$208 and Three Hours in the Emergency Room

If it had not been Kelly (3 abdominal surgeries in 5 days when she was 8 months old after eating a pair of pantyhose) I might not have been so quick to rush her to the vet last night.

At about 6 PM I heard someone yelp in apparent pain. Based on where it came from it had to be either Kelly or Babe. But when I looked both were lying in the corner quietly.

At 6:45 it was feeding time. When Kelly headed into her crate she began SCREAMING in obvious extreme pain. No caught foot, no obvious injury and it stopped after about a minute. She seemed subdued but anxious for her food so I gave it to her.

She ate it, but instead of 15 seconds, it took her about a minute to wolf it down. Then she would not lie down. All my dogs stay kenneled after they eat for at least half an hour. Kelly just stood in her kennel. After about 10 minutes I let her out so I could observe her.

She walked to the center of the room, put her head down and just stood there, not moving. Obvious discomfort. Of course I checked her stomach. No indication of bloat at all. It was soft and not distended at all.

Suddenly she starts screaming again. We are talking as if she were being MURDERED. Then goes back to just standing there. Would not lie down. After the third screaming instance (which is EXACTLY what she did when her intestines perforated) I rush her off to the ER.

As soon as we got there the vet tech palpates her abdomen thoroughly, checking for signs of bloat or torsion. Nothing. we have no further screaming instances. She still won't lie down. At one point she fell asleep in the waiting room standing up and fell over. At that point they take her back to the treatment area and put her in a cage so they can watch her closer until the vet can examine her. They say she never lies down at all over the next half hour.

We finally get into an exam room. The vet tech and the vet both examine her thoroughly. Palpate her every which way they can. Manipulate all her legs, her neck, even her tail. Nothing. Temp is normal. They advise me to take her home and watch her. I ask to have her x-rayed which they do. It takes about 30 minutes to get ready for the x-rays, she still never lies or sits down.

We take two views and the x-rays show nothing other than a very full tummy and lots of "matter" (not necessarily foreign) that is waiting to come out. A small pocket of gas in the colon but nothing unusual at all. But by this time she has finally laid down and gone to sleep in the corner.

The only other thing they can suggest is blood work but they think I should wait until morning.

I bring her home and she seems fine. Sleeps all night, drinks well. No vomiting. Mo screaming episodes at all. Very excited for her breakfast and wolfs it all down in 15 seconds. This morning first thing out she has a nice sized poop with absolutely no foreign matter in it.

Other than when Kelly's intestines perforated a year and half ago, I have NEVER seen a dog have repeated bouts of INTENSE blood curdling screaming unless they were injured. But when her intestines perforated that was accompanied by projectile vomiting, high fever, dehydration etc.

I think she had gas. Or maybe a pinched nerve in her neck.