[knightquest]

Just got over a very traumatic time with Boris our two year old Leonberger.

We took him for a walk on Sunday morning and after an hour or so, we fed him. He is a proper gannet and he made himself sick. Quick as a flash, he ate it again. Shortly after, he started coughing and wheezing. It didn't stop and he got a bit upset so we rushed him to the vets.
They examined him and couldn't feel anything in his throat or his stomach but he was still coughing and struggling for breath so they knocked him out and x rayed him. They said that nothing could be seen in his throat but there looked like a blockage in his stomach. (I should say that we had informed the vet that we fed raw and bones)
The decision was taken to get him into theatre and pump out his stomach. They were worried about his stomach becoming dilated and him getting torsion. We left for home awaiting a call. We got the call about 3 hours later to say that they couldn't get to his stomach so they would have to operate......we said ok.
They operated and said that they had found bones "the size of a fist" and that he was blocked by these. I should say that he had done two poos just before his meal.
He was to be kept in overnight and collected at 9 on Monday morning.

Nine came and we were told that he should stay in for the day as he was sore. We eventually collected him at 6.45pm. When we got him home, he started coughing and wheezing again OMG! We phoned the vet and she said that he was obviously sore from all the work and he should settle down. Eventually he did.
I slept in the kitchen all night with him and it was the worst night of my life! He was really struggling for long periods and although he settled down occasionally, he always started coughing again.
After two calls to the emergency vet, he eventually made it through to the open surgery at 9am on Tuesday morning.

The head vet came out to the car and looked at him and decided to get him in and put a camera down his windpipe under a light anaesthetic. We left him again and this they did.

They eventually, after 5 attempts, managed to pull out the end of a carrot from just this side of his lung!!! - This was causing the coughing BIG STYLE!

When we finally collected him on Tuesday evening, the improvement was so great, both Di and I cried when we saw him.
Three things have come from this event.
1) Just because we feed raw, the vets automatically think that it is the problem. (The fist sized obstruction turned out to be some turkey neck that I'm confident that I could have passed if I had swallowed it).
2) They did not listen to us, all along we said they he had inhaled something. Sometimes dog owners do know what they are talking about!
3) Had they listened, our dog would not have had to go through 5 hours of surgery and anaesthetic. He would have had an hour of light sedation and a camera. Oh and escaped a bill for £2,300

At the end of it, we are just glad to have him back. He is now recovering really well 

He was due to go to Crufts today (Thursday) to demonstrate the KC bronze award and he's missed that but we are just glad to have him.

Sorry to go on.....

Ian

[faith0504]

what an awful experience for you all, keeping everything crossed for you, give him a big kiss and hug from me, 

[RUSTYME]

bugger mate .. I dread something like that happening to my dogs ... Glad your big fellow came through ok in the end .
I hope you get a good nights kip now anyway , now that the scary bit is over .
Take care Boris , you bugger you !!!

cheers

Russ

[manian]

poor things (all of you) terrible trauma.....
best of luck and hope recovery is swift.
Mx

[Rosemary]

Glad you're all OK - I'm sure Boris will forget about it long before you do 

[loosey]

Bloody Hell Ian!

Glad Boris is doing ok now ... what a terrible night! 

[kingnigel]

hi ian
glad boris is fine now, its amazing what emotions these monsters can put us through, even when they are well again, you still feel like you are being dragged through a ringer.
reece

[Beewyched]

Oh Ian,

Hope Boris on the mend now - despite the vet adding to his suffering & stress all-round ( not to mention the £'s) 

I would have thought coughing = someting to do with breathing  how could they have missed it?

Taking my dalmation to the vets tonight - her meglosophogus really bad now  not hopeful 

[kaz]

What an experience for not just you but your poor dog. I don't know what I'd be like in an emergency with my dogs.
I'm so glad he seems to be on the mend.
Best wishes
Kaz

[knightquest]

Thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes, it means a lot 

We've started to catch up on our sleep now  Trouble is, when I tell our regular customers who know our dogs in the shop what happened, I start to fill up when I remember his pain. I'm such a pratt sometimes 

He had to go for a check up today and he didn't want to go in the vets at all but Di got him in and he is fine   

He had a huge bag of medication to take including liquid to stringe x 2 and 4 lots of tablets. He goes silly when he sees us coming towards him now and sticks his head between his front legs and his bum in the air  don't know what he's trying to achieve but his tail keeps wagging and he makes us smile again.
It seems that we are only to see the head vet from now on too...............wonder why?

He's been given some tins made by Royal Canin to help with dogs who've had this op. It's just slop really and the ingredients are absolute PANTS. Costs a bomb too by the way!
We blended some cooked chicken and rice as recommended by the vet and he wouldn't touch either. Bit of a worry. Fear not though, we blended some raw chicken and goats milk and water and man he loved it.

All dog lovers out there will understand our excitement tonight too when he did his first post op POO!! YAY! I know it's sad but what can you say?

Thanks again everyone, I suspect he's over the worst now although when he's at the shop, as soon as someone looks at him he starts to whimper........Playing to a crowd I believe 

Ian

[doganjo]

I've been reading all this, but couldn't post till now as I know what you are going through, been there on various occasions, and at present not sure if my little Freckles has a closed Pyo or just a UTI - drinking gallons and weeing even in the house - not at all like her.  She was sick this morning so had her scanned this afternoon, no definite evidence of pyo, so just keeping her on ABs for  10 days and monitoring. She should have been spayed in November but that bloody snow put paid to that then she cam in season and it was A looooong one!  Yet another reason to raise suspicions, and a lot of vulva licking too.
Glad Boris is picking up, but what are you going to do regarding the vet's errors?

[knightquest]

I hope Freckles gets better soon. 

We discussed the errors and decided to let it lie at the moment. Boris had got a dilated stomach apparently and having lost a dog to torsion in the past I would NEVER want to see that again. What happened to B is uncommon and we don't know whether the bloating caused the sickness or the carrot caused the bloat.

My hope is that the vets learn from the experience and realise that the rubbish pedalled by the likes of Hills Science and Royal Canin isn't gospel and they can open their minds a little to feeding a natural diet.

One thing through all this.........Borris' coat has been immaculate. Strange to comment on it but it is positively shining. To look at him as a neutral person, you'd think he was in the peak of fitness.

Ian

[BlueDaisy]

Glad that Boris was eventually diagnosed and is on the road to recovery. I think you should speak to your vet about what happened if only to let them know to pay more attention to you in future.

I work at a vets and unfortunately, my experience is that at least 50% of pet owners are idiots and even the inteligent ones can sometimes give completely misleading information about what is causing their pets problems. This means the vet has to gauge whether you are one of the numpties or not. If they don't see you very often because your dogs are fit and well, it can be difficult for them to know. So I think letting them know you are not a numpty is a good idea.
Also, we get lots of dogs presenting as emergencies, and the cause is foreign bodies (whether they are bones, sticks, balls, toys, bottles etc etc etc) but I've never seen one where a dog had inhaled part of a carrot!! Though we have removed a blade of grass from the flaps at the back of a rotties mouth before!

[little blue]

poor Boris, wishing him a speedy recovery Ian....

[Sandy]

Poor you and Boris, just shows  owners often know best, same with children as we are with them all the time so can rule out some things. Anne, hope freckles recovers well, do you think she may be having pups then? Pets and Children, who would have them?? ALL of us!!!