When people die on the surgery table, it’s usually a result of cardiac arrest. The heart stops after beating erratically (fibrillation), and that is followed by a cessation of breathing. Dogs tend to have cardiac arrest, on the other hand, because they stop breathing to begin with. Either way, it’s cardiopulmonary arrest, “cardio” standing for the heart and “pulmonary” signifying the lungs. That’s why there’s both a “C” and a “P” in the CPR that stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Both organs need to get going again for the animal to come back to life.
