# Peyton has an obstruction :(



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Well after 3 years of raw feeding, I am dealing with my first obstruction. Peyton has a large chunk of sharp-edged chicken bone lodged in her intestine. The vet says that it's small enough that food can still pass by but it's definitely stuck in there. Now before we all go pointing fingers at raw feeding, I'd like to point out that I haven't fed my dogs chicken in 48 hours, so unless it's been in there for 2 days just working its way in there when last night she felt perfectly fine, it's also possible that this is a cooked chicken bone that one of my dumb neighbor's kids threw over the fence. She's currently on IV fluids at the clinic hoping it _might_ flush the bone through but very doubtful, but they said she's a little dehydrated so they wanted her on them for a little while before the surgery while they run all of the preanesthetic tests anyway. 

And anyone who knows me knows that I'm just freaking out right now thinking I may have caused this and I could kick myself I'm so upset. Stupid lead tech at my clinic (where I also work) asked me, "Why are you crying? She's gonna be fine, dogs eat bones all the time!" Apparently I'm either totally overreacting (I can't stop crying), or she just doesn't love her dogs as much as I do. Either way, for those of you who believe in it, please pray for my baby to be okay or just send good healing vibes her way.


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## tansox (Jun 22, 2011)

I understand why you're crying and I'm with you 100%. Peyton will be in my prayers tonight. Let's hope it passes through her system.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

In my 9 years of raw feeding and reading literally 100s of 1,000s of posts on boards like this, I have only heard of one dog that had a bone stuck in his intestines. How do you know its stuck? If there are no signs of distress from the dog, I would wait a couple of days and x-ray or ultra sound again and see if it has moved. Has your dog had normal bowel movements? If so, there hasn't been a bone stuck in there for 48 hours. Again, without symptoms, I would wait a while and check again. Was the bone seen on x-ray or ultrasound? I suspect very much that someone has made an erroneous assumption in this case. The lead tech is right, listen to her. I'd like to see how many bones the dogs on this list have eaten over the years. :smile:


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> Either way, for those of you who believe in it, please pray for my baby to be okay or just send good healing vibes her way.


Done. Poor little Doberlady!

I'm going to go with the dumb neighbors and their cooked chicken bones. Are you having her treated at the office where you work? How do you know it's chicken? Is she a stick chewer? You should definitely take a look at whatever it is when it comes out - hopefully through the back door and not surgery.

:sad:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

did peyton have an x ray or ultrasound? is that how they saw the bone?

if not, i'd get that done first to make sure it's a bone and if it is small enough for food to pass through, what's to say the bone won't pass...?

i've never dealt with an obstruction before, so just asking.....

peyton is in my thoughts.....


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

Sorry to read this. Poor little thing! Awww! Hope it wasn't your goofy neighbors doing this! But heck don't we all have them! I wonder what the thrill is and why they are thinking throwing cooked chicken bones over the fence is acceptable behavior ~MORONS. They are just doing this to be mean~ I think. They seem like (sorry but they do) ROTTEN people! Hate those types. Keeping a good thought about Peyton and hope all goes well for her.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

My thoughts are with you both! But all will turn up well, she's a tough girl! And don't feel guilty because you don't know for sure. Even still, you shouldn't blame yourself for feeding raw, there is not a single 100% safe thing to do in this world. 

Keep us posted!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Poor little lady! I got your text this morning and immediately thought "Oh No, she'll be a wreck today!" I would be, too!
I doubt it is a result from raw feeding, but hey, it could be. Anything is possible. Cooked bones from a bbq would be a prime example of what USUALLY causes these kinds of issues, and this would be the first true raw chicken bone I've ever heard of creating an issue. 
There is some merit to what Bill suggests... especially if there's normal stools and no signs of distress. But, then again, I'm sure SOMETHING made you check it out so I imagine something is wrong. 
It's very very easy for all of us to sit and tell you not to stress it. I think any one of us would be nervous if it was our dogs, though.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks everyone! The main reason I even knew she had an obstruction is because she was extremely lethargic this morning, so I decided to palpate her abdomen (I've seen enough foreign bodies come into my clinic to know what the symptoms are) and she screamed in pain. I immediately called my clinic and they told me that if I was worried I should come in. I did, we took x-rays while I cried the entire time I was there (gee that's a shocker). After we got her all hooked up on her fluids the main vet on the case told me to go home and comb my yard for any remaining chicken bones. Which is silly because obviously my dogs would have eaten them by now if they were there but I did it anyway because I needed to get out of there and still had an hour before my shift started. 

Anyway, the surgeon today is a vet I definitely trust so when I got back to work to actually work this time, she said I wasn't allowed to watch Peyton's surgery which was fine with me. And my other vet gave me a really distracting case to work on instead during the operation. 

Super long story short, the surgeon vet, Dr. Schroeder, told me that the sharp-edged part of the chicken bone had been starting to poke into Peyton's bowel, so the whole area was very angry and inflamed, there was some fluid built up behind it and a little fluid starting to build up in the abdominal cavity so I'm extremely happy I decided to go ahead with the surgery rather than let her perforate and go septic. Money well spent, I'd say! 

Oh and both of my vets agree that the bone could not have been in there for more than 12 hours, so that made me feel even better knowing it wasn't me or the raw feeding that had caused the obstruction in the first place! Although sadly, my Doberbaby has to stay at the clinic for another night or two on fluids so I can't cuddle with her. She probably wouldn't want me to anyway, she's pretty sore. But when I left (extremely late tonight), she was sleeping soundly all snuggled up in blankets with some Buprinex on board to ease the pain. 

I asked the surgeon what Peyton would need to eat during her post-op recovery and she told me exactly what I expected to hear: Iams Low Residue. Barf! (none of the vets at my clinic know I feed raw) I told her that Peyton has a very sensitive stomach so if it was possible for us to just feed her chicken instead, I'd really appreciate it, but of course the doctor has the final say while she's still staying there :tsk:

And tomorrow, I will go have a very polite conversation with my neighbors about being very sure that they never give my dogs chicken bones again. 

And for your viewing pleasure:

Here is what came out of her tummy, it's on a 4"x4" piece of gauze so you can kinda tell how big it is 








And here is a close-up


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

you chose wisely and well for your dog...good instincts and i'm glad she's going to be fine.....whew.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Wow! I am go glad that Peyton is all better, and that bone is out of her system!I would have a SERIOUS talk with your neighbors, including a copy of that vet bill, and let them know if they don't stop throwing things over the fence, the next one is on their tab!
Now, post-op healing vibes to that pretty little dobergirl!


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

I'm glad Peyton's surgery went well! I would have been a wreck too. 
My co workers do the same thing- the why are you so worried about nothing comments. I really think they are trying to be helpful. I don't think they realize how irritating it can be to have your feelings dismissed.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm so relieved Peyton's going to be alright as well. You did very well picking up on her symptoms and acting so quickly. I think thanks to you she had the best outcome possible for that type of injury. Hope she recovers quickly!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Glad to hear that she's on the mend! 

That's definitely a cooked chicken bone. The color is wrong for it to be a raw one. Any raw bone pieces I've seen come out of a dogs colon are still white like the way they went in. Further evidence that raw wasn't the culprit.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

That's a giant bone. So glad it's out.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

How scary! You had great instincts....lucky Peyton to have you! I am sending healing vibes your way!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

DaneMama said:


> Glad to hear that she's on the mend!
> 
> That's definitely a cooked chicken bone. The color is wrong for it to be a raw one. Any raw bone pieces I've seen come out of a dogs colon are still white like the way they went in. Further evidence that raw wasn't the culprit.


I'm glad you said that because while I'm not a vet or tech, something told me that was the wrong color for a raw bone even if it had been sitting inside a doggeh for 12 hours. And the clincher was the way it was "broken" off...that's not how raw bones break off.

Rachel, great job at paying close attention to your dog, performing a simple test and getting her in to the vet quickly. GREAT job. You saved that little girl a whole mess of pain and agony because of it. Always go with your gut, always. So glad to hear your puppers is going to be ok.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I'm glad everything turned out ok. If that in fact is a cooked bone, I'd have a serious talk with the neighbors, I'd probably throw a fit!


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Ahhh, that bone isn't cooked... it's CHARRED to death. 
You really should take the bone and the vet bill to your neighbor when you go have that conv.

Had to have been real scary finding out it was an obstruction .


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i'm glad you said that, natalie....not that i ever wish this on my dogs, but at least i'll know the difference...thanks.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks you guys! Peyton was doing so much better yesterday! She was giving me kisses and got moved to a bigger kennel cuz she kept wanting to stand up and move around a little more. Not that she can move too much on IV fluids, but at least she can stand up without having to duck! The vet is going to try feeding her today, and if she doesn't vomit and her temperature stays normal, I think she will be able to go home with me tonight!!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

such wonderful news.....we need more of this.....dogs recovering...yay!!!

i bet you're ecstatic.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

I am stoked! And my vet just called me back and said that Peyton is doing wonderfully! She is active and happy, he took her off of the IV fluids and she nearly bit his fingers off to eat the chicken he offered her (yay, he actually listened to me and gave her chicken instead of Iams Low-Residue!)! I don't blame her since she hasn't eaten in two days! Her temperature is normal, her incision looks great, her abdomen is no longer painful upon palpation, and he says she can go home with me tonight :biggrin: I'll be so happy to have my Dobergirl back in my arms again! 

Thanks again all of you for your support, I really appreciate it!

Edit to add: I will be picking up some Primal chicken and turkey grinds for her to eat over the next week or so while she recovers and slowly wean her back on to PMR if she's doing well. I'm so glad there are options like that out there. I'd do just regular ground chicken and turkey but I want her to get bone content so she doesn't have loose stools/diarrhea the whole time.


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