Dutch Shepherd Forum

We had a scare with Halo this weekend.
She threw up on Friday evening and then seemed fine. We woke up the next morning to a big mess of puke all over the house, so I took her to the vet. The vet thought the Kennel Cough had spread and her irritated throat was making her vomit. He put her on antibiotic injections for 5 days. By Sunday, she was getting worse and would not touch any food and she was very lethargic. I was starting to get worried about that but she had continued to drink water and had minimal vomit. I decided I would take her back to the vet in the morning.
At about 4am we heard her fall at the foot of our bed, she was very weak and then her head started bobbing. Turned out she was having a seizure.
We called the vet (woke him up) and initiated an emergency visit. (Ching Ching)
She could hardly walk by the time we got her there. They took some blood and put her in an IV and then gave her a valium. (As upset as I was by now, her reaction to the valium made me laugh)
They x-rayed her and found a small tennis ball in her stomach...so she had surgery this morning and she will be there for 2 days to recover and remain on the IV.
I remember about a year ago we were at the dog park and she was playing with one of those small tennis balls but I never saw her eat it! I have never seen her play with one that size since so I am assuming that this ball has lived in her belly for almost a year and only started to make her sick now. I still haven’t seen the bill, I am scared to but I am very relieved that she is ok.

OMG, how scary is that!! Glad she will be ok. That is amazing that a tennis ball could be in her tummy for that long, wow!

Maybe have some valium on hand for yourself when you see the vet bill, or

OR--could she have gotten the ball at the kennel where she was boarded, and picked up the kennel cough too!(Should be over that by now,I would think.) Maybe some kid lost the ball and she found it without you seeing?
Unlikely that a ball would be in her stomach for that long without a problem. I personally hate tennis balls as toys for dogs. Lucky she didn't choke to death on it.
Is the Vet telling you she had a seizure caused by an obstruction? Very scary indeed! Hope everything turns out okay-----please keep us updated!

alspyce wrote:Is the Vet telling you she had a seizure caused by an obstruction? Very scary indeed! Hope everything turns out okay-----please keep us updated!

He didn't say that was why, I just assumed it was because she was starving and weak. I still have lots of questions to ask him. I was too upset this morning to really think.

I honestly wasn't suprised to find out there was something foreign in he belly. She has gotten into so many things in the past. (I put up a post about this earlier) But the only time she could have gotten a small ball would have been at the dog park and I watch both dogs but I can't see everything I guess. I don't keep tennis balls in my house.

Oh My!!! Im so glad she is ok and sorry you had to go through all of that! I also can not beleive that the ball was in there for a year and had not done anything sooner. One may have bounced out of another kennel and into hers? I dont have any small balls but Thalie loves to fetch the big balls.

I'm glad she is recovering nicely. Sometimes you can do everything you can to prevent things like this, but it happens anyway. Bad luck I guess, I wish you and Halo the best and hope things turn to good luck soon.

Save some of that valium for when you get the vet bill. your going to need it.

How scary! I'm so glad that they were able to save her!

So sorry to hear this. Very scary!! Hope Halo recovers soon and you too!!

yikes, that must have been scary! Glad everyone is ok, get well soon Halo!

What a horrible experience for all of you, and your pocketbook .

So glad you were able to find the problem, tho, and that it was fixable.

Hope she mends quickly!!

Just wondering how Halo is doing?

Obstructions are terrifying, I'm glad they figured out what it was.

Poor pup!

We picked up Halo last night! We wre originally going to get her on Wednesday but they decided to keep her an extra night. She was very happy to see us!
She is noticably uncomfortable but she has a good amount of energy, she must feel really conflicted. It's also obvious that she has lost some weight after 6 days without food.
But she is back on solid food, we are spreading it out over the day vs. feeding her 2 times. My husband took the day off work to stay home with her.
She is on pain meds and antibiotics for the next 10 days.
All the vet techs just loved her and they told us some of her siblings were in the back (to be adopted ) The bill was bad, but I expected worse so I guess that is good. Turns out it costs $300 to wake the vet up in the middle of the night! They also refunded me for some of the visit to the vet on Saturday since they didn't catch what was really wrong.


They said the ball was blocking the exit hole (for lack of a proper term), so between Friday and Sunday she hadn't got any fluid or food which was causing the seizures.

We are thrilled to have her home and I can't wait until she is back to her normal self.

Glad to hear she is back home and hope for a speedy recovery. It is much better when they are home.

Are there stitches you have to keep her from licking or scratching?

Sugars Mom wrote:Glad to hear she is back home and hope for a speedy recovery. It is much better when they are home.

Are there stitches you have to keep her from licking or scratching?

Thanks Sue! They didn't give us a cone for her (or tell us not to let her lick the stitches) but I wont let her lick or scratch them. Actually, they didn't give us much information when we picked her up, I had to call them back and ask a bunch of questions. I wasn't really thinking too much until we got her home.

With the stress and the antibiotics (both kill good bacteria in the gut), it would be good to get some pro-biotic into her. I'd continue them for quite awhile to recolonize her gut and help her digestion, which helps the whole dog! Great idea to space out the meals!

She looks pretty good considering what she's been through! Hope she recovers quickly!

Very good of your Vet to adjust your bill----can't say I've ever had that happen!

so glad she is home!!!!

so glad to hear she is ok and you too!! Rest up Halo!!

Speedy recovery Halo. Glad she is back home, and I'm sure she is too.