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There's no way to tell this that it doesn't look bad for me, but I wanted to give my fellow pet owners a heads up on listening to your little voice.
Last Thursday evening my 10-year-old Shih Tzu began refusing food and water and vomiting profusely. This is a low maintenance dog who never has anything wrong with him except he's getting older and is a little crazy. Don't get me started on buying pet shop dogs right now - I felt sorry for him 10 years ago and bought him from a pet store who apparently got their pups from what I now suspect was a BYB. He's very poorly bred and is possibly his own cousin...sigh... Anyway, I took him to the vet on Friday and he was examined. Nothing was really found, blood work pretty perfect. The vet was leaving to go on vacation and felt Cody might have a doggy virus, gave me the name of the on-call vet, gave Cody fluids and a shot of antibiotics and said if he wasn't better by Sunday to give the other vet a call. He also gave me some i.v. Ringers to give Cody to keep him hydrated. At that point, the vomiting had slowed and stopped completely on Saturday, but with no improvement in his condition.
Sunday morning it was apparent we weren't doing well. I called the other vet, completely prepared to take him in, and pretty much was talked down off the ledge. But I knew - I KNEW - something was terribly wrong. The on-call vet was pretty condescending, by the way, and acted as if I were panicking about absolutely nothing. And I do tend to panic when things go amiss, but this was different. And yet I allowed myself to be smooth talked by some guy who clearly didn't want to to an office visit on Sunday.
Yesterday I took Cody to another vet who is very highly regarded in our area. He said he just didn't know after a complete physical, but Cody's body temp had dropped and that indicated some type of shock. X-rays showed nothing. The vet asked about food, if Cody had eaten a foreign object, etc. No, Cody is not a chewer and never eats anything but what is put in front of him. I left him there for further blood work - 2 hours later the vet called and said Cody was tanking badly and they wanted to open him up. Of course I said yes - we were thinking intussusception or twisted bowel, or possibly tumor.
Cody ate a ball you play jacks with, which had lodged at the bottom of his stomach and partially into the bowel. Where he found it I will never know - we don't have children or grandchildren at home, our yard is enclosed with a 6 foot privacy fence, and none of our neighbors have small children visiting. All I can assume is this was in the yard for years and somehow he found it. It was a very extensive surgery that required two vets. The bowel had ruptured and Cody is gravely ill. The vet said he had a 50/50 chance of making it through the night and everything will be touch and go for a long while since he was already septic by the time they did the surgery.
This morning I just don't know the situation - the vet will call as soon as he is back at the office....in the meantime, I have kicked myself around the block. I KNEW to push on Sunday and I didn't. I would have never guessed foreign object and still can't believe it, but I know my dogs and I knew there was something seriously wrong.
Moral of the story - don't delay. Better to be found a panicked dog parent than potentially lose your dog. I'm afraid that's what we're facing this morning and I couldn't possibly feel any worse about the whole chain of events than I do. Had my own vet been in town I would have been more insistent, but I listened to someone who doesn't know me or my dogs and now I may get to pay the ultimate price.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,055,877 times
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Oh, Sam! Please don't beat yourself up. I feel the same way about Artie -- that there's no way that he could _____ (fill in the blank) but I just know that SOMETHING is wrong. And I think this is where optimism and hope kick in: that we NEED to think that they're OK; that if we think that they're OK, then they will be.
Sam... please, please, please be gentle with yourself. You are Cody's life, Cody's savior. He knows that you would move the sun and earth for him. But, y'know what? Crap happens. And the hope and optimism (and the smooth talkers) start in.
I hope, hope, HOPE -- with all my heart -- that Cody is going to walk away from this, with a big grin on his face. My heart is hurting right along with yours. But please stop beating yourself up. If you couldn't eat and didn't feel well yourself, you wouldn't rush over to the doctor. That's the sort of optimism we have for our dogs, too. I do hear what you're saying about listening to your gut, but sometimes your gut is full of hope and optimism too.
I hope and pray that your beloved little Cody will be fine. Look at it this way, that vet who didn't want to be bothered would not have done anything anyway, probably would have charged you a fortune and told you Cody was "fine".
Even though Cody had to wait another day, at least he saw a vet who took action.
I hope and pray that your beloved little Cody will be fine. Look at it this way, that vet who didn't want to be bothered would not have done anything anyway, probably would have charged you a fortune and told you Cody was "fine".
Even though Cody had to wait another day, at least he saw a vet who took action.
Keep us posted, all paws crossed for Cody here...
I completely agree 100%. I would not want this non interested vet touching my sick and defenseless dog. Seems to me, you actually got the right vet for the job your beloved Cody needed. Yes, he needed him earlier but not if it could have costed him his life because the on-call vet didn't give a rats-azz.
Try not too be to hard on yourself, you followed up with a better vet. I am in agreement you are your dogs best advocate, as you are their only voice.
im with luvabull on this one...NO way in hell would i have wanted that disinterested jerk to be TOUCHING my dog...
i would call the on call vet and inform him his "nothing wrong" was actually a dangerous obstruction an your dogs life now hangs in the balnce and "thank" him for his concern...
but im mean like that. (im sorry but i have a strong HATE for any dr like that be it human or animal...if i tell you something is NOT right...its because something is not right...)
do NOT NOT NOT blame yourself, this is a 10 yr old dog that hasnt given you any reason in the past to think hed eat a random object, AND you did everything right, you took him to the vet when you noticed his symptoms, the blame here lies on a vet who i suspect was already mentally on vacation, and another vet whos head is so far up his ass that hed rather make YOU feel like an overprotective person than actually listen and do his job.
SOMEONE up there is looking out for cody, they not only kept you trusting your instincts (after all if you hadnt you wouldnt have taken him to this vet) but got you to a vet who actually had a clue...Cody is in the right hands, and ive got every thign crosed that can be for him to make a good recovery for you but if he doesnt please know
YOU dont look bad, YOU didnt do anythign wrong and YOU are NOT a bad doggy parent!
Thank you all - I couldn't stand it at 7:30 and went on over to the vet's office. I just figured if the news was bad it wasn't something I really wanted to hear over the phone, and if the news was good I'd need to see for myself.
Cody is very much alive! He's not running any foot races, of course - very subdued - but I was able to hold him and have taken his blanket back to him in the meantime. He nuzzled with me and made little noises, and licked my face. He has a port for antibiotics but his blood work last night looked good (still) and he is walking this morning, with an awful big wound for such a little guy.
I am cautiously optimistic. The vet said we just wouldn't know if we were out of the woods for days, but I no longer see the desperately ill dog I had on my hands just 24 hours ago.
By the way - the object d'art was taped to his kennel. I absolutely cannot believe it - it was the size of a large walnut. How a tiny little dog even swallowed that thing is beyond me. It was yellow at one time, solid rubber - now it's pretty gross so I won't go into that, but I still don't understand why we didn't find Cody strangled to death on it.
It's going to be 102 degrees today but I've already been over the yard once and will go over it again today, then back to the vet's office this afternoon to see my boy. I have 7 dogs...people tell me they don't see how I can manage to care about so many, but each of them is so very special in their own way.
So thankful for the vet who went the distance...and yes, calls are in order to the one on vacation as soon as he returns and the jackass that wouldn't just charge me $100 and come in and see the dog. I have a white hot temper - I think I'll hold on that just a bit - arm waving and screaming sometimes leave a negative impression, no? Maybe wait until I can be the Ice Queen... It will happen, though...oh, yes, it will happen...
Last edited by Sam I Am; 07-24-2012 at 10:09 AM..
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It will happen, though...oh, yes, it will happen...
