Disaster Averted

So, this is Ranger and MaKayla. MaKayla really loves this dog. Anytime we have to leave him anywhere, she is always worried about him and cries while he is gone, every time she remembers that he is not there. Over the last three weeks, he has been having intermittent vomiting, and not really interested in food. I work at a vet clinic, so I had had him in a couple of times to get his belly palpated to see if it was tender, and Alexis would randomly check him out as well. He was a little tender in his belly, but nothing beyond that. His lack of food motivation wasn't getting any better, and he had lost 4 lbs, so we finally decided to take some x-rays Monday night. They showed something in his belly, possibly bone fragments, that didn't look normal.


So, we gave him some barium that evening and the next morning MaKayla, Gabe and I went back over to take another x-ray to see if anything had moved or showed up. You could see where some of the barium had moved through the intestines, but you could also see where some of it was still in the stomach around whatever was stuck there. The foreign body hadn't moved out of the stomach, and not all of the barium was gone either.

At that point, options were, IV fluids for a couple of days, plus some ID dog food to see if he could pass it, or go ahead and open him up for an exploratory to pull it out. The problem was, if it started moving, it still had a long way to go, and if it got stuck in the stomach, what were the chances of getting it through the intestines?

Anyway, we're having Dental Month at work, which means that we are CRAZY busy, so we didn't have time to open him up yesterday, which was fine with me, because I didn't want to open him up anyway!!! So, I went home and gave him frequent, small amounts of ID dog food, and lots of fluids, and we went back in this morning to do another x-ray and then, if it still hadn't moved, to do surgery.

So, this morning we went in and had another x-ray taken, and whatever it is/was, it had moved!!! Yeah!!! No surgery for Ranger!!! At least not yet, anyway. We are grateful. I was not looking forward to cutting open my dog. Nor the bill. I may work there, but an exploratory surgery isn't cheap!! Dumb lab dogs that are indiscriminate eaters!! Serves me right for getting a lab, it guess.