Devastating news this week about a beautiful galgo puppy called Picasso, who was rescued and fostered by Bev Farmer (Podenco Friends). He was adopted by a couple in the UK who already have greyhounds so they are experienced sighthound owners.
Mischievous Picasso did what puppies frequently do, he swallowed something he shouldn’t have and was taken to the vet. The adoptants mentioned to the vet about the potential problem of greyhounds and anaesthetic – because of their slow heartbeat and lack of body fat, they should have minimal anaesthetic for as short a time as possible.
Picasso died at the vet surgery.
Naturally the adoptants are heartbroken, especially as they had reminded the vet.
I met this gorgeous puppy when I visited Bev last September, gangly, playing with podenco pup Rembrandt, full of the joys of life.
I am sure you will share the grief felt by the adoptants at such an horrendous outcome and loss of Picasso.
Comments
9 responses to “Greyhounds/Galgos and anaesthetic – what every vet should know”
aw this is so so sad all vets should know this mine are fully aware of it even though it is such a risk for sight hounds and especially older sight hounds like my tess 11 half she just recently had her k 9s removed i was besides my self i refused to have them moved cause i was thinking she would be under longer and the healing process after put me off but i took her the vet said she would ring me whilst she was under to let me know for deffo if she could get these just under 2 inch out with out damaging the jaw she did and said i can do this can i have your permission so i can get on with it asap yes i replied go for it glad i did cuase she was poorly and wouldnt have had long to go if i didnt but i was so stressed from making the appointment to her going in and the vet new that i said take care of her bring my girl bk to me now my ebs as got to have her k9s removed but she ant as energetic as tess so i am really worried about her and reading stories like this is so stressing and upsetting and for one so young bless you picasso so sorry and feel for the family its heartbreaking all the future ahead just snatched away from this little one you just cant tell how things are going to turn out so sad
so sad to hear this… i heard from somebody that deals with galgo rescues, that there are certain drugs that are safer. is that true? How about overheating during the surgery?
Hello everyone,
I am a vet with a rescue galgo and have had sighthounds for 15+ years.Have had probably hundreds of sighthounds under anaesthesia during my career. I am not sure what has happened in the surgery with Picasso but hopefully an autopsy is performed so the reason of his very unfortunate passing could be solved.
As for the anaesthetic…it is not so much a question about the medications used per se (I am assuming most vets in European countries are using the newest and safest medications) but the combination of them and how the anaesthesia is supervised. Generally sighthounds need smaller amounts than other dog breeds but there are always exceptions (I had one today, a galgo of a friend of mine needed way more sedatives than even most dogs from other breeds). I would say the key is how the anaesthesia is supervised, if there is a nurse taking care of the anaesthesia, what kind of equipment is used etc etc. It is a combination of several things.
I am not sure what is meant with “overheating” here…during longer surgeries the body temperature of the patient should be checked regularly. The problems are usually with hypotermia, that is too low body temperature and not overheating.
This is such a sad event but until more information is gotten there is no way of telling what went wrong. Could be a number of things. And considering the young age of Picasso there might also be some congenital problems that havent been apparent before the surgery. These complications can happen to the best of us and I feel such sadness for Picasso, his family and the vet. Losing a patient is always a devastating thing for us, and more so when the patient is young and apparently healthy.
When I lived in Ireland, two of our pets had anaesthesia and both of them experienced a very strange state after it.
In both cases when I took home the apparently wake pet (once was it my galga, once our cat), they again fell asleep and slept so deeply that I could not recognize the breathing. I was utterly horrified.
Both went to surgery because of an injury (both had been bitten).
I had never experienced anything like this before. I had had many pets going to surgery in Hungary before we went to live in Ireland and all the surgeries were without any strange after effect. The Hungarian vets always injected some anaesthetic, that was all.
Of course I had asked them not to use barbiturates but I was told that those are passé anyway.
Strange enough, later on, when we moved from Ireland to Canada, someone told me that Canadian vets oft use bigger doses of anaesthetic so she always experienced the same problem with her dog as we did in Ireland.
Thanks to God we never needed anaesthesia while living in Canada.
The Canadian lady later on simply forced the vet to give less stuff to her dog and look at that… the surgery went well and the after effects were minimal.
She is a nurse (works at the emergency) therefore she understands a little bit about anaesthesia in general.
She was pretty upset because of the vets giving more medicine than necessary. She told us it happens quite regularly there. I think she had tried several vets and she told us the problem was always the same.
ye i was thinking that the blood pressure can drop whilst under because the anaesthesia slows the blood flow down to stop excessive bleeding maybe poor picassos blood pressure droped to low but surley this vet would of known that by the monitoring whilst asleep do they have a reason at all from the vet beryl as to why this happened or maybe a case of a little over the amount of anaesthesia unbeknown like you say tanja could be anything or a prob no one was awear of i know i was touch and go when i was 16 just for a simple op my blood pressure droped way to low i was so weak when i was recovering and had blood transfusion and was having some other liquid fed into me by drip went into shock whilst under and then again when i had woke up alls i remember was i will describe tin foil being wrapped around me my whole body went into massive tremour that was an experience and then when i was 34 another op i had besides others but that was my last one i was very poorly had lost a lot of blood in theatre and was having iron injections i remember the surgion coming to me on the morn and saying you have been very lucky but you are very weak at the moment you will be in here fof a week at least
http://www.windhonden.nl/anest.htm
this website informs very well the various methods used.
Most sighthound owner prefer the inhalation anaesthesia it is safer and can be better controlled espec. when one or more hours are needed for operation. Monitoring by another person while the operation is performed this anaesthesia is higher in cost than the one by injection which is ok by small operation within 30 minutes or so.
This is such a sad story; I had no idea about greyhounds or other dogs needing less anaesthesia. I don’t have these breeds but in future I will remember this story in case I get a greyhound or something similar sometime. It’s certainly a lesson to be learned, but so sad for the family involved. I had a podenco who developed bone cancer in her leg and died at the age of 6. I was devastated, so know how these people must feel.
my Nyina had a long surgery when she was spayed, because the vet had to remove some old sutures from her belly. They were not regular sutures used for the inner muscle layer but some cheap plastic garbage so the vet needed time to remove them one by one.
I saw how she performed the anaesthesia: the needle was inserted in Nyina’s front leg and from time to time they give her a little bit to keep her sleeping.
I took Nyina home while she was still asleep and she woke up wonderfully after this big surgery and recovered very quickly.
Later on when living in Ireland, I was surprised to see that the pets are kept at the vet’s for so long. We never had this in Hungary, we always took the pets to the vet after withholding them food for 24 and water for approx. 10 hours and then they got the injection of anaesthetic, and after the surgery we always took them home directly. They woke up at home.
And, strange enough, I have never experienced any complications at all. Even not after Nyina’s big surgery that took approx. an hour (maybe even more I can not remember anymore but it was a real mayor surgery).
They also operated on an emaciated cat I took in, no issue there either. It also was a mayor surgery.
But maybe newer stuff is not as safe as these were.
Tünde, good for You and your animals.