Thankful Thursday: Too close a call

If you visited yesterday, you saw two photos for Wordless Wednesday that may have had you wondering what was going on? You also may remember a post I did the end of July for Thankful Thursday where I was thankful for dog poop. I thought we’d closed the book on that experience. I was wrong.

One week ago today, Cabo couldn’t keep down any food or water. Everything came up. If dogs eat grass because there’s something wrong with their gastrointestinal tract, Cabo should have eaten the entire lawn. And I think he certainly did try.

Friday came with no improvement…in fact, it got worse…and our vet fit us in at 5pm for an appointment. After X-rays, she said an emergency bowel obstruction surgery was needed. Now.

I had to leave him and spend the evening waiting for her call after surgery. I had no idea how long this would take so after 3 hours, I was a complete and total wreck. She finally called at 10pm and said they removed the obstruction but had to take some of his intestine. Unfortunately, he was not coming out of the anesthesia very well. Plus….she said the last dog that had this surgery and didn’t come out of anesthesia right away didn’t make it through the night. Now I’m a hot mess. She did put a video monitor on him and said she would try and check on him from home throughout the night. She did come back to the clinic at midnight when she saw him stirring.

It’s now Saturday morning and I’m driving to the clinic to see my boy. And, yes, I did sit inside the kennel with him for about 2 hours until they closed at noon.

All his girlfriend techs came by to check on him and the vet showed me the offending culprit….another piece of corn cob. Evidently, it was a rogue piece that had been hanging out in his stomach since July. It certainly looked like his stomach acids had been trying to [unsuccessfully] break it down. The vet ended up coming back in around 5pm and again at 10pm.

Because of sever dehydration, he would remain on fluids and not be allowed to come home until he started eating and drinking on his own. His incision measures between three and four inches long.

He is almost a week post-surgery and so far, so good. He’s doing well with his bland diet of rice and chicken, but he will need to have it a few more days. His activity level is beginning to ramp up again and I can see it’s going to be hard to keep him calm for another week. My main concern now is he refuses  to drink from his water bowl.

This experience has been truly disturbing. Cabo is suppose to be MY buddy after cancer takes Entrepreneur. The thought of losing them both was more than I could comprehend. My emotions were like raw nerves all weekend. And, I’m still only cautiously optimistic about his future. I know many dogs survive obstruction and resection surgery and go on to live long, healthy lives. I’m hoping this is now all behind him and he’s not a repeat offender.

So, all you pupper parents…..please, please, please DON’T let your fur babies anywhere near corn on the cob. The cobs DO NOT break down in their system. At. All. Even though all three of our previous dogs never had any problems gnawing on the occasional corn on the cob, it only takes one time for it to become a life-threatening situation.

Needless to say, today I am extremely thankful Cabo is still with us. I’m also thankful for the extra effort our vet took to ensure his safety and recovery.

Blog hopping with Thankful Thursday over at Brian’s Home.