October Pet of the Month

Congratulations to Olivia, our October pet of the month! Olivia is a beautiful 1 year old black lab mix. We first saw her here at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital when she was a puppy in July of 2013 for skin issues, but she has been in several times since then because she likes to get into some interesting snacks.
 
In April, we saw Olivia because she had gotten into rat poison, which is toxic to dogs.

Olivia
Olivia
The type of rat poison that she ate can cause loss of appetite, muscle tremors, and even seizures. We induced vomiting right away in the hopes that she would be able to get most of what she ate out of her system. After we induced vomiting, we gave Olivia activated charcoal, which binds with what is in her stomach so the body won’t absorb it. After a couple rounds of activated charcoal, Olivia was doing great and didn’t have any long term effects from the rat poison.
 
Olivia's X-Ray
Olivia’s X-Ray
At the end of August, Olivia had eaten Gorilla Glue (super glue). Gorilla Glue, as opposed to most other kinds of super glue, can swell, foam, and then harden in the gastrointestinal tract. This could cause a blockage, which is a potentially life threatening situation. Dr. Sappington decided to take some x-rays of Olivia’s abdomen to see if we could see any sign of a blockage. After looking at the x-rays, she determined that it looked like there was a very large mass in Olivia’s stomach and she would definitely need surgery to remove the blockage.
 
During the surgery, we noticed that Olivia’s stomach was very hard, almost like there
Ball of glue vs. a quarter
Ball of glue vs. a quarter
was a rock in it. We ended up removing a very large, hard, mass that was about the size of a football from Olivia’s stomach. The glue had hardened with everything else that was in her stomach to form the mass. It was a very good thing that it was removed early, because it would have prevented any food from moving through Olivia’s gastrointestinal system.
 
Olivia is now doing great and is completely recovered from her surgery. We love seeing Olivia here at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital and we look forward to seeing her here again soon, just hopefully not for any more medical emergencies!