Monday, August 1, 2011

7/8/11: Crisis Averted - Bless Gorges on Food and Ends Up in Emergency Hospital

We Have a Scare! Bless Gets into Mischief

When Bless had her initial check-up with our family Vet, a couple of months ago, the Vet mentioned that she had to gain 4-5 pounds before she can have her teeth cleaned.  Otherwise, she has a good bill of health, for which we are grateful.  We think that Bless heard this, and decided to take it upon herself to gain that 4-5 pounds all at one time...
Bless Took it Upon Herself to Gain 4-5 lbs all at Once
Oh no!

My sister-in-law, Debby, was visiting from Florida, just after the 4th of July weekend.  When I returned home from work, I fed the dogs, and then Debby and I were talking as we got ready to go out to dinner.  I called Bless a few times, and finally, she came to us after about 5 minutes.  When she jumped on the bed for some loving, I noticed that her stomach looked bloated, and she was crying. She never cries. Even though she's been through hell and back, that girl has never cried. I knew something was wrong.  I feared overeating and twisted stomach.

When we went into the kitchen, we noticed that the lid was removed from the dog food storage bin, and I knew Bless had gorged herself on the kibble.  I called the emergency Vet hotline and they said to bring her in. By the time we got her there, she was trying to throw up, but couldn't. I knew we had done the right thing bringing her in, because she was becoming more and more distressed.  They did the X-ray, and sure enough, her stomach was 5x it's normal size --- all kibble.
X-ray of Bless' Stomach - 5 x its normal size
Oh my! :-(
The Doctor said we had three choices: stomach pump/induce vomiting - which he advised against because it's so invasive, tube down throat to try to pull food out of stomach - also not advised because of danger to the animal, and last option was to let nature take its course with some help - IV's, fluids, walking, and some medications to let the body pass the food through on its own.  We opted for the latter, and we had to leave our girl there overnight for treatment and monitoring.

The pet hospital was excellent.  During her treatment, they called me and I called them a few times to make sure she was doing all right.  They kept her for 24 hours to make sure that everything was going well and that she'd be fine to go home.  I picked her up after work the next day, and she was right back to her self.  Had some medication to give her, and she had to be on a chicken, broth, rice diet for a few days. (All of the dogs enjoyed that!)  She recovered just fine and is as happy as can be in her home.

Through all of this, I had the feeling that everything was going to be OK.  We just have to watch our girl even closer to make sure that she is staying out of mischief. Bless didn't have enough food to eat for about 4 years, so you can imagine how she must feel.  She's hungry all the time, and we will do our best to make sure that her appetite is satisfied, and that she eats healthfully and does not overeat.  We learned a valuable lesson that day about watching over her even more carefully.

I cannot tell you how much love I have for this wonderful Galga, Bless,  and am so dedicated to her well-being.  She truly is an angel, a gift, and we love her so much!

Hasta Luego!

Thank you for reading my blog!
Bless sends her blessings.
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