat's corotid had developed slightly central to the normal position, that it was directly in the line of the initial incision.
I was also witness to a few c-sections that ended up not surviving due to uncontrolled bleeding issues.
There are risks with any surgery, and bleeding out is one of them. It is very sad, and usually catastrophic.... |