Liddie had another major surgery on Tuesday, September 2ndto remove a number of rocks from her stomach that she had somehow ingested. We were very luck to discover the rocks during a routine X-ray to check for a possible stone in her urinary tract. This was not the type of stones we were expecting to find!
We tried for 2 weeks with medication and diet changes to get the rocks to pass, but we were only successful at getting a few of them. We did become quite adept at poking though dog doo looking for rocks though - a skill which I would have been fine with not ever developing!!!!
We decided, with the advice of our vet, that the risk of serious complications was too high to delay any longer and proceeded with the gastronomy on Tuesday morning. Liddie came home with us Tuesday night and Cali and I slept with her on the floor downstairs to make sure she was comfortable and doing OK. Honestly, she slept more than I did. I didn’t have the advantage of pain meds to help knock me out.
Liddie returned to the vet for the day on Wednesday for observation and follow-up tests. Cali went with her to keep her company and help keep her from getting stressed in the kennel.
I’m happy to report that Liddie is doing just fine since her surgery. She’s a tough old bird! She’ll be getting her staples removed on Wednesday and the prognosis is very positive. At this point there is no reason to think that she won’t be ready to compete in Rally at the 2008 English Springer Spaniel National Specialty in Arlington, Texas at the end of October.
Needless to say, she no longer has access to the rock areas in the backyard!
