My dog Cairo and his surgery today 5/16/05

Hello Everyone:



Today, Cairo made it thru his long surgery. The poor little guy has been extremely sick for one week.

His symptoms began last Monday 5/9/05.

He was vomiting (sometimes projectile) and could not even hold down water.


He got into a bag of "greenies" and kept on vomiting. The following day, I took him to my own vets who did x-rays and lab work. The x-rays were inconclusive and the lab work was normal.

She sent him home with instructions on keeping him NPO (nothing by mouth) X 24 hours and then if he did not vomit again, we were to begin giving him small feedings and start him on pepcid ac.

He woke up at 4am and vomited in extremely large amounts X3.

The next day I took him to the emergency vets office and he was then admitted.

More x-rays were taken as well as extensive lab work. The same results: Inconclusive. Again, they kept him NPO and started IV fluids.

They sent him home the next day with a diagnosis of: Gastroenteritis.

They began him on Carafate and Pepcid, & Hamburg and rice for 7 days.

Again, he woke up in the middle night with projectile vomiting.

We rushed him back to the vets the next day yesterday 5/15/05 and this time the emergency vet decided that he needed a barium test to see how his stomach was actually emptying.

After the test was completed, it was decided that an EGD Esophagogastroduodenoscopy which is an examination of the lining of the esophagus, stomach, and upper duodenum with a small camera (flexible endoscope) which is inserted down the throat

Should be done to rule out an intestinal blockage. He was placed under anesthesia for this test. When the test was completed, the results showed large amounts of hair (human) as well as dog built up around his entire stomach lining that could not pass thru the intestines. He apparently has had a SEVERE case of ulcers all throughout his esophagus and entire stomach. The doctor said his esophagus was SEVER LY bruised and scraped up due to the greenies, the doctor began giving IV pepcid and IV fluids and it was thought that he would make a complete but long recovery.

Today 5/16/05, I called the emergency vets office to check up on Cairo. Another vet came to the phone and asked if I was Cairo's owner? I said yes and she then went on to say that he vomited a large amount this morning and they need permission (as well as a large amount of cash) to do exploratory surgery because she felt that he had a blockage that the EGD did not see.

Without the surgery, if it were an intestinal blockage, he would die.

My family called each other immediately and we all rushed to the vets to sign the consent form (and give them a large sum of cash) and to see Cairo.

Believe it or not, his spirits were good and although he looked very thin, he was still smiling at us! (He has this very cute smile)

We all cried and gave him a kiss. My husband (Harry) actually cried more than I did. (They have this awesome bond).

Cairo was taken to surgery (for almost 2 hours) and YES INDEED he did have a 6-inch rubber (probable toy) wedged deep into his small intestines!

The vet was very optimistic that he NOW will make a FULL recovery.

Cairo still has to spend 2-5 days in the hospital for monitoring and IV meds but all I can say is THANK GOD he is going to be OK.

We love this little guy more than you can imagine!

It has been an extremely emotional and long week for all of us!



Sue



Copy and paste url to share Cairo:
http://www.dogster.com/?93062

 

Hope Cairo continues to improve rapidly.

 

I pray he does get better that has to be the worst to deal with poor baby!
I cant imagine how hard it must be!

 

Thank you for your kind words.
I am going to visit Cairo today. I shall update everyone on his condition!
Sue

 

Just a question Sue.
I know dogs go nuts over the Greenies, did the vet think the problem with the bruising and scrapes (ulcers) was due to the fact that Cairo ate them all so quick or is there something actually in them...if taken in larger quantities, that is responsible?

Thanks.

 

Hi Deluk:
The vet thought the problem with Cairo's esophagus was "probably" caused because he had gotten into a large bag of greenies. He was sharing some with my other dog Katie and I did not know how many were actually in the bag from the start.
He had vomited so much and the greenies were the large size. They feel that because he kept vomiting and the greenies were going up and down his esophagus and in the vets words "Banging and scratching the esophagus" The ulcers in his stomach probably were caused by all the significant vomiting that he did. I was told that they do normally break down but it was a problem in this case because something else was obstructing the small intestines complicating the problem.

I just got off the phone a minute ago with the vet and asked about greenies in general. My answer was they are not a bad thing and actually are helpful in cleaning dogs teeth.
He said when a dog gets into such a large quanitity as Cairo did they sometimes are not highly digestable and can act as a foreign body and sometimes cause a partial obstruction because large pieces will not break down all the way and make the bowel move very slowly.
This is what they thought had happen with Cairo but when he was not turning around they decided to do an exploratory lap and then they found the true problem a 6 inch rubber toy that was wedged deep inside his small intestines.
I hope this helps.
I hope I explained it correctly too!
My head has been spinning around with all the info they have been throwing at me.

PS, I would love to talk to you about something else in the future,
My 20 year old daughter just got hired as a "Pet Nurse" at Bansfield vet.
She said a pet nurse is a new name for a vet technician.
I know you have a wealth of info to offer her about her new job as a pet nurse.
Thanks,
Take care,
Sue

 

How scary! I'm glad you finally found out what was wrong with the poor guy! I sure he'll make a wonderful recovery now

 

You did a great job of explaining it. I was just a bit concerned that maybe there was something in there that is not good for them in larger quantities, it all makes sense though.....thanks.

 

Well, I just got back from visiting Cairo at the vets. He is doing very well and is acting like his old goofy self again. Thank God!
The vet tech told me that she was actually in the operating room and his surgery took about 1 hour and 15 min. from start to finish.

The amazing results all you KONG LOVERS!!
What they took out of Cairo's small intestines was a big piece of
Kong Dental Stick!!!!!

Kong Dental Stick's unique is shaped to clean your dog’s back teeth. Made of soft, durable Kong rubber, fill with Stuff N Paste for a real treat.

I recognized it right away!!!
So, the Kong was the real CULPRIT! GO FIGURE!!! Yesterday, the vet told me that she thought that because he was a pit bull that the only toys he should really have is KONGS!
BOY WAS SHE SURPRISED WHEN I IDENTIFIED THE OBJECT!!!
I know right away because my daughter who works for PetSmart just bought our pit bulls a bunch of dental kongs one was an aqua color with grooves and that was what was inside Cairo's stomach!!!

I took two new pics of him today with the vet tech while we took him out for a walk.
Go to:
www.dogster.com/?93062

The new pics of him taken today 5//17/05 are at the bottom of his pics!
Hopefully, he can come home either tomorrow or the next day!!!
What an ordeal!!!!!

 

GLAD OT HEAR HE IS DOING so much better, wow, a kong, of all things

honeybear

 

A KONG TOY :shock: :shock:

As you can see I am shocked. I will keep that in mind the next time someone asks me what toys I recommend.

I have to say, from the photos Cairo looks good considering what he's just been through. Hope he's home real soon.

 

Wow..i'll have to think twice about leaving Annie alone with her Dental Kong now... :shock: She can be quite the chewer...glad your sweetie is doing better...he looked like he had a rough time in the pictures..he'll be sooo happy be back home!!

 

I just posted on the other board about my friend who had a pit also had a Kong surgically removed! I came here to check for an update. He looks good! I corrected a lady in a pet store who was pushing the Kongs as INDESTRUCTIBLE!

 

Well, I am on a role. I got our local newspaper to do a story about Cairo and his Kong story.
Here it is:
http://www.warwickonline.com/news/searc ... sp?ID=8350

 

6/14/05 I spoke with a Kong Toy Representative today

On June 14th 2005 at 11am, I spoke with a wonderful representative of the Kong Company.



Our conversation was overwhelmingly positive and I was quite impressed with the company's policies.



Apparently the Kong Company has a policy and procedure protocol in place for specific problems such as the one that my family and Cairo had gotten into.



The woman said that "Kong’s are recommended for intense chewers" and the company will be happy to back the product if it can be proven that the Kong toy was indeed the problem and the Kong used was the proper size for the dog. They also need to make sure that it was indeed a “Kong” toy and not a look-alike toy. Apparently, Kong has a process in place to financially assist customers with problems of such significance when they arise.



The representative is going to send me out the paper work to initiate their specific policy. I never even asked. She immediately began speaking of this policy.



What I am going to need to send to the Kong company is: copies of my veterinarian bills for this particular Kong incident as well as my dogs medical records for this incident. They also will need copies of his regular vet records for the past year. (I also have the actual piece of Kong that was removed from Cairo).



The Kong Company has a third party veterinarian of their own, one that will review the entire matter and then make a decision on reimbursement.



I did tell the Kong representative that my main concern was not to be financially reimbursed (as I feel that I am also to blame for buying him this type of "Dental Kong toy")

I did tell her about my concerns for other family pets and shelter dogs. (We also spoke in detail about using "Dental Kong’s" for dogs with separation anxiety).



We went on to talk at great length about the Kong company's disclaimer and how it may benefit owners of "bully breeds" to revise the disclaimer and at least add on the disclaimer in the future that certain types of Kong toys are not recommended for dogs with strong jaws, but instead Recommend the "Extreme Kong” for pit bull/bully breed dogs.



Anyway, she was happy that I called adding that “Making the company aware of problems is how they can keep improving the Kong toys and keep the toys as safe as possible for the consumers pets”.



Only one negative note, Although The Kong company representative was very informative about Kong toys and policies and procedures but she did make a comment that I quickly corrected saying that “Pit bull owners need to have extra responsibility for their pets”. “They need to inspect their dog’s toys regularly and be exceptionally cautious because "Pit bulls have extremely powerful jaws with LOCKING ABILITY"!!!! (She said, “pit bulls jaws can lock and hold onto a tree branch)”!!

OH BOY!
She was so nice through out the conversation, I did not want to end on a sour note but I did tell her that she herself should do some research about pit bulls.

And I did educate her about the locking jaw myth. Hey what can I say, she was a “husky” dog owner. LOL.





Anyway, overall things went very well and Kong seems to be a good company that will back their products and take the time to listen to feedback from dog owners.

They also do seem to take pride in their toys and I did feel that they also care about their customer’s pets as well.



PS She is sending me out two “Extreme Kong Toys” today!!!





Sue :mrgreen:

 

Sue, that is great news, I am glad you followed up with the company, and they took your claim, seriously and will investigate. I do hope you getsome some financial restitution because you did spend a lot of $$$, and you came very close to losing Cairo