Blooze

Well, after coming home at lunch today and Rufus wouldn't eat his lunch, I became suspicious. He did doodle in the yard a couple of times, and when I was checking I noticed that some from yesterday had rocks in it. He drank well at lunch (ate a big breakfast too-although slower than normal) so I let him be for a couple of hours till I brought the kids home from school. By that time he wouldn't eat or drink and seemed a little listless, so I started calling the local vets to get him in (ours is closed on Mondays and the emergency vet doesn't open until later in the evening) and finally found one that would take him. I got him in early this evening and my suspicions were confirmed. He had a BIG rock lodged in his small intestine. Must have been about the size of a ping-pong ball, plain as day on the X-ray. By this time it was 8:30 or so and the vet said she'd do surgery this evening or early in the morning after she examined him better. He wasn't dehydrated much she said, and he had only vomited once right before we took him to the vet. He was in good spirits except for looking a little tired and was very cheerful greeting everyone at the Dr's. Hopefully the surgery will go without incident and he hasn't done any damage to himself otherwise.

Everyone please say a prayer for our "little" 8 month old Rufus who doesn't know he's not supposed to eat everything he sees. We don't know what we'd do without him.

On a side note, I think we will be ordering one of the Italian Basket Muzzles for him since he's shown a liking to rocks now, instead of just mulch, twigs, and everything else.

Rusty Stickers Mom

I can sympathize. Rusty swallowed a rock several years ago and it was also lodged in his small intestines. He was feeling alot of pain. That was the strongest clue something was wrong. He was very uncomfortable. Here is a photo of his rock and his incision. They considered it an emergency surgery and took him in immediately. Thankfully none of his intestinal tract was compromised. A slow recovery though. Sending healing drool his way.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b323/Boo...ie/100_1299.jpg


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b323/Boo...ie/100_1302.jpg

Blooze

Just an update on Ruffie. We talked to the vet at noon today and she said he had surgery at about 11:30 last night to remove a walnut sized rock lodged in his small intestine. He's on IV fluids/antibiotics and is resting well. He has no problem peeing as he does it everytime someone comes near she said, which sounds like him. They're going to try an introduce some water and soft food later today and tomorrow and see if he goes for it and how he fares if he does. We may get to bring him home in a couple of days the vet said, when he starts drinking and eating.

Update: stopped by and saw him and he was quite anxious to get out of the kennel. When he realized we weren't taking him with us he turned his back to us and wouldn't even acknowledge our presence. Snubbed me like I was the one who made him eat a rock! The rock was a smooth quartz rock that we're pretty sure is out of one of my wife's plants and not from the yard. Weird thing is that he was messing in there about a month ago and we put it up well out of his reach then, so he may have had the dang thing in his stomach for a while and showed zero symptoms, except for maybe the teaspoon of white foam he was yacking up every morning about 1/2 hour before his usual feeding time (which I still think may just be coincidental).

vb3

Glad to hear he is ok. We thought Rosco had a rock in his stomach at one point, but it turned out to be a dandelion he ate that made him sick.

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www.jowlsoffury.blogspot.com

lvnMattie

Wow!! I hope Rufus is doing ok. It just seems like a rough experience. Mattie has never chowed down on a rock. Hopefully she never does. I hated spending the night away from Mattie, I can even begin to think about spending several nights without her, knowing she was at the vet.

Blooze

We got to bring Rufus home last night. He was one happy puppy to be back at the house. He was stiff and sore, but moved around pretty good I thought and his sutures looked good. They didn't fit him with an e-cone, because they thought it would drag the ground and get caught on everything with him, so we're going to have to watch him and make sure he doesn't chew, or scratch. They told us to keep him on a bland diet of chicken and rice, broth, chicken noodle soup and the like for at least 5 days. We decided it would be best to do it till he gets his sutures out and split his normal food volume into 5-6 feedings a day for that time as well plus an antibiotic once a day. And of course no jumping up on things or stairs which is going to be hard. Our living room is sunken with a couple of steps, so he's going to be banished to his crate or the dining room/kitchen area for a while. It will be harder on us than him!!

Thanks for all the well wishes.

Beverly Anne

Oh my! That's a heck of a story! I'm glad he's feeling better and here's hoping for a very speedy recovery.

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Francis's Bevy

Mikey T

Having know a couple rock eater (non-bassets) it is the only sure way to control it when without causing undue stress on the dog. The only problem is the general public, who imeadately assume muzzle=dangerious dog.

BubbaLeroy

This is Bogie Carter, our rock eater, wearing his Italian basket muzzle. We call him our
little hockey goalie. He has had two surgeries for blocked intestines from eating rocks.
When ever we are in a rocky area, he wears the muzzle. Whenever we meet people I
immediately say, "He's not mean, he just eats rocks!" They then come over to pet him
and we get into some very interesting discussions.

I'm so glad Rufus is doing OK. The vet suggested rolling a towel to go around Bogie's neck
to prevent him from bothering his stitches. It worked great. We just duct taped it into the
roll, and then used string to tie it to his collar to keep it in place. He could still eat, drink, see,
etc. but not get to his stitches.

Bogie the day he came home from surgery.

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You don't own a Basset, a Basset owns you!!
Aroooooos from Bogie !! - Trumbull's Who's Teasin Bogart CGC- Born April 21, 2005
ATB: Bubba - (Trumbull's Surley It's Stormin Norman) Sept. 8, 1998 - Dec. 20, 2005

Rusty Stickers Mom

I was so grateful to Connie for posting that photo of Bogie with his "homemade" collar. I used that idea for Rusty and it worked well. Even my Vet was impressed