A Texas woman is urging dog owners to rethink what they know about routine veterinary visits. The reason? Her beloved pet died despite having “good” blood work.
Anishta (@anishta_) shares what she wishes she’d known before her dog died. She tells other pet owners to consider additional diagnostic testing as their animals get older.
As of this writing, her video has received more than 4,000 views.
‘You Can Still Get a Brain Aneurysm’
Her first piece of advice is to consider brain imaging, including CT scans and MRIs.
She says that her dog had been diagnosed with heart disease, but he passed because “his brain lost blood flow.” The vets speculated his sudden death was due to “a blood clot, … brain hemorrhage, or some kind of neurological collapse.”
She then addresses the limitations of blood testing, explaining how “when [her dog] was passing away, his blood report was good,” referring to routine blood work performed during an emergency vet visit.
“It’s like a human being,” Anishta says, “our blood report can look so good … but you can still get a brain aneurysm.”
‘Trying to Share the Knowledge’
Her second piece of advice involves abdominal testing, which she says she wishes medical professionals had suggested she do before her pet passed away.
Anishta says she researched other diagnostic testing, including a Doppler ultrasound, which measures blood flow through blood vessels and can help catch blood clots, aneurysms, blocked arteries, and heart valve defects.
She believes vets should offer additional imaging to owners of senior animals rather than relying solely on routine yearly blood work and vaccinations.
“Your dog is over 10 years old, your dog is over eight years old. Like, you should suggest that,” she says. She ends her video by wondering how “everybody’s always trying to make money everywhere.”
“I’m trying to give you my money, and you don’t wanna suggest something to me,” she says.
Anishta isn’t the only pet owner who encountered this particular problem.
“I randomly got all these [tests] done on my baby. They found skin cancer even though all his blood work was perfect,” one viewer wrote. “We found the cancer so early that it didn’t spread and was still stage 1. We were so lucky! But if my paranoia and pushiness didn’t get the best of me, we would have just left it at the blood work.”
Another commenter wasn’t so lucky, writing, “Same with my maltipoo, she had cancer and clots…devastated.”
Should Senior Dogs Routinely Get CT Scans and MRIs?
Although Anishta’s advice comes from an understandable desire to prevent other pet owners from suffering the same fate, routine brain imaging is not currently recommended for every senior dog.
The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) recommends MRIs in the presence of neurological conditions, and imaging generally “if clinically indicated.” Neither imaging test can guarantee that something like a blood clot or brain hemorrhage will be caught before it happens.
Similarly, while an abdominal ultrasound or a Doppler ultrasound can find abnormalities of the inner organs or blood vessels, they wouldn’t usually catch an irregularity occurring in the brain. Again, the AAHA recommends abdominal imaging based on certain symptoms and medical history.
While imaging isn’t routine for every older pet, the organization does tell pet owners with senior dogs and cats to get them wellness checks more often—every six months instead of once annually.
@anishta_
Subplot News reached out to Anishta via email.
