Quote:
Originally Posted by 107barney  I’m not a vet but it seems to me that your dog suffered a very unfortunate fluke here. Propofol is very safe. The dog was given atropine and epinephrine. The vet seems to have done was appropriate for a HR stopping and for anaphylaxis. A member here has a dog who had anaphylaxis to a distemper parvo vaccine and a similar situation happened where the dog could not be resuscitated with epinephrine.
I’m sorry for your loss. Making sense of death isn’t easy, and especially when it is sudden and unexpected. We look for evidence as a way to calm our need for answers, but in life, sometimes there are none. I hope in time you have peace. I would need another vet, not because she did something wrong, but I would need to just start over. |
Thank you. And, yes, I do agree it’s a fluke. Some of the estimates of the odds put it as something that’s very very rare.
I know I’ve used strong words of criticism and disappointment with the vet. But I’m still trying to wrap my head around the list of factors that suggest anaphylactic reaction:
• tongue turning blue
• diarrhea
• a puffy look to her face (first thing I noticed when I saw her. But I’ve seen her everyday for 3 years, so maybe I have a better eye for that. I don’t know. To me it was quite noticeable)
• how quickly it happened
• when it happened right after being given propofol
• the fact she had previous exposures to that drug for her spay and previous dentals (previous exposures is the big factor for sensitization to develop and an anaphylactic reaction to occur)
These things individually suggest an anaphylactic reaction, and when taken all together it completely points towards that. At least that’s my understanding of all the research articles I’ve read. So that’s why I have no problem speaking so harshly about the vet.
I find it very distressing to think that a necropsy probably wasn’t needed to get the right answer. And my vet clearly failed with that. Thinking about it, perhaps she had a suspicion but refused to tell me when I pressured her to tell me her best guess of what she thought happened. Or she actually completely failed to recognize all the clues of a severe anaphylactic reaction. Either way, I think it’s wrong and that’s why I have lost trust in her and question her abilities as a vet. Based on her stomping her foot on the ground and saying “I don’t know”, I’m inclined to think she completely missed recognizing all the clues.
I hope in the future I can find a new vet that I’ll be able to have trust in. But this whole experience has made me very cautious and kinda reluctant to give my trust to any vet.