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Warning for Dog Owners

Horseplay

I Don't Care. Do you?
Donator
We've had a long weekend here at our house. Our youngest dog got into a situation that ultimately ended up with her requiring a pretty serious operation and extended hospitalization. She ingested something (string from an unraveled rope toy) that got hung up in her stomach and intestine. By the time I picked up on any outward indication it had probably been a couple days. During this time the intestine, by trying to pass it through, actually harmed itself by creating a situation where the string actually sawed through it in multiple places. She ended up having to have a couple feet of her intestine removed do to the damage in a surgery Saturday night.

Just talked to the vet this morning and thankfully she has recovered very well and he feels she is probably out of the woods in terms of survival. Time will tell if the loss of intestine will have effect on her bowel function. Worst case she could have issues with loose stools or even chronic diarrhea for the rest of her life. The thought is she should be fine. Fingers crossed.

So the warning. My dogs have always had those long, knotted rope toys you see in all the major pet stores. They love to play tug of war with them. Eventually when a couple dogs chew and yank on them they end up fraying. This results in lengths of string coming off. This is what my pup ate. As much as they love them they will not have them anymore. I could promise to supervise their play and put the ropes away, etc. but the reality is one day I will forget or get complacent and it could happen again. Not worth the risk. The same thing happens all too frequently with dogs ingesting socks left laying about, etc. So don't introduce such toys into the house and pick up your socks!
 
glad to hear that your dog is on the road to recovery. Thanks for the warning, we too have similar type toys laying around for the dog to play with. We try to keep her from tearing it apart, but she does love to destroy things!
 
Glad to hear things are looking up for your pup.

_____________________________
Never argue with a Moron. They'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
 
Yikes, glad to hear you caught it in time and hope she is doing ok.



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Good to know this! Glad she is doing better. Fortunately, my dog doesn't like those kinds of toys but they won't be coming in anytime soon.

And I agree with the pet insurance. Comes in handy.....
 
One word reply:

Kong

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fd
 

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My dogs make super quick work of all kinds of different KONG toys we've tried. Chewed to bits easily. Stopped with all those kinds of " indestructible" toys as I caught them eating chucks they tore off. That's why the ropes were good for them, I thought. They didn't try to destroy them just played tug together. Unfortunately, when they unraveled she must have eaten some of it.
 
I’m not demeaning anyone here, but you never leave soft toys with unsupervised pets. It only takes 10 seconds for them to rip off a chunk and you’ll never know it.


Mark
 
I’m not demeaning anyone here, but you never leave soft toys with unsupervised pets. It only takes 10 seconds for them to rip off a chunk and you’ll never know it.
And then you could be left with your pet's life in jeopardy. Only as a warning to others I will share that we're at nearly $7k right now in vet bills and she's not out of there yet. Learn from my misfortune and stupidity. Be selective on toys and monitor at all times. And buy good insurance coverage for your pets. It's not gimmicky anymore and can be invaluable. Believe me, standing there having to decide between your pet's life and your bank account is not something you EVER want to face.
 
My dogs are family. In my heart I feel I am their dad. Like my kids, they depend on me for everything. There is likely nothing I wouldn't do for them if I am able. Having said that, when given the cost estimate prior to the vet treating her I will admit my brain screamed NO. But I'm standing there with my youngest son next to me being asked if I will commit to the expense or choose to have her put down. The vet told me there was a decent chance she could survive and that was the end of that brief moment (that felt much longer) in which I had any thought of letting her go. Its only money and she needed me. There really wasn't much to think about in the end.

Some important things to consider. She just turned one. Her breed (American Bulldog) life expectancy is up to 15 years. Up until this incident she has been extremely healthy and fit. Had this been an older dog or a chronic illness vs an accidental situation I might have made a different evaluation of action.

This is why I so strongly recommended people consider and purchase pet health insurance. In this case, my out of pocket might have only been $1k or even less. And it's not even the grand total so much that I caution about, it's the possible amount a person might simply not be able to produce. What if I wanted to pay for the care but simply didn't have it? Vets don't have payment plans. Cash up front business. I can't imagine the heartache.
 
So glad she is recovering well and hopefully she will not have major issues going forward.
We've considered pet insurance for our dear Maggie, but now I think
Toni will look into it again. Maggie is about 5 years old so it's time.
Is there a pet insurance company you recommend ???
 
My general vet recommends Trupanion. I saw signage for them at the emergency vet clinic as well. I've started doing a bit of research online and they always come up highly rated but its difficult to really trust a lot of what you find out there. I did come across a number of supposedly neutral comparison sites and the data shown does seem like they are really good. What I am looking for is the cost of coverage compared to deductibles, actual things covered, percentage paid of bills and lastly if there are any caps on anything. Very much like you might shop for your own insurance.

Just as an update on Roxy, she gave us a real scare on Tuesday morning the day after she came home. In the wee hours of the morning she started vomiting very violently. Nasty stuff. Rushed her back to the ER doc and they did another xray and an ultrasound as well as bloodwork and stuff. After about an hour the diagnosis was that everything "inside" was good. No signs of concern about the surgical success. In all likelihood just her body reacting to everything she had been through. We stayed there a while so they could get an IV going to hydrate her (she wasn't bad but not taking chances) and also a couple injections of her meds as with all the vomiting they assumed she wasn't really getting anything into her system from the oral stuff. Then back home to sit and worry.

Tuesday afternoon she was anew dog. Very much her old self. Almost too good as she was wanting to run about and play with the others. Only improvement from there to today. Very good appetite, alert and bright eyed. She's even having bowel movements to prove the plumbing is working. Think it safe to say she is well past the worst. Now the challenge is to keep her from tearing out her staples for acting too crazy. If you know how Boxers behave that is what an American Bulldog is like except they weigh up to 125 lbs or so! When our two and our boxer get going it can be nuts. So for now segregation is necessary. its killing them but can't be helped.
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You are a good human. Some just do not understand that our pets are part of the family. We lost a German Shepherd 2 years ago from a bloat. Wife identified her condition right away and off they went to an emergency pet clinic. Yes some money was spent to try and save her. She survived the surgery, but the next day we lost her. It was not money waisted, we had to whatever we could to save her. Am I an animal rights person? Sorta. If the creator did not want me to eat meat he should not made beef, pork and chicken so tasty. :p But people who abuse pets should be punished.

fd
 
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