Frankie

10-01-2019: We received an email from a shelter about a bulldog that was in urgent need of veterinary care. He was vomiting and had diarrhea since he had arrived the night before. One of our volunteers rushed over a few hours later to pick Frankie up as we feared he had a blockage. Once we arrived to the shelter we were given a little bit of medical history and discovered the following information in his paperwork:

9/14/2018 (not a typo)
Vomited pacifiers. X-rays done- more pacifiers inside. Surgery recommended. Declined by owners.

One year later ....
9/10/2019
No BMs for past 2 weeks. Vomiting yellow fluids daily. Appetite decreased and has not drank for 5 days. Given cerenia for nausea. Surgery declined again.

We rushed Frankie to IndyVet immediately to get x-rays and bloodwork as we now knew he definitely had a blockage. X-rays showed at least 2 pacifiers and a surgeon was called in the same night to perform surgery.

Around 10pm we received a call that so far the surgeon has taken out seven, that's right...SEVEN pacifiers.

The surgery took well over three hours and there were no additional pacifiers discovered after the first seven. Our vet bill had skyrocketed up to $7,000. 4 were still in the stomach and 3 were stuck in the small intestine. One was stuck very close to the colon- the tissue around this one was very bruised and not viable. This portion of the bowel had to be removed. The other 2 were only 2” apart.

Had they been there a shorter time, they would have been able to manipulate them closer together, make one incision, and easily removed them. But these have been there for a YEAR. They were stuck to the intestine. The intestine was stretched and about to perforate (in other words, it was about to tear open, and then start leaking the contents of the bowel into the abdominal cavity which would cause an infection leading to sepsis and DEATH!) So the surgeon had to make individual incision for each pacifier. Another portion of the bowel was too damaged to be saved and also had to be removed. Below is a photo of the pacifiers that were removed.

10-4-2019: Frankie was finally released from the hospital and is now in his foster home. He will need to rest and stay calm for at least the next 6 weeks. The main concern after is that the sutures tear and he leaks contents of the bowel into his abdominal cavity. He will be on a strict diet and will be on several pain medications.