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beach chick

My poor Ozzie seriously ill

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prayers please fellow Omleteers - Oz is in hospital :( sorry, this is a bit long.

 

long story... on Saturday I gave him a lamb bone (raw, leg, so quite chunky). he never usually has bones, but I'd got the butcher to butterfly a leg of lamb, and as I had to pay for the bone anyway suddenly thought the dog could have it - stupid...

 

I got called away, came back 15 mins later to find he'd eaten half of it. removed the rest, thinking 'flipping greedy Labrador'. he threw up violently on Sat night, was sick again Sun morning, so I starved him for the day, thinking his tummy just needed a rest. Mon he was quiet but OK; yesterday wouldnt eat at all and was very quiet - been drinking water throughout though - so took him to the vet first thing this morning. she took one look and said off to vet hsopital now, working on the assumption a bit of bone had blocked his gut.

 

so, that's where he is now. just as soon as I got home this morning (30 min drive) the vet called to say they'd already taken blood and he is VERY anaemic - 17% red blood count when it should be 35% minimum and was there any chance he had eaten rat poison? I dont think there is, but had a look round the edges of the field and couldnt find any - we dont use it, most neighbours have dogs, in fact never seen any sign of a rat.

 

they then did ultrasound and had to sedate him for an x-ray. these are both clear - no sign of bits of bone or blockage of the gut; also no sign of any cancerous mass. he's had pain relief and is on a drip for rehydration, and is still wagging his tail at anyone who goes near, bless him.

 

more bloods being done later to see if red blood cell count has changed. if they have fallen he will prob need a blood transfusion. some bloods also gone to an outside lab for analysis which will take 2-3 working days. they will also assess poo and pee to see if he is losing blood that way, or if his body is not making enough or something.

 

it seems as if the bone thing could almost have been a 'lucky' coincidence, if he's seriously ill at least he's in the right hands but I am so worried about my gorgeous, loving Lab! the vet is the same one who did Arthur's leg, so I do trust him, and I know the senior partners are involved as well, but just hanging on til the next phone call which prob wont be til after 6pm is awful. bill already £600; if he needs a transfusion it will be several hundred more. and no, he's not insured - I will have to pay in instalments - not that that matters, as long as he comes through ok and assuming it is something identifiable and curable.

 

I cant believe it - on Saturday I had a fit, healthy 4.5 yr old Lab and now he's on a drip and so poorly... :(:(

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Poor poor Ozzie (and you with all the stress). I seriously doubt it had anything to do with the bone, like you said it is likely to be coincidence. My dog always loved the lamb bone after Sunday lunch - it was her treat.

 

I hope he is back and jumping about again soon xxxx

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Fingers crossed for your little man!

On a positive note, I have friends with a lab who collapsed in a seemingly very similar way a couple of months back, she was fine one minute, then not the next. She was admitted to hosp where she was on a drip for 24 hours or so, she had bloods taken etc which were all inconclusive (i think her white cells were raised?). A couple of months on, she is fine, no idea what the problem was, the vets were somewhat baffled, but hopefully it will be the same with Ozzie, one of those worrying things which will go away in time?

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just had 20 mins on phone with the vet. still anaemic, but stable so same level as yesterday. they think the bleeding is coming from the upper gastro-intestinal tract, where there is also a very small bit of bone showing on x-ray (smaller than a thumbnail).

 

next stage is a gastroscopy which will let them either remove or crush the bit of bone, or identify whether there is any kind of ulcer/wound causing the bleeding. because of the anaemia he needs blood on stand-by, so vet is trying to find a local donor dog, in which case op today, or else get blood couriered from national pet blood bank, in which case op tomorrow.

 

alternative is to do nothing for 2-3 more days to see if the blood count comes up by itself but the risk with that is that if there is an ulcer it will/can perforate, which then becomes a life and death situation.

 

there is this whole mystery as to whether it is related to the lamb bone, or that is a red herring...

 

so I have given the go-ahead to the gastroscopy and waiting to hear back whether it will be today or tomorrow. in the meantime they have all fallen in love with him because he's such a good boy - even let them x-ray him again today without sedation - and my house is very empty...

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one of the nurses is bringing her mum's dog in in the morning to act as stand-by blood donor... bless her, that alone will save us about £350. pressie for nurse, mum and dog in order I think.

so op tomorrow, wont hear again tonight unless his condition gets worse. every time the phone rings my heart jumps.

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