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canine intestinal obstruction surgery complication

dh88
January 14th, 2008, 09:17 PM
My otherwise very healthy and strong 9 yr old dobi/pit x had an intestinal obstruction removed almost a week ago. The vet thought his chances were good.

I took him home and he's drinking but won't voluntarily eat. The sutures on his abdominal incision are intact but he began seeping a tremendous amount of fluid through them. He drinks eagerly but can't keep up with the fluid loss.

The vet and I both thought he hust have had some sort of perforation or leakage through the intestinal sutures. Not seen at all on xray series done with radio iodine.

When he gets IV fluids; he's almost his old self. He's putting up a real fight to live here but when he starts drinking and I try getting him to eat even baby food; it seems like the fluid just pours out after 1-2 hrs.

There are more signs of peristalsis and I've been gently massaging his abdomen after feeding him his little baby food jars. He has no abdominal tenderness.

His fluid loss is like the fluid in his peritoneum simply pours out. Enough to soak a dishtowel or several paper towels at a time. He keeps trying to drink enough but gets severely weak after 24 hours at home and has to go back to the vet. They did an exploratory 2 days ago and said the intestine looked pink and very healthy.

I live in Alaska and the only vets in town have never seen this. I've done animal rescue for a good 20 years and have never heard of anything like this.

Any Ideas? I'm pretty desperate here. The vet is trying to consult with vet internists but I haven't heard anything thus far.

Thanks!

luckypenny
January 14th, 2008, 09:50 PM
I wish I could give you some helpful advice here...All I could think of is to have the vet do another exploratory. Perhaps they missed something the first time around :shrug: . Can they test the fluid to make certain what it is? Perhaps it's coming from elsewhere? Where exactly is the incision? Could they have accidentally punctured another organ?

I really hope the vet finds out what's wrong. :fingerscr that he pulls through this quickly. Please keep us posted.

dh88
January 14th, 2008, 10:12 PM
They did another exploratory today and couldn't find anything. It seems the instestines look even healthier than before and show a little more peristalsis. They can't find any kind of leak anywhere.

He's staying at the vets tonight. I'm a little scared to take him home again as twice he's done the same thing. He drinks eagerly and starts pumping ot fluids seemingly faster than he can take them in and dehydrates and gets even thinner.

Do you know of any other websites like this to post vet type questions?

luckypenny
January 14th, 2008, 10:25 PM
Do you know of any other websites like this to post vet type questions?

No but you can google online veterinary help. From what I've seen, most sites charge. I'd be afraid if the sites weren't legit though.

Can you call a 24 hour teaching vet hospital? I can try to get you some numbers quickly. It'd be here in Canada (Universities) and would be long distance but I don't think you have much to lose just to try.

Another idea, may sound strange but...can the vet do some type of exploratory by going in through the incision rather than the intestines if this is where the fluid is escaping from?

dh88
January 14th, 2008, 10:46 PM
The exploratory is through the abdominal incision. You don;t want to re-open anything in the GI tract if you can avoid it.

I'm searching for university #'s between checking chat responses. I guess great minds think alike. :) Many don't like to give any kind of advice over the phone but since I am in Alaska; I can usually get people to make an exception.

At least I have a vet in town! Many places in SE AK don't.

rainbow
January 15th, 2008, 01:58 AM
Oh my....your poor dog. :sad: :grouphug:

I don't have any advice but just wanted to wish you the best of luck. :pray: :fingerscr :fingerscr :goodvibes: :goodvibes: