Our Poor Doggie

On the last full day of our Ohio vacation we were treated to steaks and thought it would be a good idea to let Lana chomp on a bone for a while. We underestimated the power of her jaws and before we knew it she cracked the bone in half. Knowing Lana has the uncontrollable desire to swallow food which is too big, we reached to grab the bone out of her mouth. Lana panicked and decided to swallow a piece the size of a ping-pong ball. She had trouble getting it down but after a few strange choking noises she had it down and was back to running around as if nothing was wrong.

We spent the next day in the car, traveling the twelve hours from NW Ohio to St. Paul. Lana had a horrible time as she threw up a dozen times during the day. Once back in MN she continued vomiting but now blood was coming up. We took her to the animal emergency room at midnight. The vet took X-rays and delivered the news: the bone was stuck in Lana's stomach, a pocket of gas was surrounding it, and each time her stomach tried to expel the bone it risked being punctured by the sharp edges of the bone. We were left with one option: surgery.

Lindsey took the news especially hard. As a result of the long day of driving, little to eat, the stuffy environment at the vet, and the news that our dog's stomach was going to be opened up, Lindsey felt nauseous. Suddenly she made a soft noise and fell forward onto me. She had completely passed out. Her pupils were dilated and she was not responsive. The vet was freaking out as this was the first time anyone had passed out in her office. After a minute Lindz began to groan and gradually came to. After sitting down and drinking some cold water she eventually felt better and we could go home.

The vet called at 4:00am to let us know that the surgery was successful. They kept her under observation for a few hours until our vet office opened, at which point we picked Lana up from the ER. She was a sad sight: plastic cone around her head, drool pouring out of her mouth, completely doped up, and unable to get in and out of the car herself. We took her to our vet where they monitored her for the day.

It's been three days since the surgery and Lana's progressing well. Her stomach is probably healed by now, but the incision still looks nasty. She's going to get the staples removed in a week. In the meantime we are giving her a steady diet of pain-killers and antibiotics.

As you can see by the previous posts on our blog, this has been one crazy and expensive summer so far!