# Dog Crying for hours, anesthesia?



## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

My 2 1/2 year old came home 7 hours ago from getting her teeth cleaned and a broken tooth pulled. It was a small tooth, no big deal. She is crying non-stop. When I picked her up, the staff told me she was crying but that is was the anesthesia and it would wear off. 7 hours later, she is still whimpering and crying and super reactive to sound, motion, any stimulation. She will not stop.

This is a dog that never cries. She is not vocal and she is not wimpy. Anyone ever have this reaction after a dental?

When should I freak out about this?


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## RedyreRottweilers (Dec 17, 2006)

I HAVE had a dog do this after an anesthesia called Ketamine. I will NEVER let this drug be used on my dogs again.

Please talk to your vet if it's still going on tomorrow. I'm so sorry, for me, it was very hard to take. IMO my dog this happened to was never normal again.


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

She was given Atropine Sulfate, Dexdomiter, and Dolorex as a pre-sedative. She was then given Isoflurane and Sevoflurane while she was under.

This is miserable and I haven't ever had a dog react like this. She is not in her right mind and I am not letting her be around my other dogs. She is hyper and vigilant and crying. If I touch her, she jumps. If I try to comfort her, she runs and hides in the closet. She seems to like laying on me, but I can only hold still for so long and noises make her jump off of my back. She doesn't want to be alone and she doesn't want to be touched or talked to.

Great.


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

How competent was the vet that did the surgery? Did you check him out (for complaints/disciplinary actions) with your State Vet board? That was the only way I found out a vet I had been using had 8 complaints against him for misdiagnosis/malpractice for simple things like Neutering, spaying, diagnosing Parvo/heart failure.

If you didn't check him out, I would do so, and based on the info, might take your dog to a new vet (that you check out first) for a 2nd opinion of what's going on.

I'm suspecting something is wrong with the teeth. Like they screwed something up, and a root is exposed or something, causing continual pain.


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## oldhounddog (May 31, 2010)

Sorry your dog is having problems. It may be time to consider a second opinion and not let the suffering continue. Could be a nerve problem or bone chip causing trouble. I had a dog that had several teeth extracted and very few problems after, such as being tender for a few days. What you have is not normal.

Hope things get better soon.
oldhounddog


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## RedyreRottweilers (Dec 17, 2006)

I'm sure hoping she is feeling a lot better. Please update us when you can.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

This is not normal. Similar circumstances post-op recently for some friends of ours. Dog turned out to have a liver malfunction that prevented the drugs from clearing the body in a normal fashion. If you like and trust your current vet I would call immediately. If you need to, get a second opinion.


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

Thank you everyone.

My vet is brand new to me. I moved recently and had to find a new one. The clinic is upper-end and I was treated well and they were exceedingly kind to my dog.

Today she is not crying as badly, but she is not normal. I called the clinic and they said that this can occasionally happen. They marked her file and said that we would use different sedation if she ever needed it again. They want me to call tomorrow and report on her. They talked about giving her fluids to maybe speed up the clearing of the anesthesia from her system. They said this is certainly not typical, but that it's not unheard of either.

When I picked her up yesterday, she was crying at the clinic. She was crying badly enough that they had her loose in the back and were trying to calm her. They warned me that she was not recovering in a typical way. They thought it would wear off in a couple of hours. It still hasn't, but her crying is probably reduced by 75% from last night, so at least we're moving in the right direction.

This has been stressful. I think we're going to be fine, but I will feel better when it's all over.

Thank you for your concern. I think we're going to be alright.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

What breed is your dog?


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

She's a staffy bull.


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

Sending feel better thoughts to your baby. If she's not back to normal by tomorrow I would take her back and have them give her fluids to flush her system. It's good they will mark her chart for future reference, please keep a copy of what they have given her and her reaction in case you're out of town with her and need a vet.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

The inability to clear the anesthesia sounds very suspicious for a syndrome called "portosystemic liver shunt." In this case the blood is not correctly filtered through the liver where most drugs are metabolized and broken down for elimination. If the blood, and meds, bypass the liver they do not get broken down and therefore remain in the blood for a very long time...usually days. Subcutaneous fluids can help flush the meds a bit quicker out of the blood and is relatively easy to do, not much more for the dog to go through as she has already gone through quite a bit.

If the dog is spayed did she have a normal recovery? Often liver shunts are first identified when a dog is spayed or neutered as it is usually the first experience with anesthesia.


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

She is an adopted dog and was a pediatric spay, so I did not own her when the procedure was done. She was done with a large group of dogs. It is possible that no one noticed her reaction since she was one of many and did not have an owner to watch over her. She was also only 12 weeks old when spayed, so the weirdness/whining may have been chalked up to being a little thing.

I am sure this has nothing to do with anything, but she is one of 11 puppies born in an animal impound. Two died before the rescue took them in from the impound. The other puppies are 50 pound dogs. She is 35. Four of her teeth came in sideways, four didn't come in at all. She is very strange with weird fear issues combined with total terrier conviction.

The AKC PALed her as a staffordshire bull terrier and she does look the part. However, given her heritage, she is most likely just a runty little pit mutt.

Thank you for the input. I am particularly grateful for the advice to take a copy of her records with me when I travel so I can make sure not to give this combination again. She slept through the night which is real improvement. I will take her in if she is stilll off today. The clinic will be in contact with me either way. They weren't happy about her reaction either. I am glad she was doing it in the clinic so they know I'm not being a headcase.


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

Is there a test for the liver abnormality? I would think that that would be important for me to know. It must cause more serious problems than poor anesthesia reactions...

My dog has recurring serious skin infections that we can't figure out. She get red bumps all over her belly and arm pits and the bumps are raised and become blistered. When she gets this, she hides under the bed. (this is her solution for many of life's problems). Cephlexin clears the infection, but it comes back. She will go to the University to a dermatologist for her next outbreak, but I wondered if this could be related to the liver concerns. My vet is baffled by the skin stuff. It looks like very severe diaper rash with pustules. I have pictures, but I don't know how to post them.


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## RedyreRottweilers (Dec 17, 2006)

I am so glad to hear she is doing better today. ((hugs)) to you both. I know how stressful this is. It is nearly impossible to not stay right by them when this sort of thing is going on.


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## infiniti (Mar 19, 2010)

trainingjunkie said:


> I have pictures, but I don't know how to post them.


If the pictures aren't too big, you can simply go to "post reply" as you normally would to post a response, then click on the little paper clip up on the tool bar above the message box. That will bring up a box where you can browse your files. Find where your picture files are kept on your computer and select the one you want to post then select "upload". Wait until it says "done" in the bottom left corner, then close the box. When you are finished typing your message in the message box, you submit your reply. If the pictures are of the right size, they should post.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

portosystemic liver shunt

Here's one website that gives the basic info...
http://www.acvs.org/AnimalOwners/HealthConditions/SmallAnimalTopics/PortosystemicShunts(PSS)/

And this one has an awesome visual...

http://vetsurgerycentral.com/pss.htm

Another good one...

http://www.vet.utk.edu/clinical/sacs/shunt/faq.php

Some lights are flashing for me when you describe your dog...small for her litter, emotional issues,...she may not be processing proteins correctly. Remember, I have never seen the dog, am not a vet, and I am just throwing this out there for consideration of things to rule out. Blood tests like liver enzymes, bile acid, BUN, ammonia should help figure things out if the vet suspects a liver shunt. Imaging studies are the definitive diagnostic procedure for liver shunt. Your story just sounded so much like a friend of ours that I couldn't help but comment to your post. Let us know how things turn out.


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## vabird (Jun 5, 2007)

She may have just been painful and reacting to the pain. Even small teeth, if they aren't practically falling out on their own, can be painful to remove. Unless they did a local block on her, they didn't use drugs that provide a lot of analglesia. They also are drugs that don't usually cause dysphoria which is that whiny, agitated state they can be in post-op. 

Ketamine is a wonderful, safe drug. I would probably try something else or use it differently in a dog that had a reaction but I'd want to make sure the reaction was due to the ketamine since a lot of drugs can cause that reaction. There is no reason to ban its use on other dogs in the household.


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## Maliraptor (Mar 6, 2009)

I like DexDomitor and it's reversal agent, especially when used with Atropine, which counteracts the bloodpressure and heartrate lowering effects of the Domitor.

Could they possibly have used too much Atropine?

Another concern, and I hope it is a typo, is they maintained her on both Isoflurane AND Sevoflurane. I have been taught by every vet ive worked with that this is a BAD idea. You do not use both. You do not induce with one and then maintain on the other.

Hope she is feeling better, her reactions are NOT normal.


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

No typo, unless there is a typo on my billing.... That's what the paperwork says.

The good news is that she is almost normal today. She is a little hyper vigilant. She is playing too rough with her best friend. She tried to hump my husband when sniffing a fresh injury to his head. (She has NEVER done this before, but then, he has never bled from his head before either... Baseball mishap.) She is a wild child, but the whining has stopped and she is feeling good.

Thank you again for your concerns and compassion. I will be going back for a two week check up and when I do, I will have a complete blood panel run. I'll be stunned if it's normal. Who knows. Our journey together has been very interesting. I guess this shouldn't be any different. I can't begin to describe my relief. We have been locked in our bedroom trying to stay quiet and pass time together while limiting any stessors that might set her off. 

It's so good to see her happy and relatively normal again.

Thank you so much.


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## grab (Sep 26, 2009)

I would ask your veterinarian about the gas...I'm an anesthesia tech and was taught to never combine the two..we flush the tubes through before starting a new surgery/different animal if the gasses are different, etc. 

I don't think that's why your dog had a delayed recovery. Blood tests would be a good idea. It's possible, though, that she reacted to one of the meds. Their noting it on her chart and using a different combo of meds in the future is a good plan.


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