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Old March 22nd, 2017, 02:48 PM
renkma renkma is offline
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Unhappy Foreign object=IBD or Colitis in Chihuahua????

Sorry this is so long. My darling little girl Gumdrop has been under the weather. It all started 1st week of March. My large dog ripped up a soccer ball. I cleaned it all up and threw away the ball and all the bits but must have missed a piece - or Gummy stole it behind my back. She ate it. I had no idea!! It must have got wedged in her somewhere for a while but didn't block off her digestion. For a week and a half she just wasn't herself so I brought her in for a checkup. I had them give her full blood work and fecal check. She had no fever, no vomiting, no diarrhea. Everything checked out perfect. We were sent home with an acid reflux diagnosis and she was on Pepcid. 2 days later she showed me distress after having a bowel movement. I brought her back in and they gave her X-rays. There was some"thing" two inches from the end of its trip through her. I would see it soon. There was also slight inflammation in an area of her small intestine. We were sent home with Metronizadole and instructions for easily digestible foods and a bit of pumpkin to help her constipation (her poops were regular - just very firm).
So three hours after getting home she had a huge poop and passed the offender - a piece of that soccer ball. It was huge!!! 1" X 3/4" and 2/16" thick. It's a miracle that this got through her!!! My almost debilitating guilt, horror and self loathing for having looked away from her for two seconds while she stole that piece, took off and gobbled it up out of my sight, aside ... I know this is all my fault.
But it made it through her, is now out, and she is hopefully recovering.
She was on the Flagyl for a week and was back to her 100% giddy bouncy little self. Then two days off the meds and she again was passing very firm stools and showing distress (bowing posture and laying down repeatedly over and over). I called our vet and she is back on the Metronidazole again. The diagnosis is chronic colitis. Third day back on the meds and she is pooping much better and is feeling better .. But not 100% yet.

Sigh... Please don't bash me for being to blame for this - believe me I am punishing myself everyday and will for the rest of my life for this. I am just wondering if anyone else has/had a dog that had a foreign object pass through their dog and then had to treat for intestinal inflammation - and if so, how long did it take to heal ... Or is the irritation it caused going to cause her digestive upset for the rest of her life??? 😢😢😢😢😢

Thank you all
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  #2  
Old March 22nd, 2017, 09:41 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Are they sure there isn't another piece of the ball coming through? Any unexplained gas pockets in the x-rays? Sigh...sometimes it takes a while to work everything through.

But, if it is just residual irritation, there's no reason to think that it would be a permanent condition. We've had dogs show some intestinal distress for maybe a week or 10 days after ingesting a no-no, but it's always healed with time. The only exception was Evan, who actually had IBD and developed pica because of it--he had chronic intestinal inflammation, but it was from the disease, and what he ate only aggravated the existing condition. The weird things he ate didn't cause the disease itself.

And don't beat yourself up. Dogs are persistent and eating things is instant gratification for them--you can only do your best to keep them from eating inappropriately, and you just have to accept that at some point, the little stinkers are going to succeed despite your best efforts.

I hope Gumdrop is feeling better soon!
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Old March 23rd, 2017, 12:48 AM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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I too would worry that there might be more of the ball stuck in there.

The metro is for the gut inflammation, and it seems to be helping. It can have nervous system side effects so they don't like to use it longer than they have to.

The constipation could be from the inflammation and things not moving through the digestive track. Fresh ground flaxseed can often help with that.

You will want to do some "gut rehab", which would involve things like probiotics (i've had good luck with mercola's pet probiotics), as well as other things that are healing for the gut, like the herb marshmallow and also l-glutamine. You might have to tinker to find the right protocol for healing for this particular dog.

Best of luck, gut issues are no fun.
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Old March 23rd, 2017, 09:24 AM
renkma renkma is offline
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Hazelrunpack HELLO!!!! I know I met you here but didn't cross my mind that you might reply to this so wonderful to hear from you. And thank you for your encouraging words.

Maxalisa thank you so much for your kind reply

I just talked to Gummys vet with concerns and he put my mind at ease. He is very sure that there is no obstruction and no perforation. He is confident that the problem is inflammation caused by overgrowth of bacteria caused by the foreign object as an irritant. He also assured me that the dose of metronidazole is small and he has no concerns of it causing her any adverse effects. He says if she is still off in a week we will go for an ultrasound but really wants to give the meds a chance.

The thing is, she's up and bouncy and happy one day, a little off the next morning after a movement, then bouncy and happy again that afternoon. It's a roller coaster. And because she isn't consistently off, had no vomiting, no diarrhea, no fever, clean blood work and fecal, etc... Doc feels she just needs a bit more time to heal. I have to believe him. He's an awesome vet and hasn't steered me wrong in the 20 years I've known and gone to him.

I guess fear just gets the better of me.
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  #5  
Old March 23rd, 2017, 08:02 PM
renkma renkma is offline
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Just an update:

Today wasn't great, but this afternoon was better, and this evening she gave me a huge, perfect poop!!! I know it's weird to be proud and delighted over our babies poops, but she made me so happy. Then she came in and played for a while.

It's a small victory but I'll take it. Hoping for more soon.
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Old March 23rd, 2017, 10:30 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by renkma View Post
Just an update:

Today wasn't great, but this afternoon was better, and this evening she gave me a huge, perfect poop!!! I know it's weird to be proud and delighted over our babies poops, but she made me so happy. Then she came in and played for a while.

It's a small victory but I'll take it. Hoping for more soon.
It's not weird at all about being happy about your pet taking a healthy poop after being ill. I will text my daughter when my dog has a good poop after being ill . That is great news , hurray for healthy poops !
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Old March 23rd, 2017, 10:35 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Ha! That's great news, renkma!! Glad Gumdrop had such a good poop and wanted to play a bit!

And Hello back! Yes, I hang out here, too.
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