My dog died of hemangiosarcoma. Could a heart murmur check saved her?

I'm so sorry to hear about Luigi's passing! How awful. Hemangiosarcoma is unfortunately a common type of cancer in older, large-breed dogs, and the scenario you described with Luigi is also common - many dogs with this problem show no signs at all of illness until their abdominal tumor suddenly begins to bleed, at which point they become very weak and collapse, and may die within hours. Even with regular veterinary visits, there is often no way that the tumor could have been detected - most of the time, abdominal x-rays and ultrasound are required to diagnose this problem in its early stages, and unfortunately many dogs are not showing any symptoms at all to indicate a need for these tests. If the cancer was in his liver, then it's likely that this would not have been a treatable problem no matter how early it was found - surgery on the liver is extremely difficult and high-risk, even when performed by a specialist at a referral center. So try not to feel guilty - this is a terrible disease, but there's no way you could have known that Luigi had it, and very likely there is nothing that anyone could have done differently even if you had known. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

Hello, I am incredibly sorry to hear about your loss of Daisy. Based on the information you provided it sounds like the veterinarian's primary concern was a cancer called hemangiosarcoma. This is a very aggressive form of cancer that causes bleeding tumors in the spleen and liver. Surgery and follow-up chemotherapy is the recommended treatment. You are correct in that the tumor is submitted for biopsy after removal to reach a definitive diagnosis. Prior to moving forward with surgery, your veterinarian performed chest x-rays to look for evidence of metastasis, or travel of the cancer to the lungs. Hemangiosarcoma almost always leads to metastasis. Based on what you say, I suspect that your veterinarian saw evidence of cancer within Daisy's lungs. This essentially proves (without biopsy of the tumor) that Daisy has cancer. Even if you moved forward with surgery,, she would likely only live a few weeks before the cancer in her lungs/body would cause her to become ill again. These situations are incredibly challenging and unexpected. I hope that my explanation can provide some clarity and help you to realize that you did the right thing for Daisy. Again, I am incredibly sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately hemangiosarcoma of the spleen does not present with any outward signs of illness in most cases. This is a disease process that will acutely (all of a sudden) cause illness and internal bleeding due to rupture of the cancerous mass. I am sorry your pet was diagnosed with this condition and it is great that Abby is otherwise healthy. Keeping her comfortable is whats best. I would also consider having the mass removed to prevent rupture and subsequent internal bleeding. Rupture of the mass can occur at any time.

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.

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.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! As a veterinarian who specializes in cancer and sees a lot of splenic tumors on a regular basis, I can tell you that this could have happened as a result of an arrhythmia as some of these tumors that affect the spleen such as hemangiosarcoma can result in arrhythmias or a result of a splenic mass rupture causing significant internal bleeding. So sorry for your loss.