Re: Extensive bleeding during and post op

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:06:02 GMT

did you take blood for a clotting profile when you had excessive bleeding in surgery?

We had a bitch spay (border collie) that bled a lot from the cephalic after the iv injection of thio. It was a few years ago (before we routinely used an iv canula) and we had started clipping its abdomen when we noticed a small pool of fresh blood next to the leg. We took a vial of blood which then didn't clot (at all!) so the procedure was abandonned and a sample taken for a clotting profile instead. The results were awful and strongly suggestive for rodenticide poisoning. The owner knew the dog was a scavenger but hasn't used poison herself so we still have no idea where it got it from. After a few weeks of vit K treatment clotting times returned to normal and the dog was later spayed. It never had any more issues. I will be forever glad we didn't spay it that day - although the owner was understandably confused....!!!!

There is strong indication that we should all be doing a buccal mucosal bleeding time on all dogs before surgery, and especially the black and tan breeds where genetic clotting disorders are more common.....although we don't do it at the moment.

Re: Extensive bleeding during and post op

Butterfly — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:36:53 GMT

Yep we considered that but it is regularly treated with advocate

Re: Extensive bleeding during and post op

Honeybadger — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:35:38 GMT

Have you considered if it has Lungworm? I have seen a few bitch spays like this that were later confirmed lungworm cases.