[NAGDU] Virtue is at the Pet ER

[Vanessa Lowery]

Replying to myself. Virtue does have to have surgery which will occur later today (sometime between 10 and 12 noon). I will keep everyone posted. For those who are Seeing Eye graduates and would recognize the name, I have been in touch with Walt Sutton to pass additional staffing information onto him which he will intern pass on to the Vet staff at The Seeing Eye.


Vanessa and the zoo  
Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 12, 2024, at 12:52 AM, Vanessa Lowery <val4dogs at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Well, early Monday morning, virtue threw up. From what I could determine, the first pile was vile. Clean that up. Fed him breakfast. But a few hours later, he threw up breakfast. Did not re-feed him. I put him in his crate most of the day except for the occasions when he would need to go out and park. But then around four in the afternoon, he threw up two more times. Now before I get to the rest of that little segment of the story, I will say that occasionally he would make a bit of a gagging sound as if he was trying to clear his throat. But because it was not something that happened over and over and over, I did not  Consider it to be much of an issue. OK, back to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. He threw up two more times within the space of about two or three minutes. The first pile was again just bile, but the second pile which was larger was  Yucky, thick, foamy, gunk. I called my regular vet, but they didn't have any openings. So I called the Pet ER, and after doing some minimal cleaning of the mess, I got myself ready and off we went. His vitals were fine (pink gums, good heart rate, good respiration rate, and no fever). From what I could tell when they palpated his abdominal area, there might have been a minimal reaction on his part, but he certainly didn't squirm, squeal, or spin around to try to nip at the vet to get her away from his tummy. Nevertheless, they felt that it would be a good idea to take x-rays. It's a good thing that she did, though. Because the vet found some type of material stuck in his intestines. I have no idea what it could be because he's not one to chew on cloth, and he doesn't get soft toys with the exception of his two Waba toys, both of which are intact. but whatever it is has to go. So the first line of attack is that he will be loaded with fluids which will hopefully push things through. But if there's been no successful change by four or five Tuesday morning, he will have to have surgery.
> 
> While I was at the Pet ER, I reached out to Walt Sutton, the class manager who had been supervising the class that I was in when I trained with virtue. He wanted information about the Vet who saw virtue as well as the number and address for the Pet ER. He quickly consulted with one of the Seeing Eye vets who basically shared the same treatment option that I was told about at the Pet ER. So it's now just a waiting game just see what happens. if there is no surgery, it will only be an out-of-pocket expense courtesy of Care Credit of about 2000 or $3000. If surgery does have to be done, it will be an outlet of money courtesy of Care Credit between $5000 and $7000.  Thank the Lord for Care Credit.  I will call the Pet ER around four or five in the morning and then text Walt Sutton with an update. I'll keep everyone posted. Keep me and virtue and the vets who are treating him in your prayers. Thank Thankfully, I do have a kitty cat to keep me company.
> Vanessa and the zoo  
> Sent from my iPhone