Dog having x ray today

[RosieLig]

He's been unwell for a a couple of weeks, perked up with a course of antibiotics but has gone downhill again.

He's being x rayed today to see if he's swallowed anything. He's a chewer of sticks.

I feel so bad for him and worried if we're going to have to cancel our holiday to France on Saturday(he's supposed to be going to a local dog sitter for the week)- can't even bring myself to pack as worried about my poor puppy.

Fingers crossed it's nothing - when will you know the results?

Thanks. I'll know later this pm. He was so unhappy going in- he hates the vets.

Handholding. or [long cool drink]

I was in a similar position two years ago. My dog, also a stick chewer (although we never let her have them) suddenly stopped being able to eat or drink. Vet checked her over and couldn't find anything at first and she went downhill quickly.

Turned out she'd chewed up a stick that had fallen into our garden and somehow the splinters had made their way through her oesophagus and into her neck - creating pockets of infection along the way. She needed an op to clean out all the infected pockets and then a couple of courses of strong antibiotics.

Like you, we were due to go away on holiday (with the dog) a week later and thought we would have to cancel, but within 48 hours the op she was a different dog. We were able to go away, but we had to keep her off the beach until her wound was completely healed. We had the stitches removed and wound checked by the local vet while we were away and by the end of the holiday she was able to come on the beach with the rest of the family.

I hope they find it's something equally as fixable and your boy gets better really soon.

Hi Moosemama, glad to hear your dog got better.

Was it picked up by an x ray?

The vets are finishing off the x ray and it all looks good so far- they've put dye in and followed it through his system to check for blockages.

Thanks for your message.

I can't remember exactly. I think, they found a some swelling around her neck, then xrayed and found the pockets of infection. You couldn't see anything, as she was a shepherd collie cross with a huge thick neck ruff.

Other than his preference for chewing sticks, do they have any other reasons for thinking it's a blockage?

How old is he? Entire or neutered? I only ask because my Lurcher was ill earlier this year. Initially just a temperature and obviously not right, antibiotics seemed to pick him up, then he'd go down again. Eventually he started passing blood and it turned out he had an infection in his prostate. It took several courses of strong antibiotics to see it off and they did a scan and biopsy of his prostate and bladder just in case, but all they found was that his prostate had developed a few small cysts as a result of the infection. They changed the antibiotics he was on and they eventually got rid of the infection. He's absolutely fine now.

Not saying it's the same thing, as obviously I don't know what your dog's symptoms have been like, but just wanted to say that sometimes it can be hard to locate the source of an infection, but when you eventually get them onto the right anti-bs they recover very quickly.

Fingers crossed it turns out to be something really simple and easy to treat, like my boy.