Could longer CPR save my teacup chihuahua? Understanding puppy loss.

I’m so sorry for your loss. CPR is not very successful even in a veterinary hospital where there is access to oxygen and drugs. Less than 6% of dogs and cats will be resuscitated following CPR and survive to discharge. Even if you had known CPR I doubt it would have changed things for Neda. If you don’t know what was wrong and want to try to determine a cause of death you could ask your vet about a necropsy (autopsy).

Hello. I am so sorry for your loss. It is very hard to say if this was preventable, but quite likely, it was not. This degree of heart disease in such a young puppy would have come from a congenital birth defect, a fairly common occurrence in this breed of dog. If a murmur was picked up early enough, an electrocardiogram would have been able to pinpoint the problem, & the next step would have been open heart surgery. This was absolutely not negligence by your veterinarian. Birth defects do happen in animals, just like in people. Some are manageable, others, like this are sadly not, unless you go to extraordinary measures. I know you are sad about this loss. Please accept my sincere condolences & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello. I am so sorry for the loss of your puppy. When such a young dog has such severe symptoms, survival is very unlikely. I do not know the basis for your decision - if it was an economic decision or something else, but hospitalization with aggressive fluid therapy would have been the only chance to save Sassy. Stomach medicine is a part of the therapy, but IV fluids are very important, & even with this, Sassy may not have survived. Vomiting blood is an unusual symptom of HGE, so it is possible something else was at work here, but none the less, it was severe. I am so sorry for your loss. Please accept my condolences.

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your dog! I know how hard it is to have a pet pass away suddenly like this, without any warning. From what you're describing here, I would be suspicious of a sudden cardiac arrhythmia, or a tumor in his heart or abdomen that may have ruptured suddenly - both of these are relatively common causes of sudden death in middle-aged or older large-breed dogs. With either of these problems, there is usually nothing anyone can do - even if it happened in the lobby of your vet's office and they were able to start working on him immediately, it's unlikely that this would have made any difference at all. So try not to feel guilty. It sounds like you did the best you could, and I don't believe it would have changed the outcome even if you had left immediately for the vet's office. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss. If you think it would help you to have piece of mind, you could ask your veterinarian about arranging for an autopsy to be done (called a necropsy in animals). This would be the best way to determine what the cause of death was.

First off, I'm so very sorry you lost Lucky so suddenly! How horrible for you, and please accept my condolences for your loss. Yes, it certainly is possible that she was suffering from late stage CHF causing the symptoms you saw when you came home. CHF causes syncope, which is when a dog suddenly passes out due to lack to blood to the brain. Unfortunately without seeing her in person, I can't say for certain, but it is possible. I hope you are doing ok after the loss of your dog, and I hope this helps you!

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. Unfortunately, chronic renal failure is a common problem in elderly dogs, and is often in the late stages already by time it's diagnosed. The situation was likely complicated by the fact that your girl also had CHF, because the treatment for renal failure (lots of fluids) is essentially the opposite of what dogs with heart disease need to control their symptoms. So we are often stuck between a rock and a hard place, when it comes to trying to treat dogs who have both of these problems. It sounds like your girl had a wonderful life, to have made it to 17 years old. It doesn't sound like there's anything at all you could have done differently - these are both just bad diseases, that are unfortunately common in older pets. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

First off, I am terribly sorry that you lost your puppy! How horrible for you! I'm also sorry your question wasn't answer. I didn't see it myself, and I certainly wish I had been able to answer it for you earlier. Please keep in mind that without seeing him in person, I can't say for certain the outcome if you had gotten him into the vet but yes there could have been a chance he would have survived had he seen a vet. Also keep in mind that bloat is extremely deadly, and even with treatment, there are dogs who will not survive. I'm afraid it's a question that cannot have a definitive answer, and I am so very sorry for your loss :-(