Well, for a start it can cost you a lot of money! This is the story of Bella. She loves her annual summer holiday on the beach. Running, jumping, digging, chasing, snuffling, ball chasing …. you name it. And she’s been doing the same thing each and every year for the past 10 years.
So what? That’s what loads of dogs do, don’t they? Well yes, but …. it started around midnight, after the second day on the beach. We were woken by Bella moving around the room, sitting, standing, restless, licking, swollen belly … very clearly in discomfort. We tried a few things – keep her warm, give her water, talk nicely. Nothing helped.
So what to do? Off to the Emergency Vet, one hour’s drive away from our holiday home. Presented with a series of options amounting to over $1,000 we decided in the first instance to go with the X-Ray to see what was going on. Well much to our surprise it seems that Bella has a penchant for eating sand. Which most unfortunately, had turned to concrete!
We really didn’t want to put our old girl through an operation, so opted for intense hydration, few antibiotics and a couple of night’s sleepovers at the vet for Bella. Poor thing she had to have an IV tube … not happy at all about that.
Happily she’s back on track (as you can see from the picture).
Can’t say the same for my hip pocket though – dining on sand cost us over $1,000. That was something we most definitely did not plan for and definitely we didn’t budget for it either. I have to admit, I dont have pet insurance, but this is an instance that I surely wished that I had. It’s meant a few sacrifices over the holiday, but as they say …. “it’s because she’s worth it”.
My dog named Bella has a tummy full of sand. She didn’t eat it but ingested most likely from 4 years of
playing fetch on the beach. She was listless for months, blood work normal. Thought she was missing her companion who had passed. Finally an Xray showed the tummy trouble. So sad she suffered all that time. Have her on meds now. Praying
Oh dear Patricia, we do hope that Bella gets better. It’s good you had her checked out – it can be so difficult to know what is going on with our pets sometimes. Warm regards, Liz
Hello my dog buster is going through same thing through eaten sand he’s had antibiotics fluids elecyrolite and lactose he’s had drips out in him still not a change he’s drinking bits of water and weeing but not eat in or pooing it’s heart breaking we have spent over 600 on him surgery is out the question as our vet said it’s to dangerous for him were hoping he recovers soon he’s very sleepy and lethargic
Oh dear I do hope that Buster recovers. You have certainly done all the right things. But so hard to see our pets suffering. Wishing you all the best with Buster’s recovery. Liz