Here we were, late Saturday night at the clinic. Ms. T was there
with her little 9-month-old puppy, Marvin, who was very ill. He
hadn
’t eaten in two days and now he was vomiting.
Here we were, late Saturday night at the clinic. Ms. T was there with her little 9-month-old puppy, Marvin, who was very ill. He hadn’t eaten in two days and now he was vomiting. Ms. T was visibly upset. She worried about her little companion, and rightfully so. His eyes told us he really felt lousy.
I asked her a few routine questions about Marvin, something I do during any exam in the clinic. An owner can help their veterinarian with answers to some simple questions … what we call a clinical history. It helps zero in on the problem.
I asked Ms. T if Marvin liked to chew on anything around the house or yard. She laughed, and told me he was nicknamed “Mr. Hoover,” a shameless reference to the vacuum cleaner. In his short life, he had consumed newspapers, socks (he preferred dirty ones), plastic bags, the rubber handle of a screwdriver, and various plants in the backyard. I palpated his stomach and he groaned as I squeezed a firm swelling in his small intestine. We took some radiographs (X-rays) and confirmed our suspicion.
Marvin, or “Mr. Hoover,” had an intestinal foreign body … an obstruction. He was a very sick dog.
Some dogs, and especially some puppies, love to chew on anything. Cats are less likely to do this, but kittens cannot be trusted. (Remember Sunshine, the “exceptional” kitten who swallowed the Volkswagen O-ring gasket?) In many cases, these so-called foreign bodies can pass through the system, albeit with some discomfort. But sometimes, the only answer is expensive surgery to remove the blockage.
As it turned out, Marvin had eaten part of an old chair. The cloth covering and cotton stuffing had become lodged in his small intestine and his gastrointestinal tract was distended and painful. He was bloated and in danger of going into shock.
We performed surgery that evening, an enterotomy removing the foreign material from his intestines. He was hospitalized with intravenous fluids, pain medication and antibiotics. Three days later, Marvin went home happily wagging his tail and looking forward to some home cooking.
Ms. T asked me whether or not he might have learned a lesson from his illness. Unfortunately not, I told her. And I related some of my experiences with Pebbles, our English Bulldog.
Pebbles was the consummate junk-eater, the Olympic Champion of scrounging. She would pick up almost anything to taste it, and rarely found something she didn’t like. She usually swallowed everything. And as a result, she suffered innumerable stomach upsets throughout her life. Yet she never lost her desire to “try” something new.
One day she was particularly ill with classic signs of a stomach upset. Her condition worsened as the day wore on, so I decided to take her to the clinic for treatment. Pebbles was a very sick girl, hardly able to even get up and walk.
As it turned out, a branch of our peach tree had broken and she had eaten some ripe peaches that were on the ground. Fortunately for the both of us, medication helped her pass her obstruction … five peach pits … all at one time. The look of relief on her face was obvious. She felt better almost immediately, fortunately without the need for surgery.
But did she learn her lesson? As sick as she was, I thought she would never eat peaches again. Ah, but no such luck. The next morning I caught her underneath the same tree eating a small peach that had fallen from another branch. And there she was, waiting for more to drop. Without my intervention, she would have had another stomach ache in no time.
If you have a “Hoover” dog or cat, you have a special challenge. Keep temptation away from your pet. Don’t let your cat or dog eat anything other than his or her food. Bad eating habits are dangerous, even life-threatening. And they be can be very costly.
It was two years ago this month when Pebbles developed heart failure and left us. She was only 8 years old. Time has passed quickly, but we still miss her very much. She was a good friend, a great dog, a wonderful companion, and the source for many stories. I’ll always remember how lucky we were to share our lives with her.
Pete Keesling is a veterinarian at San Martin Veterinary Hospital and co-hosts Petpourri, a weekly show about pet health on KTEH in San Jose and a bi-weekly column for The Times. If you have any questions about pet care, please mail them to The Times, Attn: Vets, 30 E. Third St., Morgan Hill, CA 95037.
