Why did my healthy dog die after dental cleaning and anesthesia?

I am very sorry your Missy passed. It is safe to say the the teeth cleaning under anesthesia 6 months ago was not the cause for this, especially since her pre-surgical exam and blood work did not show any abnormalities. Seeing that she was fairly old, there is a possibility she developed a heart condition in the past few months, or she also may have had a sudden blood clot that was fatal. The only way to find out would be to send her to a pathology lab for a post mortem. Again, I am very sorry you lost your baby. At least she did not suffer with a long painful condition.

I'm sorry to hear that Hammer is not feeling well. Dental cleanings are typically performed under anesthesia in petd because they can be uncomfortable and sharp objects are used to remove tartar in the mouth. Depending on the level of dental disease, it is possible that the dental cleaning was uncomfortable for him and could cause a great deal of stress if significant restraint was required. Stress can cause stomach upset including bloody diarrhea. Given the severity of his signs, I am glad that you had him seen by veterinarian. If he does not improve with the prescribed treatment, I would recommend scheduling a recheck examination. I would also recommend checking with your veterinarian about ways to manage dental health in the future.

If Cooper had general anesthesia for a dental cleaning it could take 24 hours or more to recover from anesthesia. He may have been given different medications than in the past. The trachea and back of the throat can be irritated by the endotracheal tube and cause coughing or reverse sneezing. I would recommend calling the veterinarian who performed the procedure and expressing your concerns. If they are not open and you feel Cooper is in distress, having difficulty breathing, or in pain I'd recommend seeing an emergency veterinarian.

I am very sorry your dog died. Since your dog needed a dental cleaning, I am assuming that he had a lot of tartar and inflammation and possibly one or more rotten teeth. This means there were many bacteria present in the mouth and due to the inflammation these bacteria managed to get into the circulatory system and caused the sepsis. I suggest you discuss this with your veterinarian as he has your dog's veterinary medical history and can better explain this to you.

I am so very sorry you lost Honey so suddenly! Without having seen her in person, I can only give my best guess, unfortunately. It could be that signs of heart disease were subtle and weren't detected on the pre-anesthetic exam (such as a murmur), and that's why it was missed. I wish I could give you a more definite answer, and I do recommend following up with the vet to get an answer to your question. Please accept my condolences for your loss :-(

I'm sorry to hear that your dog is having this problem! No, having him put under anesthesia for his teeth cleaning would not have anything to do with causing diabetes. If he's vomiting again, I would recommend taking him back to your vet right away for a recheck - diabetic dogs can develop a serious, life-threatening complication called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) if they are vomiting and not eating, so it's very important to find out what is causing the vomiting and have him treated as soon as possible.

Hello. I am so sorry for the loss of your pet. It is just so difficult to say what went wrong. I would doubt it was the sedation, although there are better sedation protocols available that do not result in a pet sleeping so long afterwards. Perhaps you are in an outlying area where newer medications are not readily available. It is still possible that there was some injury that was just too awful for your pet to overcome. Many years ago, I attended to a dog injured in a fight where all the wounds seemed very superficial. Sedation to clean & treat the wounds went very well, the dog awoke promptly after we tuned off the anesthetic gas, yet the dog was found dead the next morning after doing quite well all day. Without a necropsy, it is impossible to say what happened. Best guess is a possible blood clot that broke loose & lodged in the brain or one of the vessels of the heart. I am just so sorry for your loss. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.