He was out on a 'nature walk' and that troublesome nose of his discovered some frozen piece of porcupine! He devoured it... attempted to anyway. I wasn't there but heard about when they came home. He ran off with it in his mouth and no amount of shouting did any good. He threw it up but my hope is he didn't swallow it... that is to say, he didn't get a chance to get it in his stomach. My hope is the quills didn't get past his throat before he chucked it up.
We didn't know it was porcupine at the time. He was gagging alot, not throwing up but trying to get something out. After several attempts on my part, I was able to get my fingers well into his mouth. I felt something and with the aid of a flashlight and hubs, we discovered a quill stuck in the roof of his mouth. Great, just great. Got it out but the gagging, choking thing continued after he ate his supper. The emergency fee before they even see the dog is over $110 and we struggle with waiting until tomorrow and hoping to find a vet appt. on a Saturday. After a bit, I tell hubs we can't wait... he's probably in pain and we can't risk worse consequences. Off we go!
Emergency call to the vet, a half hour drive to the vet , big bill from the vet. She was able to get her fingers down far enough to feel something. Sigh... We had to leave him there where he was sedated, then anesthetized so she can get down his throat and get that nasty out. I hope there's no more. If there are more further down, an x-ray won't show them, an MRI will or they take a scope with a camera lens and go into the stomach. I pray it won't come to this.
We love that dog.
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What a disaster! I see we're not the only ones to spend exorbitant amounts of money on our pets.
ReplyDeleteI hope he's okay now, without further costs to you. Poor little guy - he must be feeling very miserable.
Colby is home now and while he's been somewhat lethargic, he's back to his bouncy, barky self. There was one quill lodged in his thoat.... a $230 quill!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that he didn't get any of the carcass past his throat. Hubs said he ate it, hurled it, picked it up an ran off with it. I'm hoping he only tried to eat it and gagged it up once those two quills pierced his mouth and throat. On the upside, if there is one, the carcass was that of a baby porcupine so the quills are not quite as deadly.
Meanwhile, we keep a close watch on him. And... he has to lose weight. He's too fat!
Poor thing!
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks for the post. I wouldn't even know to watch out for that sort of threat. And with our Aussie moving with us to the farm this spring It's something I'm glad to be aware of.
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