Was my puppy's enlarged heart death preventable or vet negligence?

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 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.

I am so sorry. I know that must be hard. Unfortunately, without a necropsy (autopsy), I can't tell you what could have happened. Many causes of sudden death in pediatric pets is due to a congenital heart disease.

Hello. I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved pet. He, unfortunately, suffered a severe cardio-pulmonary event, either from the presence of heartworms, cancer, or severe cardiomyopathy. He was probably sicker than you realized, & also sicker longer than just the past 6 weeks. We all try to do the best we can for ourselves & our pets & sometimes we just run out of time to do anything. I know you feel bad, but you have to be honest with yourself & know that even if you had the money, he may have been too sick to do much for him. If you loved him with all your heart up to that last day, then he had a very good life. Please accept my condolences on your loss. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I am so sorry to hear about your loss of sweet Hotdog. It sounds like he likely suffered from heart disease. There are a few different types of heart diseases that dogs commonly get like mitral valve insufficiency, dilated cardiomyopathy, and right sided heart failure (common with heartworm disease). Unfortunately since I don't have the full history and I didn't do an exam on him I cannot say for sure which of these he had or if it was a different type of heart disease. Most heart disease eventually causes congestive heart failure which is where the heart is not strong enough to pump the blood forward through the body properly and therefore it begins to back up into the heart and eventually into the lungs causing fluid in the lungs. If it was right sided heart failure the fluid could back up to be around the lungs and into the abdomen. Most dogs can compensate for this for awhile without the owners ever knowing there is a problem, but eventually they can no longer properly compensate, begin showing symptoms and pass away. A lot of times by the time you see symptoms, the heart disease is so advanced and there is no amount of medicine that can help them. Heart disease is such a hard thing to deal with and I am so sorry that poor Hotdog had this. There is nothing you could have done differently to prevent this from progressing. Hotdog knows you loved him and was lucky to have such a wonderful family. Please know you are in our thoughts during this difficult time.

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog's passing! Hemangiosarcoma is a nasty disease. Please don't blame yourself, as there is no way you could have known she had it - many dogs are acting completely normal and have normal physical exam findings, right up until the tumor ruptures and bleeds. Her heart murmur was entirely unrelated to the hemangiosarcoma, so even if you had taken her back in for her recheck visit, it's very unlikely that the tumor would have been found at that time. Abdominal x-rays and ultrasound is usually needed to diagnose it, and neither of these tests would have been indicated for her heart murmur. So rest assured, this was not your fault in any way. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

I’m sorry you lost your handsome boy. It certainly could have been due to heartworms if he wasn’t on heartworm prevention. Usually though they cough and have other signs before death. With a congenital problem they often die as puppies or young dogs. He could have had dialated cardiomyopathy which can be hereditary or can be a result of diet. They have implicated grain free foods in the higher instance of cardiomyopathy but haven’t discovered the exact reason yet. That does often result in sudden death. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.