Intestinal Obstruction!! ... and a WARNING.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Oscar is in the emergency animal hospital after having had obstruction surgery last night. He's doing fine now, where they're keeping him for post op observation for the next 24 hrs. I can't say I'm all that surprised that this happened. Oscar eats EVERYTHING in sight. Just last week I'd commented on the discussion, 'Doodle Eats Everything!!!, about how Oscar was one of those kinds of dogs, and how I was concerned he may have eaten a lost earring earlier in the week, and that I was monitoring his behavior for anything out of the ordinary. So that's been on my mind. Last night I called our neighborhood vet (2 blocks away) after an eventful evening of Oscar throwing up voluminous quantities repeatedly. It was obvious he wasn't feeling well, lying down rather than playing with Lucy, and earlier in the day he'd refused his breakfast. (That was an absolute FIRST for Oscar, who will normally eat anything, any time, anywhere!) They had an immediate opening to see Oscar, so off we went (bad idea to take the car... I've got some onerous work ahead today to get the back seat cleaned up after Oscar upchucked about a quart of foul smelling liquid vomit).  Surprisingly, no earring showed up on the x-rays. However, about half a dozen areas of his small intestine were twice the size they should have been, indicating a possible obstruction. So off we went again, this time to the emergency vet hospital downtown. They could do the obstruction surgery and keep him for after hours observation.

We wracked our brains trying to figure out what it could have been that Oscar had eaten to cause an obstruction. We are so good about keeping things off the floor and out of reach. The exceptions are, low-pile area rugs, dog toys and mats, and water dishes. The only dog toys I allow to be out all the time are balls, because I know they can't be chewed up. Fast forward a few hours, after Oscar's surgery, the doctor called and told me what the obstruction had been. Here it is in this pic... can you guess what it was?

 

It was the neoprene 'Quiet Spot' tag silencer (its ironic a quick google search found it on a site called KeepDoggieSafe.com  http://www.keepdoggiesafe.com/quiettags.html?gclid=CKmnzP6I6bYCFU7h...). Think I'll contact the company and tell them just how safe their product really is! Anyway, I'd noticed it gone about a week ago, but had no idea when it was lost. I figured it was while out on a walk. Oscar normally only wears his collar when outside (I had to go through a lot of pictures of Oscar to find the one above of him wearing his collar indoors). Luckily, it had no sharp edges, as it was made only from neoprene and Velcro. Needless to say, I won't be asking for it back! Instead, I've ordered a plastic Rabies tag to sandwich between his ID tag and Dog License. That should keep those tags from jingling, AND keep Oscar safe!

So, just a warning that those 'Quiet Spot' dog silencers can come off, and if you have a dog like Oscar, it will get eaten and could become lodged in their gut. Oh, and BTW, this little jaunt to the emergency vet will cost us well over $3000 up front. Thankfully, we do have pet insurance so a portion will be reimbursed!

 

UPDATE: Hi everyone, thank you all so very much for your concern of Oscar... He did so well yesterday at the animal hospital that they released him to us last night. He was very happy to see us! He's doing well, and doesn't appear to be in a great deal of pain. He is on pain meds and maybe that's why. He slept really well last night and he's eaten several small meals of boiled chicken and rice without any problems at all.

People have said we're lucky to have caught this early. Areas of the small intestine could have died had we waited longer, which would have resulted in an intestinal resection. As far as catching it early, there were some strong indicators that something was very wrong, very quickly, and maybe this info could help someone else to get to the vet ASAP if their doodle is found to have the same symptoms. The most obvious was the frequent and COPIOUS vomiting. I'm convinced he threw up more than just his stomach contents (I know this is kind of gross!). A lot of that had to have come from his small intestine. Oscar has had bouts of stomach upset in the past and he only threw up small amounts (albeit frequently). Plus, he never lost his appetite during those particular stomach issues. So losing his appetite was the second indicator. With these 2 'symptoms' we knew something was wrong, all within about a 60 min. time frame. I'm not sure if this is the way all dogs would react to an intestinal blockage, but its the way it happened with Oscar.

I also wanted to report that the vet bill for the animal emergency hospital was well UNDER what was originally quoted to us ($3000-$6000). The total came to $2260. I think it was well below because we avoided complications, AND Oscar recovered so well the day following surgery. Our neighborhood vet's bill was just over $300.

I just took this picture of Oscar. Between his oral surgery as a young pup, his neuter surgery and this event, Oscar continually seems to be sporting the 'shaved leg' fashion statement!

 

2nd UPDATE:

Several of you asked about Oscar's insurance and wanted to know how fast Embrace Insurance would process the $2260.39 emergency vet hospital claim. We received an email from them last Friday that a check was being sent that day for $1785.79. So it took them 1 week to process the claim. The other claim for our local vet's services (exam, x-rays and fluids) for over $300 still hasn't come through. I've done some checking on it and Embrace never received the claim, so I've had to have the vet resend it. The delay with that claim wasn't the insurance company's fault.

As for Oscar, and how he's doing, I've had his incision checked by my vet a couple times already and he tells me he's healing well. He gets his staples out this Wed. He's still wearing his Comfy Cone in his crate, but he doesn't seem to mind it at all. Keeping Lucy and Oscar from rough housing has been the major issue, as they just naturally want to do it. They can play with a ball together quietly, though, (lying on the floor, one squeaking the ball in the other's ear, until the other one takes it and reciprocates). We're all anxious for Oscar to be done with his recovery so he can get back to his normal activities.

 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

What a scare and so glad Oscar is doing well. I have two chewers and not swallowers here, they sometimes pick stuff up but both of them spit it out once they have had a taste and the 'leave it' command works well. I can't imagine what a worry this is. I hope you get Oscar home soon were he can recover in his own bed. Be careful if you are considering switching insurance companies as they will want all his records and may exclude certain illnesses which may not suit.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Lucy's a chewer and not a swallower too. I had no idea how good we had it before Oscar! Nothing is distasteful to him (well, with the exception of poop... he's not a poop eater, thank goodness!!).

Good point about switching insurance companies. Oscar doesn't have any chronic conditions, but I'll have to be thorough to make sure anything we've had claims for in the past won't be exempt. Thanks!

[Camilla and Darwin]

How scary, I'm glad they got it out. Wishing Oscar a speedy recovery!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thankfully he's going to be okay, but I'm sure this was pretty hard on him.  Here's another example of how important Pet Insurance can be.  Here's hoping he's back home with you tonight.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I hope Oscar gets to come home SOON!  Something similar happened to a coworker's dog and I posted on the importance of pet insurance just a week ago. So glad you have it and really hoping he heals up quickly :)

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

OMG that is incredibly scary!!!  I'm so sorry you all had to go through that especially Oscar!!!  I hope he has a fast recovery!  

[F, Calla & Luca]

So sorry to hear about Oscar. I am wishing him a quick recovery.

[DJ & Chance]

Oh I am so glad Oscar will be okay and thanks so much for the warning.

[Carol and Banjo]

I'm so glad Oscar is going to be ok after all this.     I can't imagine how exasperating it must be to keep things out of his reach!    It sounds like you've got a handle on it.....how would you ever have guessed he would go for the Quiet Spot!!!   Oscar, get well soon, go home and be a good boy!!!

[Pat and Traveler]

Oh, no!  Poor Oscar!  Hard to think of that little sweetie having surgery, but so glad he is going to be okay.  It must be hard to try to watch every single thing he could put in his mouth. 

Fortunately, Trav isn't much interested in chewing on things--other than toys and sticks.  Maybe Oscar will outgrow this.

Such an unexpected thing for him to have found to eat!  Hope his recovery will be an easy one.

[Star and Goldie]

So glad to hear he is okay. He's quite a trooper! Also glad you have pet insurance. I always worry about something like this happening because although I have pet insurance I certainly cannot afford $3,000 upfront. I wish the pet insurances worked the opposite way where you file a claim and they pay the portion they will cover first.  If you don't have the money to pay for it upfront you're still kind of in the same boat as not having insurance since you can't pay for it either way:(

Let us know how Oscar recovers!

[Kyoko]

OMG...I am so glad to hear Oscar is OK!! And I am so sorry you and he had to go through this....I remember on the last post someone made the comments about making sure to have pet insurance.... Thank goodness you have him covered!!

But for the " eat everything dogs" since they can't understand why this has happened to them,  it will be really tough from this point on to make sure nothing else can get eaten... How do we do that...? One of mine picked up a Brillo pad left on the street by the garbage truck this morning....