The excitement of building Bromley has taken a momentary pause this past week as we had quite an emergency with our beloved future guard dog.
It all started last Wednesday when Kirby started throwing up a bit, progressing the next few days to more vomiting and becoming lethargic. She just wasn’t acting like herself… she was weak, wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t drink much. Roy and I were concerned that she may have had an intestinal obstruction. After multiple trips to the vet, a late night trip to the emergency vet, a second opinion at another vet, and with several x-rays (didn’t show any obstructions), blood work, and stool tests… all we could determine was that our little baby was very sick but nobody could figure out why.
On Monday morning, Kirby went back to the vet and we saw that she had lost 4lbs since Friday (almost ¼ of her body weight! She looked like one of those dogs you always see being rescued by the Animal Cops).. she still wasn’t eating or drinking, and was continuing to vomit frequently. . She was placed on IV fluids to help maintain her hydration. Monday night she was sent home with us (with her IV still in place and wrapped up) and we were told that the IV fluids should help her… but if she threw up anymore in the middle of the night, to immediately bring her back in the morning for more IV fluids. She was fine all night, and we were hopeful. We woke up early at 5am Tuesday to check on her to find her awake and looking pitiful. She then started to vomit…. 10 times in 1 hour. My little Kirby was vomiting CUPS of vomit at a time. We took to the vet (waiting outside the door prior to it opening) right at 7am so she could be placed back on her IV fluids, and then scheduled an ultrasound at a internal medicine vet specialist that morning.
In the car on the way to the specialist. The vet techs were so sweet to Kirby, wrapping her IV in a cute bandage and letting her borrow a fun leopard print blanket.
After a few hours on IV fluids, we picked up Kirby and took her to the specialist for her ultrasound. The specialist took one look at her, did some feeling around on her abdomen, and looked very concerned when a few soft touches caused several bouts of projectile vomiting. We quickly agreed to the ultrasound and after days of crying… I didn’t think it could get much worse. Kirby looked so sick… at this point she wasn’t responding to her name, wouldn’t lift her head, and just curled up in our laps unless she needed to get up to vomit. Our little baby was dying.
I stayed with Kirby and watched as the vet performed the ultrasound. I was beyond shocked when the vet said that he definitely believed Kirby had a blockage in her intestines, and showed me that the beginning of her intestines (before the supposed blockage) was stretched to 6 times normal size! The vet looked at us and said we only had one option: surgery. He was very serious in telling us that she needed emergency surgery or else she would definitely die. He also was rushing us into deciding soon, saying that he wanted to get her into surgery as soon as possible (within 2 hours).
It was a quick decision and after a tearful goodbye, promises of a huge yard to run in, a happy life, and a delicious steak as soon as she felt better – Kirby was whisked off to be prepped for surgery.
Hours of waiting later, we were told that Kirby was out of surgery and doing well. The surgeons had found not one, but two intestinal obstructions! She stayed overnight and was able to come home with us Wednesday night.
These past few days have been wonderful. Kirby back to being herself (a slightly sleepier and much skinner version for now) I've been feeding her teaspoons of food every few hours, she gets pain medication every 6 hours, and antibiotics twice a day. We're so blessed and happy that she's back home and back to being her silly self. At the end of the day, I couldn't imagine having a wonderful home like Bromley without having Kirby rushing to meet us at the end of the day, running around in the backyard, and cuddling with us on the couch. She makes our family whole, is a VERY loved little dog, and I foresee a very spoiled future for her.
Can't wait for her to start regaining her weight back, doesn't she look so skinny!?
She has to wear a cone whenever she sleeps or is alone so she doesn't lick her stitches! Boy does she hate wearing it!
