Has any of you, ever had a Necropsy done on your dog?

Has anyone ever had a Necropsy performed on one of their dog? Did you get the answers to why your pet died? My little Chihuahua Gigi passed away from Liver Disease. She was only 2 1/2 years old. She was never sick a day in her life, until this happened. She was a ray of sunshine and a joy to have and I miss her very much! A part of my heart went with Gigi, when she died! The vet she was seeing at the time, was a vet that I had taken my dogs to for years and thought that I could trust! I had never had a problem when this vet treated my other dogs! Apparently I was wrong! I was only listening to my vets advice, thinking she knew what she was doing and hoping that consulting with the other vets in her office, would help Gigi. None of my pets will ever go to this vet again. Another vet I know I can trust now, that has Chihuahuas of his own and that has experience with Chihuahuas, took a look at Gigi’s records after she died and told me that the original vet, not only misdiagnosed Gigi, with the wrong type of Liver Disease, but gave her all the wrong medication and treatments too. The reason I trust him, is because my other Chihuahua Zoe, also has Liver Disease and he has really helped Zoe. Zoe was also seeing the vet that Gigi was seeing and when this happened to Gigi, I never took Zoe back to her. She went to the new vet, which has made a tremendous difference, compared to the shape she was in, when she was seeing the first vet. Zoe is a Runt and according to her vet, should have been gone 6 months ago. Zoe is doing great thanks to him and you would never know she was sick by the way she acts. The first vet also had Zoe on medication she should not have been on and the new vet took her off them, which has also helped Zoe tremendously! That’s why I trust this vet! That’s another story! This original vet had Gigi on 8 medications 2 X’s a day and I can still remember the look on Gigi’s face, everytime I opened the poor things mouth, like Mommy, why is this happening or Mommy, why are you doing this, when it was time to take her meds? I feel so guilty now, like I might have had something to do with Gigi dying, because at the time I was giving her those medications, I thought they were doing her good, when they were actually causing her more damage! Those medications made Gigi so sick to her stomach and I felt so bad for her, but again I trusted what my vet was telling me, so I kept giving Gigi her meds! The other vet that I trust now, said that if Gigi had been diagnosed correctly in the first place, that she would probably still be alive today. The day before Gigi died, I took her to the original vet for the third time that particular week, because she could not stand up, she was lethargic, she was throwing up, she wasn’t eating, (I had to syringe feed Gigi, every 3 hours, 24/7 for months)and Gigi’s temperature that day, had dropped to 96.8 degrees. The original vet told me that day, that Gigi was dying. I told the vet that I did not want Gigi to suffer anymore than she already had, and that maybe we should put Gigi to sleep! She refused and said that she wanted to try something before she did that, which seems to be her only answer, the other times that I thought Gigi should be put down, because she was just not doing well. The next day Gigi died at home. I asked the vet that I have now, if there was a way to preserve her body, until I make the decision to get a Necropsy done or not, which I have to make really soon! I spoke to the vet I use now and he told me to put Gigi’s body in a freezer in order to preserve her body. We have an old freezer in the garage, that we don’t use but that works, so we wrapped her up put Gigi in there. God I hate saying that! I was just wondering if anyone has had a Necropsy performed on their dog, and if I should get a Necropsy done for Gigi. I’d also like to know the approximate cost of a Necropsy, although that will not affect my decision. I’m very heartbroken and pissed off at the original vet, and I want to find out what actually killed Gigi. If it was something the vet did that contributed to Gigi’s death, I will take action against that vet. It will not bring my Gigi back, but maybe it will stop her from taking another dogs life. If you can help answer my questions, I will be so very grateful! Thanks for reading this! I hope this makes some kind of sense. I’m sorry it’s so scrambled, but I can’t really think straight right now, and I just wrote everything down, the way it came into my head and through my tears for Gigi! R.I.P. In The Arms Of The Angels, My Little Love Gigi! I’m so sorry if I let you down. I love you, I miss you, I will never forget you! You will be deeply embedded in my heart forever!

Answer #1

Sorry again! When I originally posted this question it said that it was posted in Love and Relationships!

Answer #2

Sorry Wrong Section!!!

Answer #3

Whew! well I made it through all of that, I can tell that you are very hurt and torn about what to do. I have never had a Necropsy done on MY own dog but I have seen many that were done on dogs and cats.

Look to be very honest with you, only you can make this choice. As far as how much it cost all the ones we have done at work the doctors asked the client if it was ok if we did it so we could know what was really going on inside. All the ones that I have seen the doctors were right on and what we saw on the inside was a mess.

I am sorry you lost your little girl. I had to deal with Liver Shunt on my first chihuahua that I owned for 40 days, he was about 14wks old. I was at the doctors 7 times and ER 2 times, I choose to put him down. I could not bare to watch him go into his “zombie” like stages. Every time he eat it made him worse so he did not want to eat either, he would also vomit.

You have to ask yourself what kind of satifaction you would get out of doing this and what if the First doctor was right, What if she was miss diagnosed. then what will you do with this information? This is a tuff call, but she did move on and is now at the Rainbow Bridge with the rest of our beloveded friends.
My doctor was honest and told me that if I decieded to go with surgery Eddie might not make it (he was 3lbs) he may have seizures the rest of his life. Or they may get in there and relize his liver has (too many tunnels) shunts to even be able to close them up and redirect things the way they are supposed to be

I know I keep jumping around here, but do you really need to know what happened? If the answer is yes, then go for it and I hope you find all your answers, If the answer is NO then let her go and I hope you can smile knowing you did everything you could for Gigi, You are really beating yourself up. You went to the doctors, you did everything you thought was right, Please don’t beat yourself up and do what ever you think is the right thing to do, however prepare yourself for any answers you may get. I just lost my 12yr old Rottie on 1-2-09, we put her down, I always promised myself I would not watch a dog suffer at the cost of my heart, I loved her dearly and what I did to help with the loss was, enlarged a black and white picture of her and matted and framed it. Got a necklace from a site called Ashestoashes. It has a pawprint charm and it is also a Urn, so a little of Harley Ann is always with me. Anyway I am truley sorry for your loss, and I can tell you really loved Gigi, there is so much passion and hurt behind all of your words, Just please make your choice for all the right reasons.

More Like This

Pets and Animals

Pet Care, Animal Behavior, Veterinary Medicine

Ask an advisor one-on-one!

Simply For Dogs

Pets, Dogs, Blogs

Dogs Forum

Pet Care, Dog Training, Dog Breeding

SitDropStay - Dog Training

Pet Training, Dog Behavior Consulting, Puppy Training

Dogdayz Dog Boarding

Dog Boarding, Pet Accommodation, Dog Grooming

Barking Dog Blog

Dog behavior, Training tips, Pet care