Dublin was definitely off. He is such a social dog that he only wants to be let out back long enough to do his business, maybe take a few loops around the yard and then whines to be let back in the house. None of this was occurring either. Sunday night he did eat dinner but had not touched his water all day. Monday morning came and he decided to guzzle a bunch down. He then proceeded to go into my family room, over my carpet, and throw it all back up along with Sunday nights meal undigested. This just confirmed there was something he had eaten that was backing him up. In the past several experiences of this, we would just wait for him to either work it back up or eventually download it from the other end. I was really quite mad at the dog Monday morning because I had to leave in thirty minutes for half the day. Instead of getting a few things finished and tidied up around the house, I spent my time trying to get the stain out of my carpet from his upset stomach.
We didn't attempt to give him much food or water from Monday on in hopes that he would work this thing out of his system and that he would start being his normal self. By Wednesday I was beginning to think I was going to have to take him to the vet if things didn't start looking up soon. I gave him some water while he was outside and it didn't stay down for even five minutes. I knew then that he had to go see the vet.
So Wednesday afternoon I dropped him off at the vet clinic for them to take a look at him while I ran kids to the dentist in town. I came back afterwards thinking I could pick him up and they would have answers for me. But this is what happened instead....
The vet gave Dublin barium to work its way down and through the intestines to highlight any blockage. After a pile of x-rays scattered throughout the day, the mass that they saw in the first x-ray had still not moved nor had the barium moved much. They decided to keep him over night to monitor him more the next day (Thursday). I talked with the vet Thursday morning to learn all of this regarding the x-rays and the blockage that wasn't moving much. He said that he had Dublin tentatively scheduled for a five o'clock surgery if things hadn't changed by then. I about freaked hearing the cost of all of these things but after freaking out to Judd on the phone, he calmly reminded me that we had to do what was best for Dublin and to let the vet do his job. :o) Thankfully, I followed Judd's direction, calmed down and let the vet decide what was best - more x-rays or not.
Well, I got the phone call last night from the vet to tell me they had gone ahead with the exploratory surgery and had come across something he had never seen before. I told Judd all that was explained to me and he just didn't get it. I made him call the vet back to hear it for himself and to have it explained in greater detail. It was while Judd was on the phone that all of the questions started flowing for me and the following is based off of both of our conversations we had with the vet...
The vet made a small incision enough to pull the section of blockage out to examine it. He found that he couldn't pull it out which is not normal and had to open Dublin up a little further to take a look inside. What he found was the a section of the small intestine had fused together creating a loop/noose shape. He said he has seen many dogs that have adhesions with the intestines that have never had issues before. But for some reason - gas buildup, the lining up of the stars, the moon being just right, or whatever - Dublin's colon went through this loop of intestines and became stuck and the small intestines began to strangle it. There was absolutely nothing in his intestines causing a blockage. It was simply a freak thing with his intestines and colon that caused Dublin to become sick. The vet had never seen this before and actually had to look at it for a while after opening Dublin up to take in what he was looking at.
Because of the strangling of the colon, the colon is not looking well. During surgery there was some hemorrhaging of the colon and it is extremely bruised and does not look good. The vet says he does not take it lightly when he considers removing a dogs colon. He left it in hopes that it will recover. A dog without a colon has no control of their bowels, causing diarrhea and frequent infections. The intestines were not moving like they typically do causing further concern, hoping that Dublin's body will jump start them back into working order as he heals from all this craziness. The vet said that due to blood flowing into the intestines but not leaving like it should, there is some concern for a blood infection. Dublin will be there for at least a couple more days. They have him on IV's with antibiotics in hopes to keep away a blood infection, which is fatal for a dog.
So what does this all mean for Dublin? Dublin is a lively, young dog that hopefully will be able to fight all of this that has transpired in such a short period of time. There's essentially only two ways for him to go - get well and recover or....you get the idea. We need his colon to recover, his intestines to begin functioning again, and for his blood to stay clean with no infection.
This is a crazy post that I would never have imagined having to type. Like the vet said, the stars must have aligned or the moon was just right for all this craziness to have happened. Very freak deal that he had never seen before. I feel horrible for all the times that I have gotten mad at Dublin especially after he threw up on my carpet, assuming he had eaten something he shouldn't have. I feel horrible that he is all alone at the vet clinic and that he feels like garbage right now. I asked the vet if we could come see him and we just need to call ahead to see how Dublin is doing before heading down there. I will do my best to keep you updated with how Dublin is doing.
So, at this time, I ask you to please pray for Dublin....
Amy
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