Search for the Banana Peel

So, here's Daisy's tummy after her exploratory surgery yesterday. 

Monday she ate a peel that Iain left outside. Not all of it, but half or so. That evening she was whining a lot while lying around. After three days of vomiting, diarrhea and no eating or drinking, I took her to the vet Friday afternoon when she was barfing yellow-green stuff and hiding behind the couch. I was scared the peel was stuck.

Glen thought it was a bug.

Dr. Ebert did an xray, which he showed to me, and it indicated that her intestines were trying to work something through them but it wasn't happening. Next came a barium swallow. After this rested in her stomach for over an hour without moving, Dr. Ebert felt certain that her cecum (area where stomach transitions to the intestines) was plugged with the peel. Thus, our only option was for Dr. Ebert to open her up and take it out. I called Glen to tell him that it was the peel stuck in her gut. (Not gloating, mind you -- surgery was not something I wanted for this dog.)

So, he opened her up and found . . . no peel.

(sigh)

But, he did find that her lymph nodes were greatly swollen and her intestines were inflamed. Then he thought she might have Parvo, and had the tech check her records to be sure she was properly vaccinated. Yes, she was.

I asked him what he thought was wrong with her, and he said some nasty virus -- a bug -- had worked her over good. So why didn't the barium move? The dr. said (in layman's terms) it was because her GI tract was in such an uproar that her system slowed way down and wouldn't dump stomach contents .

So, he kept her overnight and gave her fluids because she was badly dehydrated (you can see her leg was shaved where they put in the IV), and then kept her all day today to observe her, to be sure she was keeping down food that she ate. I picked her up at 6:30 p.m. today, and she's doing well, albeit sore and tired.

My husband did me a big favor and did not gloat, either, when he heard it was a bug, after all. (Not even after he saw the vet bill.)