One last update about our dog

[Deleted]

I found out some more information today.  My parents use the same vet and one of their dogs is on an antibiotic, and the vet called my mom today to check on him.  My mom mentioned that it was his daughter's dog that he saw yesterday.  He actually gasped, said he was so sorry, and that he had never seen anything like it before.

Apparently, when he opened him up, he saw intussusception of the intestine in two different places.  He said this is also called telescoping, because it is the intestine folding up like a telescope.  He says the severity of it was rare, and extremely unusual that it happened in two places.  I remember when he was talking yesterday he used a medical term that was "severe something or other" and I couldn't remember what it was, and I was just so in shock that I didn't ask questions or anything.  I assumed that it was something related to the bowel leakage like an infection.  He said that in addition to the telescoping of the intestines was the small perforation and the leak of the bowels.

He said that Wiggles was a very, very sick dog, and that what happened was a rare freak thing.  He said he didn't even know the cause of the telescoping and that it was a strange situation for him to not show more serious symptoms until he was so severely ill. 

As much as it sucks to know that my dog was so sick, it also makes me feel less guilty.  I googled intussusception, and it's often caused by a tumor or an unknown cause.  I haven't seen anything saying that it can be caused by ingesting something.  While the perforation was probably from something he ate, there was something else that was going on as well.  It sounds like it truly is no one's fault and it was just a horrible thing that happened to him.

Someone asked why an ultrasound wasn't done.  Most vets around us don't own an ultrasound machine.  Ours has someone who comes into their office for scheduled ultrasounds, but not one to use for an emergency.  I know this because my mom had a dog who needed routine ultrasounds, and I also used to work at a local vet's office and all they had was x-ray.

The vet thinks that the problem had progressed beyond correction by the time Wiggles even started showing symptoms, though, so even getting an ultrasound once it was clear something was wrong would probably have done nothing.

I know some people had questions so I thought I'd just post this new info that I found out today.  It seems weird because the information is horrible, but I feel relieved to know that it's unlikely that there would have been a different result if I had done something different.

ETA:  Ugh.  I just read that it can be caused by a piece of plastic, bone or wood.    So there goes that theory.  Still, that same article says it's rare, is most common in puppies and kittens, and needs to be caught quickly because the tissue begins to rapidly die.

[iamgrace]

I'm sorry.

[purrbox]

I'm sorry your pup had to be put down, but at least you guys gave him a great 2 years of life longer than he would have had otherwise.

[underwaterrhymes]

I'm so sorry.

[snickers]

I am very sorry

[TrickyBob]

I know was a giant bitch to you in your original thread but I'm really sorry this happened. I know you did what you could and I know you took your vets confirmation of it being nothing as it being nothing, you couldn't foresee that he'd find something like that.

[Deleted]

Jul 10, 2013 19:33:37 GMT -5 luckydog said:

GET OFF GOOGLE

Yeah, I've gotta stop. 

[Deleted]

Jul 10, 2013 19:04:18 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

I know was a giant bitch to you in your original thread but I'm really sorry this happened. I know you did what you could and I know you took your vets confirmation of it being nothing as it being nothing, you couldn't foresee that he'd find something like that.

I don't even remember what you said other than I didn't like it, so we're good.   I appreciate this. 

[isabel]

I'm really sorry about your dog. It was great of you to take him in and I'm sure he had a happy life.

[karmasabiotch]

I'm so sorry. Whatever happened was out of your control. Stay off Google. Hugs...