Gunnar is sick

This morning Gunnar was not acting like his usual self, he was lethargic and didn't want to do much. I left to bring my son to school and run some errands. When I got home he didn't bark, he didn't do his usual dance of joy and he wouldn't take a treat from me. His ears are pinned back and he is acting as if he is in pain. He did vomit up some bile mixed with grass. Hopefull it is just an upset tummy and not a blockage. He is being seen in one hour at the vets. Please keep him in your thoughts.

As if that wasn't bad on it's own I had to bring my sick Chinchilla in to the vet yesterday. My pocket book is so completley tapped it's not even funny. Normally I budget extra money for emergency's but our car was totaled last Thursday and we have been having to pay for a rental car because the insurance only covers 20 a day and of course the payoff for our car isn't coming for a few more days, by the end of the week i should have 6,500 but until that comes I am broke as a joke. Hopefully it won't be anything terribly serious but if it is hopefully they will extend me a bit for the payment.

Good luck with everything and hope the Gunnar is okay.

I sincerely will say a prayer for Gunnar to be ok. (((HUGS))) let us know a.s.a.p.

I am hoping that Gunnar will be all right. You're both in my thoughts. Please let us know.

Awwwwwwwww ...please let us know !!!!

poor poor Gunnar! Let us know

It's not good news. Gunnar has wire in his intestine and is currently awaiting exploratory surgery. I don't know how I am going to come up with the money right now either. I won't have to pay until they send him home, most likely on Friday. Hopefully our car insurance check will come. They will be moving him to an emergency after hours clinic for monitoring tonight after the surgery and then tomorrow morning I will pick him up and bring him back to his vet office. They said it will cost 300 for the ER care which I have to pay for upfront and then it will be between 8-900 for the surgery itself.

Please keep my guy in your prayers. I will keep you updated when the vet calls after he is out of surgery.

O nooooo! Wire??? Have you been able to figure out what he got into? These are those unforeseeable things that it is so hard to be prepared for financially. I hope everything works out and it's great that they are doing the surgery right away. If you explain the situation, I bet they can give you a reprieve til your insurance check comes in... A lot of vets are now accepting something called CareCredit: http://www.carecredit.com/patients/whatis.htm Check to see if you qualify for that and if your clinic accepts it!

Oh NO! Poor Gunnar I hope his surgery goes smoothly and you find a big wad of money in a coat pocket you haven't worn yet this season. I have a friend whose vet let her pay for emergency surgery in installments. Keep us posted.

Oh, Adrienne! Poor Gunnar . . . Good thing you pay attention to him and understand him so well. Keep us posted. You know we'll be worrying!

Thanks for the support and tips. I did apply for the credit care card and got approved for 500, my grandma can lend me the rest for the surgery until the check comes for the insurance. My mom is being kind enough to lend me the money for the ER care until Friday which is pay day.

We are very good clinets at our vet clinic, my whole family brings our animals there so they have about ten dogs they treat in my family. In addition all my other pets go there as well. They usually require a deposit for the surgery which they waived.

Thanks again guys. Will keep you updated. He is still in surgery to the best of my knowledge.

My thoughts are with you and Gunnar.

I hope he has a speedy recovery and that life perks up for you.

Please keep us posted!

Aww, poor baby! I'm wishing you the very best of luck with the surgery! He and you will be in my thoughts!

A-w-w-w poor Gunner. I will keep him in my thoughts that he makes a good recovery. He's one lucky dog that you are the kind of owner to notice things like that and really pay attention. It could have been worse. The wire could have perforated his intestines and that could have been curtains for him. I'm sure he's in good hands and glad that you have the financial part of it workable. Let us know how he comes along.

Surgerys done

Well, there was some good news and some bad news. The good news is that they found nothing at all in the stomach or intestinal tract and all of his internal organs are in great shape. The vet did say his gallbladder was very full and he did aspirate it but the bile inside was normal and he is not sure why his gallbladder was full.

All of his bloodwork came back normal as well except his platlets are down a little. His white cell count is normal which means no infection present and the vet was not overly concerned about the platlets.

The vet also felt that he did not need to go to the ER after-hours clinic due to the fact that he did not actualy cut into his bowels, I would assume he just palpatated everything, he said he went though twice which is why the surgery took so long. I asked if he thought there was any possibility, because we don't know the etiology of what is actually wrong with him that he might take a turn for the worse overnight. He said based on the surgery and the blood tests he does not feel he needed to be monitored overnite. I took what he said and made a tough decision, I said he could just stay there overnite because the extra $300 would be hard to come up with. I feel a bit guilty about that but with two kids, Christmas and birthdays coming and the vet stating he thought it was uneccesary I took the chance to save a couple hundred.

He said that they would maybe have taken a biopsy as they sometime do when they don't find anything to see if it is bowel disease but because of the condition of the bowel, the sudden onset and also the lack of vomiting he didn't need to do this.

The bad news is that we opened up our dog for a "white elephant" as the vet called it. There was no trace of a wire anywhere so it must have been an issue with the two x-rays they took. Had they not seen anything on the x-rays in the first place he would have just run the blood tests and sent him home on painkillers. Now on top of the pain we don't know why he had he is in pain from the surgery. At least he is doped up for the night.

Thanks again for the kind thoughts and I will let you know how he is tomorrow morning when the vet re-evaluates his condition.

WoW! How strange that it looked like wire on the x-ray and turned out to be nothing... I would be pissed off about that! Poor Gunnar. Wonder why he was feeling so sick, then...

Definitely keep us posted. You're doing great!

The XRay part got me too !!! Did they show you them ?? Poor Gunnar and you to have gone though this !! I'm not one to cause " issues " , but if their machines and readings were wrong ...I sure would be mad a H#ll ! I have always put my faith in my vets ....this would bother me. Give hime a Graamy loving !

OMG! Poor Gunnar. Exploratory surgery is so painful and for nothing I hope he recoveres quickly. Give him hugs for me.

Honestly I don't think they should charge you for the surgery. Are they being apologetic??? I know you and your family have a good relationship with them. I feel they should be bending over backwards to help you guys right now...

poor Gunnar!!! wow, I agree that I'd be kinda upset with them. I hope Gunnar makes a fast recovery, and I know you'll be giving him extra special loving care. keep us updated. ((hugs))