Rock Bottom

Today’s update was going to be all about how I’m dealing with daily day to day anxiety again and what I’m doing to help reduce it. I will get there in a future post. For now an update on how life threw a little emergency our way.

Baxter started showing some signs of digestive issues yesterday. He ate a bunch of grass when I let him out in the morning and I didn’t catch it very quickly. He threw that up and didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the day. This is a little man that has never purposely skipped a meal and would happily eat another dog’s food if given the chance. Early this morning he started pacing the van and panting. I decided to take him to a local animal hospital to have him checked out.

We had to wait a few hours for a vet to be available, but I was grateful they were able to see him today. The vet felt his belly and asked if he had eaten rocks. He said it felt like he had rocks in his belly. I was highly skeptical. Baxter is not the kind of dog that just eats stuff. He likes dog food, some people food (meat and cheese) and is very picky about his treats. Several minutes later, the vet showed me the xray he had done on Baxter and sure enough, the little dude had a colon full of rocks. 

The vet said it’s likely that someone had dumped cooking oil or grease on the ground at the last campsite I was at and Baxter had licked it up, along with the small rocks it was attached to. 

The good news is that the rocks have already made it to his large intestine, meaning there’s a strong chance they will pass on their own. Baxter was got some IV fluids at the vet and was sent home with appetite stimulants and high-fiber food. Now, we wait. If he can't pass them over the next few days, he’ll have to undergo surgery.

So, if everyone could send some good vibes our way and cross your fingers that Baxter poops out some rocks this weekend, we would really appreciate it.