Dog Intestinal Blockage
Our dog had a foreign object blocking it's intestines. Here is the full story with symptoms, diagnosis, remedies and the culprit. She's a 18 month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Jump to "culprit / cause" if you just want to know the outcome. Be advised of some nasty images if you have a sensitive gut.
Day 1:
Situation: The morning started out with my dog vomiting. The contents included a couple pieces of food from the night before, coupled with white foam. We tried giving her some treats and water, incase this was related to an empty belly or her eating grass. The vomiting persisted, and anything that went in, eventually came out together with some bile.
Vet visit 1: The vet did an ultrasound and bloodwork. The bloodwork showed elevated UREA, which means that there's excess waste product in the blood and can point to some kidney issues. Her WBC, MON# and GRA# were also elevated, which points to the body fighting off an infection. And her RBC, HGB and HCT were elevated, which points to dehydration. All the organs looked normal in the ultrasound. Their guess was that she had some kind of stomach bug. They sent us home with anti-vomit pills and told us to come back if there was no improvement within 48 hours.
Day 3:
Situation: The vomiting had continued throughout day 2 and 3. The dog was still drinking water, she would accept homemade broth in a syringe, and she could still pee. But when I tried to force-feed her mushed up food, but it would eventually come back up. She also started vomiting pure bile on occasion. If your dog vomits dark green liquid with specs of black, that is bile. Bile is produced in the gallbladder and it helps brake down the contents of the stomach. Bile also smells bad and stains fabric.
Vet visit 2: The vet prescribed more medication, but recommends more check-ups the following day if the situation didn't improve.
Day 4:
Situation: No improvement.
Vet visit 3 & 4: Our regular vet kept her for the day and administered fluids through an IV, but sent us to another clinic in the afternoon, as their x-ray tech was out. The second clinic did the usual checks, took x-rays as well as another ultrasound. Neither screening showed anything obvious, so yet another vet came, re-examined the x-rays and together the two did a 3rd, very thorough ultrasound. No obstructions, and no kinked intestines. All they found was that the stomach and gallbladder were enlarged, and the lining of both organs were inflamed. Since they couldn't see any obstruction, they suspected that it might be some virus or inflammation. May I add that our dog kindly vomited bile at both vet clinics so they could experience the situation first hand. More medication. Return the next day for check-up.
Day 5:
Situation: I fed the dog a little bit of mushed up and diluted food through a syringe. Same with the meds. She drank some water and still peed, so the kidney-bladder connection was still functioning. And there was no more vomiting.
Vet visit 5: Our regular vet had also checked the x-rays and ultrasound images. She gave our dog a once-over, was happy to hear that the vomiting had stopped, and home we went.
Situation: Soon after returning home from the vet, our dog started vomiting bile again. This went on through the night and early morning the following day. It was so much dark green vomit. It looked like the scene from The Exorcist. But she kept drinking some water after every throw-up.
Day 6:
Situation: After the vomiting had stopped, we syringe fed her small amounts of watered-down food, and continue this during day 7.
Day 7:
Situation: She didn't vomit all day, and we thought things might be turning around. But then she started vomiting again around midnight, and continue through out the night. She hadn't been able to keep food down for 7 full days at this point, she was barely awake and was basically a small pile of skin and bones. We stayed up with her through the night crying and holding her.
Day 8:
Vet visit 6: We're at the vet as soon as they open. They immediately hook her up to an IV and schedule an emergency surgery. 4th ultrasound only showed that the intestine immediately after the stomach was enlarged, so the doctor opened her up. They removed the blockage, along with 40cm/16in of damaged intestine. I didn't even want to put her on the scale when we came in that morning, but after receiving IV fluids, she was still down to 10.2 kg, 2.6 kg (5.7lbs) below her usual 12.8 kg.
Culprit / Cause:
The doctors pulled out at fully intact piece of beef trachea. These are sold as dog-treats, and our dog must have found one on one of our walks, and swallowed it whole. It probably happened a while back, as the trachea-piece is hollow, and could have allowed for digested food to pass through for some time. Eventually it clogged up with hair, and caused a full blockage. A full length trachea would have forced the dog to chew it up, but these small pieces are extremely dangerous as a dog can swallow them whole. The trachea is mostly made from cartilage which is hard, but doesn't show up on x-rays, so they go completely undetected. The soft tissue of the trachea was eventually dissolved which exposed the hard and sharp burrs that are arranged like threads on the exterior walls. These burrs dug into the intestines and kept the piece stuck, unlike a smoother object that potentially could have passed through the digestive tract.
Conclusion:
DON'T BY THESE TRACHEA-PIECES FOR YOUR DOG! It has the potential to kill your, or someone else's dog.
If your dog vomits a dark green liquid that has the color of grass, but there's no grass in it, it is vomiting bile. This is a sign of some type of obstruction. Our vet had recently performed a surgery on a bulldog that had a "false-obstruction", and after massaging the intestines, everything functioned as normal again. This is why our vet was hesitant to cut our dog open right away.
Find the culprit! Me giving our dog anti-vomiting pills, then force-feeding her, probably enlarged her intestine, then pushed the blockage further down, causing further damage. Her intestine could even have ruptured and that would have been it. Broth was ok. But it's also hard to see your pet wither away infront of your eyes. I also asked the vet at some point if they had a scope camera. They did not. I wish I would have searched for a vet that could do an optic exam of her stomach and intestines as this would have discovered the blockage.
Aftermath:
Our dog spend the first 36 hours post surgery with around the clock veterinary supervision. After that she's been coming home for the night, while spending an additional 3 days at the vet. Thankfully she is recovering, and hopefully she will get a full release after tomorrows check-up. Then another 2 weeks of painkillers and antibiotics before she gets her stitches removed. She might also loose some of her off-leashing privileges, which is a bummer since she's non-dog-reactive, is the sweetest dog ever and even gets along with cats! Hope this story helps someone.