Glad Josie is ok. Hope you are getting some sleep now. Never a dull moment anywhere in the world, is there. So glad there's a good emergency vet near you.
Ugh, that's the worst! Good for you guys that you had a plan already laid out! We also got to experience a Portuguese emergency vet a couple of months back, and we had a similarly wonderful experience and paid a similar bill...
Maui does not eat everything he sees, thankfully, but he does have a fondness for certain delicacies such as hair scrunchies and socks... and with a tween around, it can be dicey whether or not such items are always appropriately kept inaccessible or to be found haphazardly left on the floor or within easy reach on a chair. And one night, around 2am, out of the blue, he started whining, roaming around the apartment, and vomiting/retching -- and that contained some fibrous material. It was pathetic and rather scary. He would try to curl up and then within seconds stand up again and walk aimlessly, like he was in pain and couldn't get comfortable. He has had GI issues on multiple occasions (including giardiasis twice, which we think has made him more susceptible to GI upset) but nothing like this. I became nearly certain he had eaten a scrunchie or the like and had the dreaded, potentially fatal, blockage.
Restraining panic, with the time now ~3:00am, I had to Google to find the nearest 24h vet and was relieved to find one close by with stellar Google reviews. I called them first, crossing my fingers they would speak English -- of course, this is Cascais, and they did. I described his symptoms and they had us bring him in (I would have insisted!). When we got there, the guy asked if we had the dog that had eaten glass... That provided a reality check: Things could be worse!!! We said no glass, but probably he had eaten something unidentified. Long story short, they did a very similar exam to your vet, including the X-ray. While the X-ray did NOT show a blockage (massive relief), it did show a lot of backed up, er, material in the bowels, mixed in with multiple, visible-on-X-ray gas bubbles. So basically, nothing life threatening but the guy was indeed in a lot of discomfort that explained his behavior. They gave him an anti-gas injection while we there, meds to take home to ease his symptoms (and one prescription), and sent us home with instructions to return if he didn't improve. He did - he was all better the next day. Our experience with that vet was so good that we might make them our primary vet, even though there is one closer that's also good.
Anyhow -- well done to be prepped for the worst. After that affair, it did make me realize that we needed to also figure out our nearest human ER -- just in case, BEFORE we need it!
Glad Josie is ok. Hope you are getting some sleep now. Never a dull moment anywhere in the world, is there. So glad there's a good emergency vet near you.
It's always lively, for sure.
Oh goodness, poor Josie. I'm glad she's recovered.
I'm so glad Josie is doing better. Poor darlin'.
Ugh, that's the worst! Good for you guys that you had a plan already laid out! We also got to experience a Portuguese emergency vet a couple of months back, and we had a similarly wonderful experience and paid a similar bill...
Maui does not eat everything he sees, thankfully, but he does have a fondness for certain delicacies such as hair scrunchies and socks... and with a tween around, it can be dicey whether or not such items are always appropriately kept inaccessible or to be found haphazardly left on the floor or within easy reach on a chair. And one night, around 2am, out of the blue, he started whining, roaming around the apartment, and vomiting/retching -- and that contained some fibrous material. It was pathetic and rather scary. He would try to curl up and then within seconds stand up again and walk aimlessly, like he was in pain and couldn't get comfortable. He has had GI issues on multiple occasions (including giardiasis twice, which we think has made him more susceptible to GI upset) but nothing like this. I became nearly certain he had eaten a scrunchie or the like and had the dreaded, potentially fatal, blockage.
Restraining panic, with the time now ~3:00am, I had to Google to find the nearest 24h vet and was relieved to find one close by with stellar Google reviews. I called them first, crossing my fingers they would speak English -- of course, this is Cascais, and they did. I described his symptoms and they had us bring him in (I would have insisted!). When we got there, the guy asked if we had the dog that had eaten glass... That provided a reality check: Things could be worse!!! We said no glass, but probably he had eaten something unidentified. Long story short, they did a very similar exam to your vet, including the X-ray. While the X-ray did NOT show a blockage (massive relief), it did show a lot of backed up, er, material in the bowels, mixed in with multiple, visible-on-X-ray gas bubbles. So basically, nothing life threatening but the guy was indeed in a lot of discomfort that explained his behavior. They gave him an anti-gas injection while we there, meds to take home to ease his symptoms (and one prescription), and sent us home with instructions to return if he didn't improve. He did - he was all better the next day. Our experience with that vet was so good that we might make them our primary vet, even though there is one closer that's also good.
Anyhow -- well done to be prepped for the worst. After that affair, it did make me realize that we needed to also figure out our nearest human ER -- just in case, BEFORE we need it!
I've been very happy with this product- it does a great job - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079J267D9?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Thanks for the suggestion!
Wow! That's scary stuff! I'm so glad it worked out alright!