Disclaimer:
Information presented in the “Living With…” sections of the SCARF website represent the personal viewpoint of the individual who made the journal entry and do not represent the opinions, positions, or viewpoints of SCARF or the veterinary community. [see complete disclaimer at bottom of page]
One Sunday morning my 10-1/2 year old female Samoyed didn’t want to get up. When I insisted, she seemed to have trouble walking. I took her to the emergency vet where they discovered that she had severe anemia - her trouble walking was because she was so weak. They stabilized her, sent her home, and faxed the blood test results to our regular vet.
Our vet said he was shocked when he saw the fax on Monday morning. He had seen her two weeks before for some minor problem and she’d seemed quite healthy. He said we’d need to determine why she was so anemic. It could be that she was bleeding, destroying red blood cells, or not making red blood cells. He found blood in her abdominal cavity - she was bleeding internally. She was also beginning to have small hemorrhages in her skin.
He sent her to a specialist for an ultrasound and called us in the evening with the results. She had multiple tumors in her spleen and liver. Based on the ultrasound results and the bleeding, the presumed diagnosis was hemangiosarcoma. They didn’t do an ultrasound-guided biopsy to confirm because it would not have changed anything, it was too advanced to treat. Our vet, who usually doesn’t try to influence our decisions on euthanasia, recommended she be euthanized first thing next morning. By this time she was coughing whenever she moved. I assume she had fluid or blood in her lungs. Somehow, she looked especially beautiful that night.
We were of course there with her at the end. It was all very, very sudden - just days from happy, apparently healthy dog to euthanasia of a very sick one.
Disclaimer:
Information presented in the “Living With…” sections of the SCARF website represent the personal viewpoint of the individual who made the journal entry and do not represent the opinions, positions, or viewpoints of SCARF or the veterinary community. There may be discussions of drugs, devices, additives, foods, vitamins, herbs or biologicals that have not been approved by the FDA/CVM for the particular use being discussed. SCARF assumes no liability for the accuracy or outcomes of any suggestions, advice or other information provided by the “Living With…” postings on the SCARF website. All treatment decisions should only be made after discussion with your pet’s veterinary health professional, and no changes in your pet’s treatments or diet should be made based on any information found on the SCARF website.