Xena

Xena Dog Princess

Xena Dog Princess

Location
Wellington, NZ
16/04/2016-16/12/2022

The absolute best dog, best friend, best fur kid I could ever have asked for. It has been one week today and I miss her so, so much. No more dog hogging the bed. No more dog sneakily taking Joe's spot (complete with head on pillow) whenever he got up to go to the loo or to get something from the kitchen. No more dog appearing in the pantry to get her customary lick of yoghurt when I'm making Dawn's smoothies. No more head appearing on laps when we're at the table. No more cute little farts. No more happy greetings at the door. I mowed the lawn yesterday and wasn't constantly pestered with the Wubba and her footy. No more face looking at me through the gate when I mowed out the front. No more indignant huffs and reverse sneezes when I dared to stop cuddling her. No more pre-wash cycle for the dishes.

When a vet requests an autopsy, the animal is usually sent up to Massey University (only veterinary school in NZ). Unfortunately they had closed for the year, and I didn't want her sitting on ice until February. So my vet conducted a post mortem, which I knew wouldn't be as comprehensive as Massey, but that was ok. They were waiting on the results from the lab, which they received yesterday. My vet's best guess (and he's not 100% happy with this but it's all we have) - brain aneurysm. They did not remove the brain as part of the PM. I'll copy and paste what he emailed me, and he followed it up with a 43 minute phone call:


"Thank you for confirming that Xena was eating and drinking normally while on the carprieve medication. As I said although the carprieve can be a cause for diarrhoea and vomiting it is very unlikely to be the cause of death with food in the gut system and her hydration normal. Plus there was no evidence of any carprieve-induced stomach ulceration on the post-mortem examination.

Both the Buprelieve (a pain relief alternative to carprieve) and Cerenia (an anti-vomiting/anti-nausea medication) were given at the exact correct doses for a 26.8kg dog. And these would not cause stumbling at this dose rate and definitely not the eye flickering at these dosages.

We have got back the lab results from the post-mortem examination samples of the lungs, heart, liver and spleen. There was nothing abnormal with the heart and the liver and lung showed mild congestion consistent with post-mortem changes. The spleen showed some common blood residue deposits (called haemosiderin). These results do not demonstrate any evidence of Mast cell Tumour spread, or malignancy, or any other disease.

The stumbling (which I could not see in the clinical notes) and horizontal eye fast flickering (that we call nystagmus) are both strongly suggestive of a neurological problem based in the brain usually involving the vestibular area of the brain, which helps control balance and co-ordination.

I therefore suspect this is where the problem was. Causes of sudden-onset vestibular disease in dogs include Canine Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome, malignant cancer in the brain, primary brain cancer, trauma, fat or blood embolism, hypothyroidism, middle ear infections, and a brain aneurysm.Looking at these possibilities:

- Canine Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome although it can look serious and often occurs in older Labradors is not a fatal condition. And we actually use both Buprelieve and Cerenia to manage the symptoms of it while the dog recovers usually over 2-3 weeks.

- Malignant cancer of th brain is still possible from the subcutaneous Mast Cell Tumour that Xena had the surgery for. But the lab report suggested her tumour was a low grade making it much less likely than the reported 9% of cases, but not impossible. But the lab tests from the post-mortem make this even less likely as there was not evidence of any Mast cell Tumour in any of these organs. The brain was not sampled as part of the post-mortem examination.

- Primary Brain Cancer is highly unlikely as there were no other signs prior to that night.

- Trauma. There was not history of this that day.

- Fat or blood embolism. These can result from the surgical process in any patient (human or pet) but are rare given that there are no open arteries being operated on most surgeries except say open heart surgery. And also the lungs act as a net to catch little clots. And even if they do get beyond the lungs they generally will cause a stroke-type incident that would be extremely rarely catastrophically fatal. They would also usually happen during or very soon after surgery.

- Hypothyroidism is a hormonal disease with many potential symptoms but is a slow progressive disease that rarely results in death.

- Middle and Inner Ear Infections do cause these symptoms but again do not result in sudden death.

- Brain aneurysm. This is a weakening in the wall of an artery in the brain. Like a burst plumbing pipe in a home if it bursts it will be catastrophic. This can occur at any age and in any dog. My last Labrador died from one. She was fine and then 30 minutes later she had passed away. I know of one 30 year-old woman, a wife of a client of ours, who died of one while on the toilet.

Now it would seem coincidental that it occurred 3 and 1/2 days after surgery and the question would have to be asked did the surgery put any pressure on a potential/possible aneurysm? Probably not as blood pressure usually drops a bit with general anaesthesia and we monitor it during surgery with patient monitor machines. This all looked normal on her surgery/anaesthesia chart.

I would have to say the most likely cause is a brain aneurysm. I have asked my colleagues for their opinions on Xena's case and I am waiting to see if anyone gets back to me with other ideas."
Click to expand...
The other colleagues agreed that it was most likely a vascular incident on the brain.

So there we have it. That's as good an answer as I'm going to get.

At Paekakariki beach just north of Wellington. She loved paddling (4 paws had to touch the floor at all times) and zooming around on the beach.
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If she wasn't throwing her Wubba at me, she would passive aggressively sit in my way.
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She wasn't mad about a selfie tbh.
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This speaks for itself.
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Xena never strayed too far from the kitchen.
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I mostly had to sleep spreadeagled because of Xena.
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:heart:
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And a glamour shot from her dog walker. This is the photo that we've chosen for her plaque.
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Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Oh Sophie, I was so so sorry to hear about Xena. She is (present tense on purpose) one of our special forum dogs that I felt I knew so well even if we've never met in person, and her loss is so heartbreaking. Your words, photos, videos show just how loved she was and what a wonderful life she had with you - thank you for sharing them here. She will always stay with you, but that doesn't make the hurt go away. Running free but gone way too soon.
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Oh Sophie, what devastating news - I am so, so sorry she’s gone. Xena will always be at the heart of our forum, and we’re all here for you in your grief. She is a beautiful soul who is so very loved and clearly knew this throughout her days with you xxxx
 
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