Ein is facing potential surgery

[corgimom]

My poor boy could use some major hugs and prayers.

Friday morning and early afternoon, he was his normal playful self. We got home late Friday evening, and found that someone had thrown up in a couple of spots. Tucker has a very sensitive stomach and if he goes too long between meals, he throws up stomach acid (which is what this looked like), so we assumed that that's all it was.

Fed the dogs all a normal dinner, and didn't think anything of it until Ein threw up his dinner. He was still pooping and farting as normal, so on Saturday, I decided to give him just 1/4 of his normal breakfast. An hour later it was still down, so I fed him the rest. Not long after that it all came up, and a few hours later, he jumped up on the guest bed and threw up all the water he had just drank.

We waited until late on Saturday to attempt to give him any dinner, and all I offered him was plain white rice. He wouldn't touch it. So I offered him a favorite treat: a small bite of bread. He took it from daddy and dropped it on the floor. He also had no interest in a drink of water, even after seeing me put a drop of juice in it to entice him to drink. Lucas said, "Try giving him just one piece of his regular kibble so we know if he's just being fussy." No interest.

At 1 am, we headed to the animal emergency hospital. Turns out the doggy ER doesn't accept payment plans and wouldn't allow us to use my future fil's credit card without written faxed permission. It's 1am. There is no fax machine available and they wouldn't agree to just talk to him on the phone. So we filled out a Care Credit application and got approved for a $1000 credit line.

They took some xrays. Couldn't find a blockage, but found tons of big air pockets in Ein's intestines. Could just be because his intestines are aggrevated, but it could also be caused by a blockage that they couldn't see.

Option A: Immediate exploratory surgery to see what was going on. Ein would be in the hospital until at least Monday. $1500 to $1700

Option B: Ein gets 4-6 hours of IV fluids followed by another set of xrays to see if his intestines look any better. Then the vet would call us about what they felt needed to be done from there. $600-$700, assuming that he didn't wind up needing surgery in the end.

Option C: Fluids under the skin, take him home, bring him back if he has any more problems, but meanwhile there is no vet to monitor him if he gets suddenly worse. $300

We went with option B. They called us at 6:30am. He was acting better and the gasses had moved around some, but his intestines were still full of air pockets and they still recomended exploratory surgery, but fully admitted that they could open him up and find nothing. We opted to wait and keep the fluids going.

After talking about it, I called and left a message for the doctor to call me about bringing Ein home and monitoring him until Monday. I called to county humane society and the local chapter of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi club and left messages. The PWCC called me back at 9 and gave me the name of a vet that they knew does charity work and said that he might offer to do the surgery for less and/or on a payment plan. At 9:30, the vet called back and said that as long as we agreed to bring him back if he got worse, she felt he was stable enough to come home for monitoring and wait until we could find someone willing to do his surgery on a payment plan.

Since coming home this morning, Ein is acting so much better. We haven't seen him play, bark, smile, or wag his stub since Friday afternoon. I've fed him a tiny bit of rice and Gerber chicken a few times, and so far he has kept it all down.

I've already sent an email in to work. If/when he gets sick again, he'll be going to the first vet that I can find who is willing to put us on a payment plan. I'm hoping so much that he's going to be okay and won't need surgery to remove an obstruction. Do you mind keeping him in your thoughts?

[Formula86]

I will be thinking of Ein!! Poor lil baby. I hope he feels better!

[An1ma1Lov3r]

I'll be praying for Ein! Keep us posted.

[tarita2004]

Aww *HUGS for you and Ein!!* Keep us updated!

[corgimom]

Thanks. So far, he's still keeping everything down, so I'm feeling very hopeful. I just posted this on another board and wanted to share it here, too. I was taking a quiz called "I realized" and it reminded me of something that happened early this morning that made me realize how lucky Ein is and I wanted to share it here, too, since I know all of you love your pets as much as I do:

One thing that really made me count my blessings today was when we were sitting in the waiting room, waiting for them to bring Ein out to us to come home. A man walked in and said, "My dog's been shot." and the receptionist rushed out to his car to help him carry her in. I didn't hear the whole story when he was explaining to the receptionist what happened, but whoever shot her told him that she deserved to die. It sounded like she was an outside dog, so my first thought was that she was a barker and it made someone mad. But based on where he explained the bullet went in and out, it was clear that the shooter was aiming for her heart. Whoever it was really wanted that dog dead.

It made me realize how lucky we were that Ein was only there because of a possible obstruction. He made need surgery for it. He may not. And yes, we spent $600 we didn't really have so that he could be there. But Ein got to come home today, and that makes him luckier than many of the dogs that walk into that hospital. It could just as easily been him there with a gunshot wound to the chest.

We left not long after that, so I don't know if the shepherd mix survived or not, but I'm definitely going to say a little prayer for her and her family tonight before I go to bed.

[HappyDancer]

poor sweet Ein, I will keep him in my prayers...

and the poor shephard I will never understand people, how can anyone hurt any other living creature like that

[corgimom]

I called the vet recommended by the PWCC and the vet IS willing to work with us on a payment plan. It is such a relief to know that if he does need surgery, we can get it done. My biggest fear was having to giving him to the humane society because no one would let us use a payment plan for his surgery.

At the moment, he's doing fine, but I went ahead and made an appt for Wednesday morning (the first day they had anything early enough for me to get to work afterwards). If Ein is eating and pooping like normal by then, we'll likely cancel the appointment, but if he's having any problems, he'll get a new set of xrays and a second opinion on the surgery. If this vet agrees that surgery is the best option, he'll be able to do it the same day.

[Vanilla_Rat]

Poor Ein.He is in my thoughts!!

[corgimom]

He pooped last night! Yay for Ein.

*sigh* I never thought I'd be happy to annouce that a dog pooped, but when you're looking at a possible obstruction, pooping is a good thing. lol

[kathydip]

Yeah!! Doggie poo!!
And I completely understand how happy poo can make you.
Give Ein a big hug for me.

[Angelnstuff]

oh ive no idea how i missed this post, i hope Ein is ok! yay for poop! i think most rabbit owners know the yay for poop feeling quite well.. I hope Ein continues to get well, maybe masssaging his tummy would help the air pockets pass a bit easier? give him big hugs from us! we'll keep him in our thoughts.
Please keep us posted!

[corgimom]

I took Ein to see that vet on Saturday, and we're totally switching over to him for all of our pets. Ein was in absolute heaven. I don't think he has EVER been fussed over by that many people before. No lie, every employee that walked past the open door to the exam room we were in "had" to stop in and say hi to the "adorable corgi". Even the vet himself fussed over Ein and just loved him to bits. He literally said, "I love this dog" and told me that if our other two were as sweet as he was, he couldn't wait to meet them.

As for the appointment, he could not believe that the emergency hospital even suggested exploratory surgery without using barium to do several sets of x-rays over a period of time to see how the air pockets in Ein's tummy were moving because any type of gastro-enteritis (sp?) can cause that. He told me that he's a work-a-holic and is in the office until 8pm on weekdays and 3pm on Saturdays, so he's readily available. He said that if an emergency ever pops up while he's the office to call him first before the Animal Emergency Hospital. He'll squeeze us in and will never suggest anything that isn't necessary and the bill will be much more reasonable, in addition to the fact that he's willing to work out a payment plan option.

Since Ein has been eating and pooing without any problems, he didn't need any followup xrays or anything. The main reason we went in was because his shots were due September 29th and we still hadn't gotten them.

Another thing I noticed while I was there that I liked: The guy founded an animal shelter awhile back. He takes dogs and cats from animal control/etc who need medical care, and then houses them/adopts them out once they are healthy. Well, the people that were there packing the dogs up to go to adoption events were taking the dogs for a short walk to go potty before putting them in the cars. I saw a sign up saying that they were looking for more volunteers to join the dog walking team. I thought it was great that he does what he can to get the dogs out for walks. So many shelters don't do that.

[Angelnstuff]

Sounds like youve found a great vet! im glad Ein is feeling better too

[millie121]

I'm so glad things are sounding better, and I hope Ein continues to do well!

[kathydip]

Oh that is great news! And having a vet that you love is so important.