Ask Me Help Desk - My lab won't eat or drink. What do I do?

My lab started vomiting 5 nights ago, since then she won't eat or drink. I think the last time she had a bowel movement was 3 or 4 days ago and it was more like diarrhea. I took her to the vet and they think she might have something stuck in her intestinal tract. I would not be surprised because she chews on everything. They want to do a barium study ($380) to see if they can see anything stuck, but if they find something, to remove it would require a $1700 surgery. Is there any hope in her passing whatever is stuck without surgery? The last time she voluntarily ate was Thursday and it is now Tuesday. We have been feeding her water with an electrolyte mix through a syringe and yesterday we mixed a prescription canned dog food with water and fed that to her also through a syringe. She has kept that down so we did the same thing this morning. I can't afford surgery. Do I have hope for my lab?

This is a tough one. Partly it depends on just what it is. Some dogs do eventually pass or throw up some things. I don't know if the vets that have the fancy equipment to extract stuff without surgery charge any less or not. You might check around.

I really feel for you and your best friend. I would start begging. Everybody. Pick up the phone. Call every vet in town and work it out, make payments. Some vets actually love animals more than money. See if there is a local fund for catastrophes like this. Sometimes Universities can help. The University of Guelph leaps to mind. Continue with whatever food she'll keep down. Get really worried if you see seizures or other signs that her organs are shutting down. Get her x-rayed. The vet may want to use the barium to dislodge to blockage You might also consider praying, I will. Whatever you do, do it now. Take time off work if you have to. You may not have a lot of time before this gets really bad. I'm praying for her. Best of luck.

If at all possible you should to round up the money for a barium study, this lets the vet watch the flow of the liquid through the digestive tract, this way at least you will know what's going on. If there is a blockage, by this time surgery should be indicatied, blockages can cause altered blood flow to the intestines and virtually can "kill" a whole section, in that case that section must be removed. Also foreign objects can perferate to intestine, which exposes the whole body to a bunch of baddness. If there is no blockage, sometimes the barium coats the stomach and intestine and makes them feel a whole lot better.
Some dogs can pass items that are simply irritating and not blocking, but that is a huge gamble.
Does your vet accept carecredit? (a credit card for medical expenses), trust your vets advice, make calls to price compare or search for a vet who will accept carecredit.

Did the vet take and x-ray of the dogs stomach and intestinal tract? Usually a simple x-ray will show if there is an obstuction. If the vert didn't, ask him(her) to. If they give you excuses and seem reluctant, take that poor animal to another vet,, IMMEDIATELY> Look at it this way... how would YOU feel if you couldn't eat and hadn't had a bowel movement in 4 days??

**UPDATE**

Thank you guys for all your help and suggestions... I thought I would give you an update as to where my puppy stands. Today is the 12th day since she stopped eating... We kept on feeding her through the syringe and she has kept most of it down. She finally had a bowel movement the other day after we gave her a mineral oil enema. She had 2 solid bowel movements, but since then it has been diarrhea. Yesterday her stomach was really bloated. Her stomach was larger than her healthy big brother’s stomach, and she has been losing quite a bit of weight since she has been sick. We found a way to come up with the needed cash to go with the barium study and surgery if the vet can still do it on her. This morning my husband is at the vet with our dog to do whatever it takes as I sit here at work anticipating his call….

I am 18 years old and 1 year old st bernard had to have hip surgery and I couldn't bare to see him in pain so my boyfriend and I applied for a credit card. It's called care credit. It is mostly for people who don't have insurance and it is for vetrinarian help. We applied for it and paid for the surgery with that. The payments are very low monthly and it has 3 months of no interest. You should really research up on it.

**2nd UPDATE: **

Ok, so yesterday the vet took an x-ray. It did not show any obstruction, but it did show several large gas pockets all throughout her stomach and intestines. They didn't want to continue with the barium study because they were afraid that if there were any tearing the barium would be toxic to her abdomen. Then the vet wanted have an ultrasound done, but my husband and I decided that even with an ultrasound she would still need surgery, so we just skipped straight to surgery to keep the cost down. Our vet could not perform the surgery so she needed to be sent to another animal hospital. At the new hospital they estimated the cost to be around $1200- $1400 for an exploratory surgery. After Sadie got out of surgery the vet gave us a call and told us how it went. They pulled out a large portion of a towel and a half of a rubber ball out of 5 different places throughout her small intestine, her colon and her stomach. The thread from the towel had cut her small intestine and created abdominal bleeding which was severely infected. She went into surgery with a 105 degree fever and during surgery her body temperature dropped quite a bit where they needed to warm her back up. They ended up removing 2 feet of her small intestine and had trouble finding healthy tissue to stitch her back up. At one point the Dr. didn't think he could continue with the surgery and he said he was about to call us up to tell us he couldn't help her. He was able to finish the surgery and now they are just working on getting her recovered. Hopefully we will be able to bring her back home with us tomorrow evening… Ya! Because of the extensive surgery the cost is now estimated to be about $2400.00 I am just so thrilled that we were able to get the surgery for her, because now we know with all the complications, there is no way she could have passed the blockage and healed on her own. We have thrown out most of our puppies toys. No more towels in their crates! From now on we have to stick to hard toys like the kong toys that they can not chew up and swallow.

Oh my gosh. I am so happy for you. Thank God she is OK. I know how nerve racking it is to have your dog in pain and how they feel like one of your own kids! Best wishes...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sick_Lab

My lab started vomiting 5 nights ago, since then she won't eat or drink. I think the last time she had a bowel movement was 3 or 4 days ago and it was more like diarrhea. I took her to the vet and they think she might have something stuck in her intestinal tract. I would not be surprised because she chews on everything. They want to do a barium study ($380) to see if they can see anything stuck, but if they find something, to remove it would require a $1700 surgery. Is there any hope in her passing whatever is stuck without surgery? The last time she voluntarily ate was Thursday and it is now Tuesday. We have been feeding her water with an electrolyte mix through a syringe and yesterday we mixed a prescription canned dog food with water and fed that to her also through a syringe. She has kept that down so we did the same thing this morning. I can't afford surgery. Do I have hope for my lab?

Well... I think not.I'm sorry if this breaks your heart.If you have a benefit you might be able to save your lab.that is all I know.