# 2 year old pittie dies from bloat after spayed earlier the same day



## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

A female pit Chica who we were able to pull from the euth. list and who was about to go into foster passed away from bloat overnite while boarding at unstaffed vet office. Earlier that same day she was spayed then brought back to boarding were she had been for two weeks. The vet office were she passed informed us that she died from bloat. We are crushed and looking for answers as to how this could be. Since then I have done lots of research on bloat trying to make sense of this. Everyone tells me to just let it go but I need answers because it seems I am missing something more. The vet were she was boarded that nite says she ate half can SD ID and drank a small amount of water and seemed normal when they closed up for the nite. Does anyone know of a connection between getting spayed then developing bloat right after? Since she was put under for the spay I feel that had something to do with it. If she wasnt spayed would she still got bloat that same nite? i talked to both vets and they say everything was normal, however they both point toward each other to a small degree when I dont totally agree with there explainations. Chica died a very painful death and I just want to make sure they did everything right and no mistakes were made. PLEASE anyone out there have a pooch pass this way or if you can sheed some lite on this tragic story please respond asap. Thanks, sincerely, pittie pete


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## Jenness (May 7, 2012)

It does sound kind of strange. I'm no expert but I didn't think bloat would kill a dog overnight? I suppose it depends on the degree of how bad it was. Sorry for your loss.


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## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

Thanks for your reply. Yes bloat can kill in a half hour from the onset. Or up to about six hour. After that the out come is not good at all. I didnt know about bloat till friday when this happened. If you research it you will find a lot of info on it just not anything about getting it after spaying. It is the second leading killer of dogs behind cancer at number one. Please loolk into it because we need to raise awareness about it. -pittie pete


Jenness said:


> It does sound kind of strange. I'm no expert but I didn't think bloat would kill a dog overnight? I suppose it depends on the degree of how bad it was. Sorry for your loss.


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

Sorry for what happened to poor Chica. As you've read, bloat can kill in just a few hours. I have a breed prone to bloat and did some research into risk factors and probable causes. Nothing I've read has linked bloat to spay or other surgery; however, bloat has been linked to stress. Going from the shelter to surgery and then staying at the vet's office could certainly have been stressful for Chica. Of course, it's possible that she would have bloated even going from the shelter to the foster home or if she had stayed in the shelter. Unfortunately, I don't think there are answers.

Semi-related story: Years ago, my grandmother went into the hospital for back surgery. Made it through the surgery and recovery wonderfully, had a cup of tea and light snack a few hours later, and was dead a few hours after that. Because she died in the hospital, an autopsy was performed and no cause of death could be found. It was simply her time. (yes, I know, it could have been a huge cover-up by the hospital, but I really don't believe that)


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

I've never heard any link between bloat and surgery. It's possibly that even if they were staffed, they wouldn't have noticed. The symptoms of bloat would have either appeared to be discomfort from the spay or might have been masked by the pain meds she was on.

I know you don't want to hear this, but you do need to let it go and focus on the dogs you can help. You did right by Chica. You tried to save her, you showed her kindness and concern. It was just her time.


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## boxerlover876 (Dec 31, 2011)

I would think it would be from stress. That trumps all the other factors supposedly. 

I'm sorry for your loss.


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Contact your state vets office and ask if there are any complaints, formal or informal hearings on the vet that did the surgery, or if he has ever been disciplined. They have to answer those questions. i'd also ask about any other vets that work at that location. I lost a dog due to a misdiagnosis, and later found out that he had killed 8 dogs and cats thru incompetence. He nuetered a Boxer using only a paralytic agent with no pain killer. So the dog couldn't move, yet felt the pain of a chrypt neuter. Then he accidentally had the dog fall off the table while it's abdomen was open, and he ended up removing 8 inches of intestine, and used the barbed staples to attach the sections together. That caused excruciating pain when the dog moved, as it hooked his internal organs like a barbed fishhook, and it didn't seal, so he got perotinitis. The vet kept telling the owner the dog needed to stay another day, and never told owner about problems. Owner finally went down there and forced his way to the back where he found his dog almost dead laying in an inch of blood. Rushed to different vet, and dog died during surgery trying to find problem.
This was an older vet that seemed really nice. Yet he routinely nisdiagnosed dogs, and caused their death during routine spaying/neutering. So check with the state vet, and see if he has had complaints/disciplinary actions. If he has, then that might tell you that maybe he caused the problem that killed the dog (and maybe it wasn't even bloat.) If he hasn't had any complaints, then maybe it was just one of those things that can happen.


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## ajw (Oct 15, 2012)

Spaying my dog terrifies me. It shouldn't but it does. I think it is barbaric to lay a dog open dang near stem to stearn. All the ligations a vet has to do to remove all the female organs are very tricky and often the wrong stuff is ligated.

Ask for a necropsy.

I'm searching for a minimally invasive vet. Ovariectomy only.


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

I never heard of a dog getting bloat related to spay. it could have been bad timing. or they could be making it up to cover up a mistake. I don't like to think that way about fellow vets especially if it was bad timing. Most of the time spays go smoothly but there is a reason you sign a waiver before surgery there are a lot of complications with female dogs. and some vets take 2+ hours just to do a standard spay. The vet I work for can do a spay in 30 min super well with sometimes not even a few drops of blood. he is amazing to watch. and people travel long ways to have him do surgeries on their pets. but I have seen and heard of many vets just having terrible standards and abilities in spaying. and the dogs bleed a lot and its always messy. Its a tough call. I would see if there has been complaints about the vet. If not as hard as it is. maybe it was bloat and unrelated to the spay. like mentioned above. If we had a dog recovering from a spay and it developed bloat...I highly doubt we would catch it because we would probably assume the symptoms are a reaction to the spay. its just bad circumstance.


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## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

Yes I know but we could find out what really happened it would not be as hard to move on. I still fell like she was feed a second time that nite. The boarding hospital say she wasnt thought. That seems to be the most probable way for her to bloat. Thank you so much for responding..


Amaryllis said:


> I've never heard any link between bloat and surgery. It's possibly that even if they were staffed, they wouldn't have noticed. The symptoms of bloat would have either appeared to be discomfort from the spay or might have been masked by the pain meds she was on.
> 
> I know you don't want to hear this, but you do need to let it go and focus on the dogs you can help. You did right by Chica. You tried to save her, you showed her kindness and concern. It was just her time.


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## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

wow I didnt know vets could be so bad. That is some scary shit. I will look into there past records with the state vets office. Thank you for your response..


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## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

I thought that maybe the stress from going to get spayed could have been what triggered the bloat too. But then the boarding hospital says at 6pm that nite she looked great. So they say she was fine right before they left. If the onset was in the morning why couldnt they tell something was wrong at 6pm? I thought they were pros. Which leads me to beleive that some staff person must have feed her a second time just before they closed, in order for her to bloat. I just really want to get to the bottom of this because I know it is very very painful to pass that way.. Thank you for your response


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## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

I sorry about you Grandmother. I just wanted to know the truth about why she bloated. I still feel like a staff person must have feed her a second time that fateful nite. But nobody wants to admit it.. thanks for your response


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## edenorchards (Nov 13, 2012)

I don't know what meds the vet used during the surgery, but many anesthetics can cause temporary bowel paralysis & feeding a large meal after a surgery where bowels were manipulated, etc just seems suspect to me. Again, I don't know the meds used so it's just a thought. Sorry for your loss! It can be frustrating to not have answers :-( 
She is in good doggie heaven now!!


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## pittie pete (Nov 12, 2012)

I hope soon I can get some answers.. and yes Chica is in heaven now...not in anymore pain...thank you for your response


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## Kell (May 18, 2015)

Our pit rescue just developed bloat after being spayed at our vet. It has been a nightmare weekend. She went in for spay surgery around noon on Friday and when she woke the staff at the vets fed her water and dry food at about 5pm. We got a call around 7:30pm that she was in serious distress and could we come to take her to an emergency hospital. Thank goodness we were close by. We got to the vets in ten minutes, when we got there it looked like our poor girl could explode at any minute. We drove her the two plus miles to an emergency hospital where they took measures to stabilize her as we waited for a surgeon to arrive. After opening her up the surgeon said he saw evidence that the stomach had twisted (bruising) but must have untwisted itself before he opened her up, he also said that a uterine artery or vein (need to find out) became untied and spilled blood into her belly/system. (We are going to ask for a copy of the surgeon's notes.)

Our vet (not the initial surgeon at the vet's office) said it is very rare, but due to a dog being on its back during surgery, there is increased risk of bloat.

Couple that with feeding dry food and water after surgery and a ligate that came undone... We do not know which came first the ligate coming undone or the bloat. I question whether blood could have filled her belly and triggered the bloat. I would like to find out.

She has been peeing blood for two days. But she is improving. Thank goodness.
Emergency hospital bills have been 11,000 dollars so far and she is still in the ICU.

I am so sorry to hear what your pit (and you) went through. I just wanted to write to tell you that being on their backs, strapped to a table during surgery can trigger bloat. It might be rare, but obviously it can happen. The emergency surgeon said that he operated on a Great Dane to fix a broken leg one day and the next day the Dane bloated. (Danes are the most common dogs to bloat.)

If I had known about that (small) risk we never would have gone ahead with the spay. I have been fearful of bloat since we got our pit 11 months back as she is rather barrel chested. I have practiced all measures to prevent bloat, but obviously our vet's office did not. I feel like I have put my girl through hell.


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## parus (Apr 10, 2014)

I'm very sorry your dog and you are going through this.

Whether to have surgical procedures done is really a question of comparative risks. About 12% of unspayed female dogs will get malignant mammary tumors in their lifetimes. Unspayed females are at much higher risk of pyometra as well. One has to individually weigh the risks of keeping a bitch intact with the risks of spaying. Personally, in ordinary circumstances, I find spaying my female dogs the much lower-risk option.

With a dog at high risk for GDV (bloat) it's a good idea to get a gastropexy done...it's pretty common to get them done at the same time as a spay, actually. Might ask the vet about it if they haven't done it already.

It is entirely possible to do everything right and still have bloat. It is a terrible thing.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

am very sorry for your loss, there is the anestesia and what pain meds they gave her to consider.. I know my new vets wanted to test my Cane Corso to see if she would be ok to use it. Again am very sorry for your loss.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

ajw said:


> Spaying my dog terrifies me. It shouldn't but it does. I think it is barbaric to lay a dog open dang near stem to stearn. All the ligations a vet has to do to remove all the female organs are very tricky and often the wrong stuff is ligated.
> 
> Ask for a necropsy.
> 
> I'm searching for a minimally invasive vet. Ovariectomy only.


Traditional spay incisions are not "stem to stern"... The incision site on my 11-week puppy is not even 2 inches long - shorter than the distance between her genitals and her belly button.


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## TheDawgHaus (May 18, 2015)

Sounds fishy, of course the "bloat" could be a cover up. It is possible they are lying about the cause of death and covering up for their own wrong doing.

EDIT: can you ask for the body and have it examined by another vet? If it's a cover up they need to be exposed.


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## parus (Apr 10, 2014)

I don't know why one would jump to the idea that it's a conspiracy. Bloat is one of the most common serious illnesses in dogs and most common causes of death. Bloat is made more likely by stress and digestive issues, both of which accompany surgery and vet visits. It is a constant risk for dogs of certain breeds and body types even on an ordinary day with perfect animal husbandry, let alone on a day when the animal's body and mind are under pressure.


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## TheDawgHaus (May 18, 2015)

parus said:


> I don't know why one would jump to the idea that it's a conspiracy. Bloat is one of the most common serious illnesses in dogs and most common causes of death. Bloat is made more likely by stress and digestive issues, both of which accompany surgery and vet visits. It is a constant risk for dogs of certain breeds and body types even on an ordinary day with perfect animal husbandry, let alone on a day when the animal's body and mind are under pressure.


It is a possibility. Is it likely that's what happened? No. Is it possible? Of course.


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## Kell (May 18, 2015)

Ugh, just learned you should sign in before posting, otherwise you lose your post.

Thanks you all for your concern but our girl is still alive, thank goodness! I would be heart broken if not.

The vet at the emergency hospital saved her. She is still in ICU but we hope to get her out of there pretty soon.

What I did learn is that - vets only desire to tell you the pros of being spayed and do not list the potential risks. We were never warned of any potential risk.

What I would like to learn - what came first the bloat or the vein/tube coming unknotted.

Plus, how much dry food and water was she given right after waking up from the surgery?

What I should add is that our girl was used as a breeder before we took her in. And she had had a c-section a bit over a year ago. Plus, she is about five years old which could up her risk for bloat a bit, but then pits are not listed as a breed at risk for bloat. And five is still pretty young.

I am sharing because I had absolutely no idea something like this could happen. Not one risk or caution listed by the vet.


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## missc89 (Jan 20, 2015)

ajw said:


> Spaying my dog terrifies me. It shouldn't but it does. I think it is barbaric to lay a dog open dang near stem to stearn. All the ligations a vet has to do to remove all the female organs are very tricky and often the wrong stuff is ligated.
> 
> Ask for a necropsy.
> 
> I'm searching for a minimally invasive vet. Ovariectomy only.


My breeder offers a discount to the people she sells her dogs to if they choose to go through her vet - he also only removes the uterus of the females (leaving ovaries intact) and only does a vasectomy on the male dogs. She is VERY pro-keeping-your-dog-as-unaltered-as-possible-but-still-being-a-responsible-pet-owner.

Friends of my parents had a husky dog named Nikita that passed away from heart failure after being spayed at the age of 6 or 8 months (can't remember exactly)

Kell - That's really scary, glad your dog is okay!


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## Kell (May 18, 2015)

I wish I had had better advise.

A friend just told us that he lost a dog some years back, her stomach twisted during a spay. She was a middle aged girl who had had a couple of litters. Again, I think it should be mandatory that vets warn of potential risk factors before they spay.


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## lzrddr (Feb 3, 2015)

There is a slight well known risk of bloat, as mentioned above, with dogs being kept on their backs and rolled during an anesthesia (the fact surgery was done has nothing to do with it... could just as easily happen with a dental), which is why many now recommend, when rolling a larger anesthetized dog from side to side, to not roll them onto their backs, but pull the legs under them (a lot harder, but may help prevent a case of bloat)... still a pretty rare outcome, but I have seen a few over the last 25 years (thankfully none ever happened to my patients, but that is luck, not skill). No one knows exactly, otherwise, why some dogs bloat and others do not... seems to be a deep chested and large dog problem, but sometimes even little dogs will bloat (pretty rare)... and bloats almost always seem to happen at night (that is the part that seems the most mysterious to me). Bloat rarely kills in as short as a half hour, but it can kill pretty fast and be devastating, even if you catch it before a dog passes- I have done about 50 bloat surgeries and a few times you get in there and know it's too late already (stomach has already 'died'). But I strongly recommend, because of the increased risk of bloat after anesthesia, all anesthetized dogs be watched overnight... which is why we send EVERYTHING either home or to the E clinic at night after an anesthetic... keeping them in the hospital unobserved overnight is just asking for trouble.


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