On Monday, I had to put my dog down unexpectedly, but now I'm beating
myself up wondering if I was hasty. Quick history, my lab was
diagnosed with Mast Cell cancer 3 years ago, given a maximum of 6
months to live based on the grade of the biopsied tumor. I managed to
keep my dog around for an additional 3 years with the use of
prednisone, (first 20 mg, then 10, then 5) daily, and benedryl. She
had been cancer tumor free for nearly 2 years. She also had bad hip
dysplasia, but I never realized this could be corrected, or how bad
she may have truly been. Her spine had arched a bit and she was very
bow legged, but she could run and walk, though every now and then with
a brief limp. Her attitude hid any pain.

Over the past two week, she had been limping a bit more, and even
having a bit of trouble jumping. She would lay down during periods she
would normally be standing with excitement, i.e. begging for treats.
Though not everytime. Over the years on prednisone, she visibly aged
in the form of thinned and sagging skin, as well as thinning coat, but
her personality was always there. On Monday I took her to get her
annual vaccinations. The exam went fine, though I did notice her
shivering a bit while I held her as they trimmed her nails. When
walking out to the car after the exam, she stopped and took a
spontaneous bowel movement. Then just as she started walking, her legs
began to wobble, then she fell. She could not get up. She began to
salivate intensely, and was obviously panicked. The vet came out and
tried to assist her in getting up and walking with no luck. She began
to mess herself, and continued salivating and panicking. We took her
back inside. The vet contemplated a stroke, though I felt as if she
may have been having an adverse reaction to the meds, though it was
the same vaccine as every other year. Her back feet both started
growing cold at the ankle downwards. She could not be calmed, and kept
sliding around on her stomach trying to stand. She curled up on my
lap, salivating, shivering and crying. Her feet were getting colder
and colder, and she would not respond at all in that area to stimuli.
A brief ultrasound did not reveal anything, though the doctor was
fairly certain she had suffered a clot resulting in the paralysis. She
explained this type of prognosis rarely has any form of positive
outcome. Considering the 6 cancer related surgeries she had over the
first 18 months of her diagnosis, the hip problem, and the side
effects from prednisone, I put her down.

As I'm continuing to go through my devistation of losing my best
friend of 9 years, I can't help but wonder what really happened? I
started thinking that perhaps her legs popped out of socket, but would
they both go at once, and would it result in paralysis and the end of
circulation, clearly to the same part of the legs on both sides?
Nothing was ever 'officially' confirmed before she was put down, so I
would like to know some thoughts of yours, based on the symptoms I
provided.

Thank you in advance.

In article
,
Scott D wrote:

The vet contemplated a stroke, though I felt as if she
may have been having an adverse reaction to the meds, though it was
the same vaccine as every other year.

Do/did you vaccinate annually? Even after illness? What tests were
done to look for metastasis of the cancer?

Considering the 6 cancer related surgeries she had over the
first 18 months of her diagnosis, the hip problem, and the side
effects from prednisone, I put her down.

A very hard decision, but very probably, the kind one.

As I'm continuing to go through my devistation of losing my best
friend of 9 years, I can't help but wonder what really happened?
Nothing was ever 'officially' confirmed before she was put down, so I
would like to know some thoughts of yours, based on the symptoms I
provided.

You could have had a necropsy performed, but it may not have helped you
a lot. It sounds like she was very compromised and that the vaccination
may have caused a severe reaction. I guess I wonder why vaccinate a 9
yo dog in poor health. Not that we can turn back the clock, and it
sounds like there were other things going on. I'm very sorry for your
loss and understand the desire to know why. You will never really know,
only speculate, but I hope that doesn't cause you continued pain.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

It sounds like she was very compromised and that the vaccination
may have caused a severe reaction.

Probably not the vaccineso much as the general disease complicated by the
stress of the visit.

I guess I wonder why vaccinate a 9
yo dog in poor health.

I agree. Even the rabies, in some states, can be waived by the vet in older,
prevaccinated animals in poor health.

In the case of euthanasia, you really have to go with your gut instinct.
Don't second guess yourself. It just may have been her time and the
circumstances may have been coincidence. I'm so sorry about losing your good
friend.

-Sharon

Scott,
I'm so sorry for your loss. You did the kindest thing you could at the time
and gave her peace. It's never easy saying good bye and even harder when
it's so unexpected.

What you describe is exactly the same thing that happened to my cat years
ago. He threw a clot that paralyzed his back legs. He had no feeling and
not control over his legs and would drag himself. I had a friend who's 18
year old cat went through the same thing. They tried medications to
dissolve the clot and in the end they had to put him to sleep. My vet
explained that even with using blood thinners to try and break the clot that
the paralysis was very unlikely to go away completely. At 13 years old I
chose to let him go.

Celeste

"Scott D" wrote in message
...
On Monday, I had to put my dog down unexpectedly, but now I'm beating
myself up wondering if I was hasty. Quick history, my lab was
diagnosed with Mast Cell cancer 3 years ago, given a maximum of 6
months to live based on the grade of the biopsied tumor. I managed to
keep my dog around for an additional 3 years with the use of
prednisone, (first 20 mg, then 10, then 5) daily, and benedryl. She
had been cancer tumor free for nearly 2 years. She also had bad hip
dysplasia, but I never realized this could be corrected, or how bad
she may have truly been. Her spine had arched a bit and she was very
bow legged, but she could run and walk, though every now and then with
a brief limp. Her attitude hid any pain.

Over the past two week, she had been limping a bit more, and even
having a bit of trouble jumping. She would lay down during periods she
would normally be standing with excitement, i.e. begging for treats.
Though not everytime. Over the years on prednisone, she visibly aged
in the form of thinned and sagging skin, as well as thinning coat, but
her personality was always there. On Monday I took her to get her
annual vaccinations. The exam went fine, though I did notice her
shivering a bit while I held her as they trimmed her nails. When
walking out to the car after the exam, she stopped and took a
spontaneous bowel movement. Then just as she started walking, her legs
began to wobble, then she fell. She could not get up. She began to
salivate intensely, and was obviously panicked. The vet came out and
tried to assist her in getting up and walking with no luck. She began
to mess herself, and continued salivating and panicking. We took her
back inside. The vet contemplated a stroke, though I felt as if she
may have been having an adverse reaction to the meds, though it was
the same vaccine as every other year. Her back feet both started
growing cold at the ankle downwards. She could not be calmed, and kept
sliding around on her stomach trying to stand. She curled up on my
lap, salivating, shivering and crying. Her feet were getting colder
and colder, and she would not respond at all in that area to stimuli.
A brief ultrasound did not reveal anything, though the doctor was
fairly certain she had suffered a clot resulting in the paralysis. She
explained this type of prognosis rarely has any form of positive
outcome. Considering the 6 cancer related surgeries she had over the
first 18 months of her diagnosis, the hip problem, and the side
effects from prednisone, I put her down.

As I'm continuing to go through my devistation of losing my best
friend of 9 years, I can't help but wonder what really happened? I
started thinking that perhaps her legs popped out of socket, but would
they both go at once, and would it result in paralysis and the end of
circulation, clearly to the same part of the legs on both sides?
Nothing was ever 'officially' confirmed before she was put down, so I
would like to know some thoughts of yours, based on the symptoms I
provided.

Thank you in advance.

In article uAgbk.54$0V1.46@trndny01, "Spot"
wrote:


What you describe is exactly the same thing that happened to my cat years
ago. He threw a clot that paralyzed his back legs. He had no feeling and
not control over his legs and would drag himself. I had a friend who's 18
year old cat went through the same thing. They tried medications to
dissolve the clot and in the end they had to put him to sleep. My vet
explained that even with using blood thinners to try and break the clot that
the paralysis was very unlikely to go away completely. At 13 years old I
chose to let him go.

Not second guessing your decisions AT ALL, but I've had 2 cats throw
clots and become paralyzed. Both at the age of ~9. Both recovered
completely after a few weeks. The first one actually recovered from a
second round of paralysis from clot, 8 months after the first. She had
JUST recovered from that one when she had a third. We decided that we
needed to say goodbye on that one. She was only 10.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

On Jul 4, 10:03*am, Janet Boss
wrote:
In article uAgbk.54$0V1.46@trndny01, "Spot"
wrote:



What you describe is exactly the same thing that happened to my cat years
ago. *He threw a clot that paralyzed his back legs. *He had no feeling and
not control over his legs and would drag himself. *I had a friend who's 18
year old cat went through the same thing. *They tried medications to
dissolve the clot and in the end they had to put him to sleep. * My vet
explained that even with using blood thinners to try and break the clot that
the paralysis was very unlikely to go away completely. *At 13 years old I
chose to let him go.

Not second guessing your decisions AT ALL, but I've had 2 cats throw
clots and become paralyzed. *Both at the age of ~9. *Both recovered
completely after a few weeks. *The first one actually recovered from a
second round of paralysis from clot, 8 months after the first. *She had
JUST recovered from that one when she had a third. *We decided that we
needed to say goodbye on that one. *She was only 10.

--
Janet Bosswww.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Thank you all for the comments. In response, the reason I was keeping
her vaccinated on a yearly basis is because she was still going
strong, or so it seemed. Other than the occasional limp, which usually
passed, I could walk her for 3 miles at a time, and she loved every
minute of it. She had consistent blood in her stool from the
prednisone over these last few years, but by cutting her dosage down
from 20 MG about 18 months ago, down to 10, then 5, the blood was
definitely minimized, though present in very small visible amounts at
least 50% of the time. After the negative reaction to the 20 MG
dosage, I weened her off Pred entirely and 6 weeks later she had a
golf ball sized tumor on her hind leg. Pred was required to keep the
tumors at bay.

The vet did explain that recovery from a clot is a gradual process (if
at all), an the pet is never 100% again, and will most likely have it
occur again. As previously mentioned, considering all that she had
been through over the past few years, and seeing how freaked she was
by not being able to walk all of a sudden, I couldn't bring her home
to slide around on her stomach for a month in hopes she will get some
sort of mobility back. The concern/question here is primarily due to
not having any concrete proof of what had actually happened, more so
than the vets educated assumption based on the symptoms. It's just
amazing to me how it hit her within seconds, and that was it.

On 2008-07-04 10:35:41 -0400, Scott D said:

considering all that she had
been through over the past few years

You did the best you could for your friend and I'm sure you're still in
shock. I'm sorry for your loss. Sometimes things happen and all we can
do is the best we can do - which is what you did.

I have to admit that anaphylaxis was not mentioned by either of the
vets I interacted with that evening, yet it was the first suggestion I
came up with. Logic pointed to a possible reaction to the meds since
the onset was so sudden, though after researching anaphylaxis, I'm
still not sure. I did see some of the symptoms on the various webpages
I just finished reading through; sudden irritability and discomfort,
cold limbs, bloody stool, though nowhere did I see any mention of
paralysis, in particular of the back feet. Being that she lost control
of her bowels and her feet were essentially dead, I'm not sure if this
points to anaphylaxis. This was a distempter vaccine that she
received, and it was two months early though the vets were confident
that wouldn't pose a problem, I did read the anaphylactic reaction to
a distempter shot could cause neurological issues due to brain
swelling. But still, the back feet were dead, cold and getting colder.
Both at once, so it could have been a clot. I just wish I had a clear
answer, though I do appreciate you bringing the anaphylaxis
possibility to my attention.

I should provide some additional details. She received the shot around
7:30 pm, she was put down around 11:30 pm. Once her reaction began,
she did not get worse during those hours. She maintained the same
paralysis and irritation. I ended up dealing with two separate vets
that night; the first one at the clinic she was vaccinated at, then I
had to drive to an emergency clinic where they made the educated guess
of a clot, based on the symptoms. The first vet was thinking perhaps a
tumor on the spinal cord, and other improbabilities (which is one
reason why I left to get a second opinion, and possibly some
treatment). When I persisted with the first vet that I thought it may
have been a reaction to the vaccine, and let me reiterate this is the
same distemper vaccine she has had for for years, she did give her a
near-shock dose of a steroid she called "Dex". During the remaining
hours, this made no impact on the effects. Not sure if that helps
clarify anything. My pet maintained the same condition, no better or
worse, from the time the reaction began to the end. If anaphylactic
shock was the case, wouldn't you assume she'd have died or had some
change during 4 hours? It's all new to me.