says he's fine. He vomitted tiny puddles yesterday, so I took him to our vet. The vet said x-rays were not needed. He performed a physical exam on Milo and said he seemed like a very Happy and Healthy dog. He suggested 10mg of Pepcid twice a day with a treat.

We forgot to crate him last night and found him sleeping in his favorite spot on the guest bed. There was a substantial (1 foot) puddle of vomit. His food looked like sand and the treats were not digested at all. I put him in his crate which is usually the only time he'll bark if we're in the house. He's been very quiet. I must go off and drive my kids to school.

Do I call the vet? I'm slightly annoyed that they didn't do the x-ray. I'm paniked that this will cost thousands.

HELP :confused:

If your vet didn't do an x-ray, I would be looking for a new vet

It would be dependent of a few factors, if the chicken wing bone were raw (then no worries) as it is still plyable and flexable, If the wing was fried, baked, etc.. Then the bones can become brittle, with sharp edges.. this however is a double edged sword.. Being that it is so brittle it was more than likely chewed and broken into little pieces that will naturally pass your dogs system without any negative effect.. if it was just swallowed.. it may be an issue..
In all likelihood after about 12 hours it would have passed anyway, and if your pup vomited, your probably in good shape.. The issue with the cooked bones is sharp edges, not upset tummies.. could be the grease caused the vomit.. but again it more than likely will pass..

The dangers of chicken bones are not to be discounted. It is possible your vet doubted she had the teeth and jaws to crush them into dangerous shards. Most often careful observation is enough. My friend didn't do more than talk to the vet staff when her very valuable dog guide breeding stock Lab ate a big chunk of fried chicken. Most often the dog digests or passes the chicken bones with no trouble. This doesn't mean they haven't killed many dogs. It is a serious thing, and calls for quick action at the first sign of trouble.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trippsdad

If your vet didn't do an x-ray, I would be looking for a new vet

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Milo as a person growing up in rural south I saw many people just throw out any kinds of scraps to their dogs... including chicken bones... I have even heard about dogs eating so many cooked chicken/ beef /pork bones that their stool became impacted in them and they died... (Back when I was growing up we had very few vets... mainly for the cattle) and the old farmers just tried home remedies and left it the rest up to fate. But thankfully things have changed for animals and continue. My point for even answering you post was to let people know about the stool impaction( paws and labman handled the choking part) and also to say that whenever my family has a meal that consist of meat with bones we always put the bones in a bag and take it directly to the trash. Never can be too safe.. I am not trying to suggest that you did anything wrong or unsafe for your puppy, I can see that you are a very caring pet owner.

I don't discredit the original Vet for his exam. I am sure he palpated the abd, and found at the time he saw the dog, there was no clinical signs to X-ray. However as time passes and the clinical signs have changed I am sure he will find radiographs indicated. I say this with many other factors in mind, cost to owner, time of ingestion, physical exam of attitude, along with palpation of the abd. Some may say well she was more than willing to pay what ever the costs, awesome, but this weighs on owners as time passes in the history of the owner/practice relationship ages. We as vets do consider all these factors as we are involved in such cases, and these things yet unsaid do come into the whole picture. If for instance the dog just ingested the bone, there is most likely more than just the bone in the stomach. This has a greater chance to see nothing more than a full stomach with trace amounts of bone fragments witch isn't always help. Now you have spent your money with no more answers than you walked in with. I can go on in more defense of the attending vet, but he has in my experience followed the book.
The case changes when the patient begins vomiting. I would then ask the owner if I could keep the dog to perform a barium series to ensure we don't have an obstruction or cause for an exploratory caused by good ol chicken bones. Once again you hear me say, smaller the dog the bigger the problem. I wish you luck in your findings, or hopefully nonfindings.

If the dog's behavior changed like that and he is vomiting with very abnormal stools I would definitely get a 2nd opinion - aka take him to a new vet about this ASAP to get an x-ray. Most vets will let you do a payment plan if the visit costs too much - also consider going online right now and signing up for PetPlan health insurance. As long as you only report the records from the new vet, you could get the x-ray or any surgery - even the whole visit covered in full.

Ps it costs less than $30-month for PetPlan! Our Rottweiler has a heart murmur and had to get 2 eccocardiograms - they were fully covered. Thank god my boyfriend is such an overprotective "father" or we would be out thousands of dollars