All of us are in total shock and so upset at the moment.
I witnessed my first death under anaesthetic today
an apparently perfectly healthy 4 year old bitch. Our whole team worked frantically for over half an hour to bring her back, but it just wasn't to be
she went into both respiratory and cardiac arrest, we tried everything we could - but with no success
we knew after about 20 minutes that we weren't going to get her back, but we still carried on trying for another 10 - 15 minutes before admitting that we had lost her
We all feel numb and we feel so guilty, like we could have done more. The owner is understandably distraught, and although we explained to her that there are risks with every anaesthetic, she is obviously in total shock - it was just totally unexpected. Although we know it was no bodies fault, we cannot help but feel responsible.
It is our first at the practice for 2 years, performing around 4 anaesthetics per day. Our vet has only ever experienced 4 anaesthetic deaths in her 20 years of training, which makes it even more of a shock when it does happen.
Play free at the bridge little baby - I'm so so sorry