The value of necropsies

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pinta

Post   » Fri Feb 18, 2005 7:55 pm


We had the vet do a necropsy of my diabetic, Taffeta, who just died at the age of 6 years and 8 months.

Huge enlarged heart and so much fluid around it, Lasix wouldn't have helped. Official cause of death - heart failure. I asked my vet if I had been giving her lasix for a few months if that would have helped and the answer was "no". "They have to die from something and heart failure was it (for her)" said my vet. I asked if the Fortekor we had her on for the last few months had helped extend her life. The vet said "probably". Basically she was an old pig and her heart gave out. There was no way of preventing it. This I needed to know for my own peace of mind.

I okayed pathology on 5 tissues($80) because her adrenals were huge and I want to know if she had Cushings Disease as well as Diabetes -(pancreas was shot which fits in with diabetes). She had major hair loss that was starting to grow back in with laser treatments that we had attributed to the ovarian cysts. Now I'm wondering if the hair loss was due to Cushings Disease.

I asked my vet how her bladder looked and it appeared the Polycitra had helped with her sludge problems. She'd been on Polycitra for a long time(maybe more than a year)since she developed a stone in the opening of her urethrea,

Her ovarian cysts were small enough to not have been an issue showing that the HCG injections were working well.

We stand to learn so much from Taffeta because of getting a necropsy done.

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