Hopefully pet owners understand (Dedicated to pets) ??

NOTSHARP · Aug 18, 2023

Not my cat, but a handsome chap.

Steve.

Dan S · Aug 18, 2023

Opus is on the mend, but we had a scare earlier this week. A few nights ago he was drinking copious amounts of water and then promptly regurgitating. He also couldn't hold down food. We took him to the emergency vet, and they diagnosed him with a foreign body in his stomach/small-intestine and said that he would need emergency surgery at the cost of a decent vintage Speedmaster. The surgery was successful, and he is recovering.

The surgeon was able to gently massage the material from his intestine into his stomach, to avoid cutting into his intestine, which greatly reduced the chances of complications. He removed a huge clump of brown gunk, which he described as some fibrous material (he thought it might be a piece of cloth) surrounded by grass. We were curious what had caused all of the trouble, so we carefully teased it apart, and found that it was entirely vegetation (WARNING: PHOTO OF THE GROSS FOREIGN MATERIAL IS SHOWN BELOW.)

I would not have expected that eating grass could potentially kill an 80 lb dog, but the emergency vet said that he sees this pretty regularly and it can be very dangerous. Obviously, not everyone has the means to pay for the surgery, and it sometimes leads to euthanizing the dog. Now we need to figure out how to keep Opus from eating grass, which is not going to be easy.

fiberguy · Aug 18, 2023

My Maya is a grass eater as well. Scary stuff. Healing thoughts coming for your boy.

sxl2004 · Aug 18, 2023

Dan S
Opus is on the mend, but we had a scare earlier this week. A few nights ago he was drinking copious amounts of water and then promptly regurgitating. He also couldn't hold down food. We took him to the emergency vet, and they diagnosed him with a foreign body in his stomach/small-intestine and said that he would need emergency surgery at the cost of a decent vintage Speedmaster. The surgery was successful, and he is recovering.

The surgeon was able to gently massage the material from his intestine into his stomach, to avoid cutting into his intestine, which greatly reduced the chances of complications. He removed a huge clump of brown gunk, which he described as some fibrous material (he thought it might be a piece of cloth) surrounded by grass. We were curious what had caused all of the trouble, so we carefully teased it apart, and found that it was entirely vegetation (WARNING: PHOTO OF THE GROSS FOREIGN MATERIAL IS SHOWN BELOW.)

I would not have expected that eating grass could potentially kill an 80 lb dog, but the emergency vet said that he sees this pretty regularly and it can be very dangerous. Obviously, not everyone has the means to pay for the surgery, and it sometimes leads to euthanizing the dog. Now we need to figure out how to keep Opus from eating grass, which is not going to be easy.

Speedy recovery to Opus.

PlogTinTin · Aug 19, 2023

Out with my Frenchie, Saturday morning in the park.

LesXL · Aug 19, 2023

Dan S
Opus is on the mend, but we had a scare earlier this week. A few nights ago he was drinking copious amounts of water and then promptly regurgitating. He also couldn't hold down food. We took him to the emergency vet, and they diagnosed him with a foreign body in his stomach/small-intestine and said that he would need emergency surgery at the cost of a decent vintage Speedmaster. The surgery was successful, and he is recovering.

The surgeon was able to gently massage the material from his intestine into his stomach, to avoid cutting into his intestine, which greatly reduced the chances of complications. He removed a huge clump of brown gunk, which he described as some fibrous material (he thought it might be a piece of cloth) surrounded by grass. We were curious what had caused all of the trouble, so we carefully teased it apart, and found that it was entirely vegetation (WARNING: PHOTO OF THE GROSS FOREIGN MATERIAL IS SHOWN BELOW.)

I would not have expected that eating grass could potentially kill an 80 lb dog, but the emergency vet said that he sees this pretty regularly and it can be very dangerous. Obviously, not everyone has the means to pay for the surgery, and it sometimes leads to euthanizing the dog. Now we need to figure out how to keep Opus from eating grass, which is not going to be easy.

Glad he is recovering!! Wish you all , the best.

TimeODanaos · Aug 19, 2023

Dan S
Opus is on the mend, but we had a scare earlier this week.

Thanks for the heads-up Dan - I've never had a grass-eater myself and I didn't know it could go that far. Main thing, so glad you could save Opus - and here's to a great recovery.

Dan S · Aug 19, 2023

TimeODanaos
Thanks for the heads-up Dan - I've never had a grass-eater myself and I didn't know it could go that far. Main thing, so glad you could save Opus - and here's to a great recovery.

I don't know why, but all of our dogs eat grass. They especially like to eat the grass early in the Spring, but it continues through the whole summer to some extent. In general, they just pass it, although Max will sometimes throw up a big wad of grass, almost like a hairball.

P.S. Opus is doing better each day. No complications so far.

Dan S · Aug 19, 2023

PlogTinTin
Out with me Frenchie, Saturday morning in the park.

OMG, that is a new level of cute!

Fled · Aug 20, 2023

Giving chilli a cuddle, he is enjoying it honestly

Omegafanman · Aug 20, 2023

Still heads down for a while but old boy had a great set of bloods last week. All stable and doing ok. Had to post this from today…
Young Girls photo shoot interrupted by the red arrows heading back from Southend to Waddington tonight… her face was WTF / guess she won’t be an air show fan…..
.

Walrus · Aug 20, 2023

Couldn’t find Rocky fortunately I checked one of our cars and a tail gave him away. If it’s left open he will get in to investigate. Later he took a walk similar to Maharishi Yogi but lacking the grace of the Yogi

Walrus · Aug 20, 2023

Dan S
Opus is on the mend, but we had a scare earlier this week. A few nights ago he was drinking copious amounts of water and then promptly regurgitating. He also couldn't hold down food. We took him to the emergency vet, and they diagnosed him with a foreign body in his stomach/small-intestine and said that he would need emergency surgery at the cost of a decent vintage Speedmaster. The surgery was successful, and he is recovering.

The surgeon was able to gently massage the material from his intestine into his stomach, to avoid cutting into his intestine, which greatly reduced the chances of complications. He removed a huge clump of brown gunk, which he described as some fibrous material (he thought it might be a piece of cloth) surrounded by grass. We were curious what had caused all of the trouble, so we carefully teased it apart, and found that it was entirely vegetation (WARNING: PHOTO OF THE GROSS FOREIGN MATERIAL IS SHOWN BELOW.)

I would not have expected that eating grass could potentially kill an 80 lb dog, but the emergency vet said that he sees this pretty regularly and it can be very dangerous. Obviously, not everyone has the means to pay for the surgery, and it sometimes leads to euthanizing the dog. Now we need to figure out how to keep Opus from eating grass, which is not going to be easy.

Wow glad he is ok. Those emergency vets cause a lot of animals to be euthanized due to cost. I spent a 50 fathoms on hairy and she still didn’t make it. Wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I didn’t try. I guess the only way I could think of to prevent grass eating is keeping opus (great name) inside but what about hiking? Guess you gotta think about that one.

glad opus is young enough to recover from such an invasive surgery. Long may he rock.

Dan S · Aug 20, 2023

Walrus
Wow glad he is ok. Those emergency vets cause a lot of animals to be euthanized due to cost. I spent a 50 fathoms on hairy and she still didn’t make it. Wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I didn’t try. I guess the only way I could think of to prevent grass eating is keeping opus (great name) inside but what about hiking? Guess you gotta think about that one.

glad opus is young enough to recover from such an invasive surgery. Long may he rock.

Yeah, my wife said that when the vet called her with the news after the ultrasound, he asked her if she was sitting down and not driving before delivering the news. His demeanor was so concerning that she thought the news was going to be even worse, like it was some sort of inoperable tumor. But like you said, I think the cost of this would lead to euthanasia in many cases.

We are fortunate that they didn't have to make an incision in the small intestine, because that would have been even more time-consuming and invasive, and he probably would have been in the hospital for a couple more days. Much higher changes of complications also. The upper-end estimate of the potential cost was almost 2x what we paid, which was already a LOT.

Walrus · Aug 21, 2023

Maharishi Yogi open mouth purr means I’m doing something right followed by separate scratch pads equal amount of catnip still leads to a fight.

Walrus · Aug 21, 2023

Dan S
Yeah, my wife said that when the vet called her with the news after the ultrasound, he asked her if she was sitting down and not driving before delivering the news. His demeanor was so concerning that she thought the news was going to be even worse, like it was some sort of inoperable tumor. But like you said, I think the cost of this would lead to euthanasia in many cases.

We are fortunate that they didn't have to make an incision in the small intestine, because that would have been even more time-consuming and invasive, and he probably would have been in the hospital for a couple more days. Much higher changes of complications also. The upper-end estimate of the potential cost was almost 2x what we paid, which was already a LOT.

It wasn’t that long ago hairy passed so I still remember my trips to the emergency vet. I spent 6-8hrs each time, I recall being annoyed they only had one vet on duty with the prices they charged. It was late night visits like after midnight so I guess it’s excusable, kind of.

Since I was there so long I had conversations with the other people there for pet emergencies. Most of them dogs but a few cats. I think the saddest was talking to people who had to make the decision to put their pet down due to the cost. To the others I mentioned I was up to 5 figures with hairy and most of the people waiting had hit that amount.

The saddest part was the young kids crying. It’s hard to say something appropriate for in that situation to a young child but they were saying sorry about my kitty so I needed to say something. Just a bad time all around but part of pet owning. Always a bummer to talk about in such a thread of general happiness I’ll end it with a cool picture of hairy, I have like a bazillion of her on my phone just gotta find them. Ah found sooper, hairy and Baxter, all spent time at the emergency vet. Damnit.

sxl2004 · Aug 21, 2023

The emergency vet thing is a fine balance of disease, age, general health performance status and unfortunately cost. very sad situation all around.

Archer · Aug 21, 2023

Dan S
Opus is on the mend, but we had a scare earlier this week.

Very glad to hear that Opus is doing better. We have been there - this is what they took out of Remi's stomach a few years ago...

He does like to eat leaves, and Maeve eats grass. We do our best to keep it to a minimum, but it's very difficult to reduce it 100% as they can be quite sneaky when grabbing it on a walk!