Callie is back home. The vet said what Callie had was not a classic bowel blockage, but a swollen lymph node in her stomach. Why the lymph node became inflamed, nobody seems to know. The vet said she had only seen two other cases in her career, both involving three- to four-month-old puppies. She said it shouldn't happen again.
Because the lymph node was swollen and Callie was in pain, the vet said, the dog had eaten some sand and little stones. Those showed up on the x-ray. The other dogs with the same condition had done the same thing.
The dog's pain got a lot worse when the swelling and the sand and stones all formed a blockage in her stomach. That's when she started moaning, groaning, and whimpering. Also, her bowels were full of air, so she was having cramps. The vet said this condition is much more painful, actually, than the standard intestinal obstruction.
Callie will be on antibiotics for a week and she'll have the stitches out in 10 days. She'll have to take 5 doses of antibiotics a day until then. But she should start eating normally in a day or two. She did a crotte this afternoon on the lawn out behind the vet's office, and everybody praised her lavishly.
Good news, ouf! I bet Callie was glad to see you and Walt today.
ReplyDeleteThat is great news! I hate to hear about animals in great pain. If only they could speak English/French and let us know what is wrong.
ReplyDeleteSO glad to hear it - you (and your vet)did a good job of explaining something that sounds complex. Hope those antibiotics have already kicked in and she is on her way to a quick recovery. Does she have one of those Elizabethan collars to keep her from picking at her stitches? The hardest part is keeping them quiet once they feel better. Bonne chance!
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I am so relieved! Now the challenge will be getting her to behave like a "patient" and not a puppy. Nothing like a little scare like this to demonstrate how attached you've become to Callie (as if you hadn't already noticed!
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