Swallowed Foreign Body?

[vjui]

Asking for your best thoughts and wishes for my girl, Frappuccino. Monday we noticed that she was eating very slowly. Usually she dives into her food and doesn't come up for air for all of the 30 seconds it takes for her to finish her meal. Tuesday my DH said she vomited half of her breakfast. We were going to the vet on Wednesday anyway for a dental cleaning so the vet took a look at her. Plain films of her abdomen showed a lot of food in her stomach. He recommended re-taking the films on an empty stomach, so this morning we went back for new films before breakfast. The new films were much better: her stomach definitely was more empty, but there was still a grey blob in the middle of her stomach that was questionable. Consultation with the radiologist today could not rule out a foreign body. So, tomorrow they are going to do a barium swallow/upper GI on her.

 

She seems to be fine now: eating without any vomiting, although I haven't fed her a normal size meal yet. No fever. Poop seems to be relatively normal, just smaller (because of smaller meals?) Could it have been that she was simply hot (temps here in S. Ca were only in the 80's unlike the rest of the country..)

 

I am praying it is not a foreign body. Does that mean sugery or at the very least endoscopy (under anesthesia?) If you have any experience with this, I'd love to hear your stories.

 

Thanks.

[silverfish]

If there's a grey blob that shouldn't be in the stomach it's unlikely to be heat related. But the good news is that foreign bodies which remain in the stomach do the least harm, especially 'blob'-shaped ones. It's when a sharp or irregularly shaped foreign body passes out of the stomach into the narrow gut that problems can quickly escalate. So unless she swallowed something toxic (a battery, for instance) the op to remove it should be simple, and she should heal well.

 

Good luck!

[Guest greytbookert]

I have no advice, just wanted to send good thoughts.

 

Several years ago, our Mama Ro decided that eating pea stone was a yummy treat. We took her in for xrays ( I was a little paranoid) the films showed the pea stone and over the next day, she pooed them out. It was an interesting sound listening to the stones dropping out. It wasn't just one or two, it was more like 3 or 4 handfuls. She ended up being just fine!

 

Sending a few more good thoughts for you and Frappuccino!

[kudzu]

I would guess it is likely to require surgery. Anything big enough to slow passage of food in the stomach & hang out in the stomach rather than move on would seem too big for a vet to try removing it via a scope, no? We have no experience with surgery for foreign bodies but did have a dog who had both stomach surgery & a barium swallow, though in the reverse order your dog is having. My dog came through the abdominal surgery, minus his spleen & some of his stomach, with flying colors. That really says something when you consider he was deathly ill from bloat & torsion when he went into surgery. Within 24 hours of surgery the boy caught both the vet & I off guard by trying to jump into my truck as soon as I opened the back. We caught him in mid-leap. It did take a week or so before he was acting fully himself. Bad news was that then we had to keep him calm & quiet while his body caught up with his enthusiasm. Am trying to remember the progression but believe he was on special hi-cal, low volume, canned food for a few days. Moved to more standard soft food for a while longer & then we started transition back to regular diet. We started with many small meals each day but it wasn't long before he was getting just 4 & then only 3 meals/day. I think it was a month or more before we got back to just 2 meals/day. It was several months though before we let him go back to all his normal activities & 6 mos before we resumed dog sports like agility. My guess is that this cycle would be similar for other stomach surgeries but in a more compressed format with quicker recovery time.

 

Years later had to have a barium swallow. Again, he made it seem like no big deal. He had no problems or complications from his unusual meal. And again that says something since he had laryngeal & pharyngeal trouble affecting his swallowing.

 

Hoping there is nothing in there but if it is, hopefully it will decide to hang out in the stomach, making removal easier. Sending good wishes for a greyt outcome to this situation. Please update us on what happens.

 

ETA: Just adding this for the record so no one starts worrying about Greys & bloat. My dog who bloated was a Komondoodle. Well, actually an ILP Komondor of unknown ancestry. The shelter had him listed as a Std Poodle. So not! Here's a gratuitous pic to give you a smile in the midst of your worry. Imagine coming home to find your partner had adopted one of these:

Edited July 29, 2011 by kudzu

[Guest Trackerbee]

Hi-My grey Josie went through exploratory surgery last summer, results-lodged cat nip mouse. We figure it had been floating around in there for about 2 months. She was on and off sick, not eating, vomiting bile, vomiting food, diarhea. She would have these bouts, but in between was her happy bouncy self. When she started having accidents in the house we knew something was wrong, but it still took 3 vets visits, 3 sets of xrays and an appointment for an ultrasound (which never was done, she ended up in surgery the day before the appt) before it was pin pointed as a foreign object. It was just bouncing around in there, when it couldn't be vomited up then the diarhea started, but once that ended the poops were solid again. It was all very confusing for both of us. She came through surgery with flying colors, with the vet staff taking bets on what the foreign object would be. She stayed at the hospital for 3 days and then was released under crate rest and 6 mushy food meals a day because she not only had outer stitches, but internal as well. She was an excellent patient and didn't even need an e collar as she stayed away from the incision. Keeping her activity level low was a challenge but she is doing fine today and the cats no longer have many toys:)

Good luck with Frappuccino and if I can answer any questions I would be happy to.

[Batmom]

When Joseph had his foreign body incident, I was advised that surgery is almost always preferred to scoping; among other reasons, you don't know that you'll actually be able to get the object back up the scope, there are some damage risks that you don't have with surgery, and in surgery you can closely examine the entire digestive tract. You really want to look at all the innards if you have a dog who has eaten foreign objects -- there may be some in the stomach, some in the intestines, pockets of infection, etc.

 

Joseph came home from surgery (stomach opened and sutured; entire bowel examined) same day, started small canned I/D meals next day. IIRC I gave him light meals (not full feeding) for 2 days, then full amount he needed broken up into 3-4 meals for several more days, then 3 meals/day of I/D until @ 2 weeks after surgery when he got his stitches out. Then back to regular food. I used a muzzle with some tape on it to keep him from picking at his stitches and kept him quiet (leash walks only) and off the stairs and sofa for that time. IIRC I restricted his activity a bit for another week after the stitches came out. I was perhaps overly cautious. He was a strong young dog and did great. He did have to pee @ 6 hour mark overnight for the first few days -- either due to all the fluids he'd received or possibly some soreness/swelling of internal parts after all that manipulation.

[beledi]

Good thoughts coming your way.

[packmom]

Agree that an undigestable object would not be too bad. We thought that was what Cooper had last summer but the x-ray showed something much worse.