craZ4HERKIE
Boxer Insane
As we all know boxers are notorious for eating everything that thy aren't supposed to, so i wanted to share herkie's story. All throughout his puppyhood he would put everything in his mouth- sticks, rocks, pagers , remotes, lighters, dryer sheets, compact discs....the list goes on and on and on!
this would occur when we were in another room or just happened to turn our backs, because he was crated when we weren't there from the very 1st day we brought him home!but i'll have to say the older he got, he tended to grow out of it some....one day when herkie was about 2 1/2 our cousin came to live with us, he is a beer drinker, that's fine, but from the very start he would leave his beer bottle caps lying around....i preached constantly that one of the dogs were going to get ahold of one....then one night herkie became extremely gassy....more so than a boxer's normal gas....so you can only imagine!!!:o over the next 2 days his poop was loose, but he was still crazy herkie! i came home from work at 4am sun and he went outside and his tummy was very upset, but still happy herkie....i couldn't sleep that night because i had a gut feeling something was wrong with him...i was scared he would need to go out and i wouldn't wake up....at about 10am mon jay(cuz) said something is wrong with herkie, jessica....my herkie wouldn't move....and we all know if our boxer's don't move something is wrong! i took him to the vet...no fever, she couldn't feel an obstruction, everything seemed fine, he behavior was just depressed, so i left him there to wait on bloodwork, and later that afternoon we decided to do an x-ray....and there it was...an icehouse bottle cap!!herkie was unable to pass it! i was furious!my perfectly healthy dog now had to have surgery!everything went well, he came home wed afternoon. as the days past i noticed my baby was still not right....as each day progressed he could get down less and less food....at the end of 2wks he got his stitches out and i told this to the vet, and he passed it off as his throat being irritated from the tube from surgery....2days later i had him back at the vet....herkie could now keep nothing down...but it wasn't vomiting...it was regurgitating. he was drooling constantly....and when i say drool....i mean foot long drool!!my poor baby!the vet told me to give him pepcid ac...they had no suggestions on how i could feed him....my baby was starving and it was breaking my heart...the vet told me they were going to contact a specialist and get back with me...a couple of days went by...and i had heard nothing!by this time i was taking his kibble and breaking it up into tiny pieces and giving it to him itty, bitty piece at a time...just so he could get something in his stomach! i could take it no more one morning, so i took him into the vet specialists(he had been here once before for hives! )they kept him over the weekend, he had no fever, no blockage, they did a full workup...he had to wait until mon morning to see and internal medicine specialist... they gave him barium chalk...which he gobbled up because he was so hungry, you could hear his stomach growling(it broke my heart)...they did this so they could see all of his insides from his throat on down.needless to say...they found a stricture in his throat...were his throat had tightened....from stomach acid getting into his throat from his original surgery.this meant they had to go in and stretch his throat with a special balloon, they would have to do this at least 5 times, in the hope he would be able to eat canned food...at this point we knew he would never be able to eat dry food again...if this wouldn't work...the only alternative was a feeding tube...and i knew that would be no life for my baby...in the meantime we had to feed him blended food, and he was on several different meds...including steroids....which made him ravenous!and made hime pee constantly! we didn't get a full nights sleep for 1 1/2 mths!all of those efforts however resulted in herkie only being able to eat blended canned food...we can make it kind of thick...but not too thick...otherwise it comes back up!!if we had only known that he had eaten the bottle cap...we could have tried the peroxide...and hopefully it would have came up!but we didn't know until it was too late. but if any of your boxers ever have to have surgery...you may want to consult with the vet to see if you can give them pepcid ac beforehand...so it will cut down on the risk of this happening to them.....but hopefully none of you all will have to go were we've been!but now herkie is almost 4, and very happy and well adjusted, he is in no danger of getting fat though! cranking up the blender is just part of our daily routine now!!!i now spend about $120 a month just on canned food, $4000 for his procedures at the specialists, and $800 for his original surgery.....but it's been worth every penny....as long as i've got my herkie!
this would occur when we were in another room or just happened to turn our backs, because he was crated when we weren't there from the very 1st day we brought him home!but i'll have to say the older he got, he tended to grow out of it some....one day when herkie was about 2 1/2 our cousin came to live with us, he is a beer drinker, that's fine, but from the very start he would leave his beer bottle caps lying around....i preached constantly that one of the dogs were going to get ahold of one....then one night herkie became extremely gassy....more so than a boxer's normal gas....so you can only imagine!!!:o over the next 2 days his poop was loose, but he was still crazy herkie! i came home from work at 4am sun and he went outside and his tummy was very upset, but still happy herkie....i couldn't sleep that night because i had a gut feeling something was wrong with him...i was scared he would need to go out and i wouldn't wake up....at about 10am mon jay(cuz) said something is wrong with herkie, jessica....my herkie wouldn't move....and we all know if our boxer's don't move something is wrong! i took him to the vet...no fever, she couldn't feel an obstruction, everything seemed fine, he behavior was just depressed, so i left him there to wait on bloodwork, and later that afternoon we decided to do an x-ray....and there it was...an icehouse bottle cap!!herkie was unable to pass it! i was furious!my perfectly healthy dog now had to have surgery!everything went well, he came home wed afternoon. as the days past i noticed my baby was still not right....as each day progressed he could get down less and less food....at the end of 2wks he got his stitches out and i told this to the vet, and he passed it off as his throat being irritated from the tube from surgery....2days later i had him back at the vet....herkie could now keep nothing down...but it wasn't vomiting...it was regurgitating. he was drooling constantly....and when i say drool....i mean foot long drool!!my poor baby!the vet told me to give him pepcid ac...they had no suggestions on how i could feed him....my baby was starving and it was breaking my heart...the vet told me they were going to contact a specialist and get back with me...a couple of days went by...and i had heard nothing!by this time i was taking his kibble and breaking it up into tiny pieces and giving it to him itty, bitty piece at a time...just so he could get something in his stomach! i could take it no more one morning, so i took him into the vet specialists(he had been here once before for hives! )they kept him over the weekend, he had no fever, no blockage, they did a full workup...he had to wait until mon morning to see and internal medicine specialist... they gave him barium chalk...which he gobbled up because he was so hungry, you could hear his stomach growling(it broke my heart)...they did this so they could see all of his insides from his throat on down.needless to say...they found a stricture in his throat...were his throat had tightened....from stomach acid getting into his throat from his original surgery.this meant they had to go in and stretch his throat with a special balloon, they would have to do this at least 5 times, in the hope he would be able to eat canned food...at this point we knew he would never be able to eat dry food again...if this wouldn't work...the only alternative was a feeding tube...and i knew that would be no life for my baby...in the meantime we had to feed him blended food, and he was on several different meds...including steroids....which made him ravenous!and made hime pee constantly! we didn't get a full nights sleep for 1 1/2 mths!all of those efforts however resulted in herkie only being able to eat blended canned food...we can make it kind of thick...but not too thick...otherwise it comes back up!!if we had only known that he had eaten the bottle cap...we could have tried the peroxide...and hopefully it would have came up!but we didn't know until it was too late. but if any of your boxers ever have to have surgery...you may want to consult with the vet to see if you can give them pepcid ac beforehand...so it will cut down on the risk of this happening to them.....but hopefully none of you all will have to go were we've been!but now herkie is almost 4, and very happy and well adjusted, he is in no danger of getting fat though! cranking up the blender is just part of our daily routine now!!!i now spend about $120 a month just on canned food, $4000 for his procedures at the specialists, and $800 for his original surgery.....but it's been worth every penny....as long as i've got my herkie!
