Whelping box / Pig rails !!! - Page 2

I just wanted to show how obvious the x-ray was that was taken last Friday showing the final pup still inside my female 2 1/2 days after she whelped what I thought was her last pup, then you can see the bottom to x-ray images that my vet took Saturday morning thinking we were about to do a c-section to remove the dead pup, Im sooooo glad I asked for an x-ray that morning before him doing surgery !
Makes me sad about the pups that didn't make it, but Im happy four of them are alive and thriving.

An e-friend of mine had a beagle that swallowed something that was blocking up its stomach. After waiting for it to pass, the vet decided surgery was needed.

She opened the dog up, and found...NOTHING!! The beagle had vomited up the obstruction during the night, and it was hidden under his bedding!

He's had chronic issues with adhesions and digestive issues ever since, due to that unnecessary surgery!

So, YES, very glad your vet checked!!

Sorry I was thinking of PVC and hubs being a plumber says there is no asbestos in the current PVC. So that is good news.

With my luck, a puppy would manage to get inside the pipe, even with everything sealed off to prevent this

 

I had a dog that decided the bed was better than the whelping box.  Fortunately, no one fell off the bed, and Mom plus pups were safely transferred into the whelping box after she was done and had been checked by the vet.

 

He's had chronic issues with adhesions and digestive issues ever since, due to that unnecessary surgery!

 

It's not likely those issues would result from abdominal surgery to check for a blockage. They don't open up the intestines unless they find something. The basic "check" is to essentially eviscerate the animal, and run the intestines through one's hands to feel for blockage. If nothing is felt, they all get stuffed back in. If a blockage is felt and can't be "milked" down the intestine, the intestine is opened up and THAT is a major surgery requiring many days of hospitalization. If the latter didn't happen, it's not really possible for an exploratory blockage surgery to create digestive issues. 

Also, it's almost always worth doing an exploratory if a blockage is strongly suspected; better an outpatient surgery and a few weeks of rest than a major sepsis caused by a blockage; the latter can easily and quickly kill an animal. If you suspect a blockage, DO NOT WAIT.

Well, whatever causes it, the dog often has bouts of digestive upset when it's obviously in pain from abdominal cramps. During these bouts, it also frequently vomits. I am fairly sure the vet thinks it might be due to adhesions. Wish I could go far enough back in her FB posts to verify this, but she's a prolific poster!

I'm a retired nurse, so I understand what you're saying about adhesions being unlikely unless the bowel had to be opened up - BUT - my mom developed adhesions and scar tissue in her bowel after having an inflamed appendix which got better without surgery. However, after this, she was always in pain after eating. One day the bowel shut down completely, and she passed out with the pain and was rushed to hospital.

When the surgeon operated, he found he was able to loosen the scar tissue and adhesions without having to cut into the bowel. She recovered amazingly well from the surgery, considering she was 86 years old!

So, maybe this dog had something else going on with its gut that caused adhesions without the surgery being the cause - who know?

Yup - surely the OUTSIDE of the bowel can 'stick' to the inner wall of the abdomen, maybe depending on how the guts were "stuffed back in" at the time ? [A different area, but I have had (diagnosed) adhesion problems on & off ever since a D&C in my 20s (ie 40-odd years ago), and there were no actual incisions to the uterine wall or fallopian tubes !]

Most adhesions are just...there though. They don't cause issues unless there is also infection or underlying illness. For @sunsilver that's a really interesting story, not sure why an inflamed appendix would cause adhesions? Not a doctor myself, so of course I'm not sure why, hahahaa.

 

@hundmutter Also interesting, why would a D&C cause adhesions?  Are we still talking about bowel adhesions or...?