Help!! Dog just ate a big balloon

Fire_Fox

Does your vet not have an out-of-hours service?

zaksmum

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Does your vet not have an out-of-hours service?

It wasn't out of hours though. The were technically still open:mad:

I could only speak to the receptionist who said the vet had gone home - this was after ringing my M&S insurance vet advice line - (who said to ring my own vet) so the vet nurse was summoned and asked by the receptionist what to do.

The nurse said they would induce vomiting with soda crystals - who keeps those in the house? Well, I don't anyway. So a google advised the soda, hydrogen peroxide which I also didn't have (!!) or salt which I DID have!

The receptionist had said I should try other vet practises in the area or I could take the emergency vet number, so I could've called that.

But the M&S advice line vet said it was vital to act while the balloon was still in his stomach rather than his intestines.

Happily the salt had it out of him in less than a minute. He looked at us as if to say, hmmm...they don't usually act so happy when I chuck my dinner back up...!:D

rising_from_the_ashes

Yup, it has to be within a couple of hours of ingesting whatever it was - before it's moved through the stomach.

If you'd had to go to the emergency vets it may have been too late to induce vomiting (our emergency clinic is an hour and a 1/2 away:( which is really not any use for anything).

I have thought about changing practices but mine are great for everything it's just the worry that if something happens out of hours that's the huge negative.


Glad he's had no after effects!:)

gettingready

Oh, glad he is ok.. what punishement have you given to your OH though? Shall we help with ideas? (evil grin)

I am lucky, have a vet hospital 30 min walk away , open 24/7/365......

Did use it a few times, with dog/cats as I am a worrier and do not wait till morning is somethign happens (or seems to happen) in odd times....

withabix

zaksmum wrote: »

It wasn't out of hours though. The were technically still open:mad:

Your vet is JUST a business. Anyway, they were still open, as they answered the phone.

You could have just phoned another vet business.

zaksmum

gettingready wrote: »

Oh, glad he is ok.. what punishement have you given to your OH though? Shall we help with ideas? (evil grin)

I am lucky, have a vet hospital 30 min walk away , open 24/7/365......

Did use it a few times, with dog/cats as I am a worrier and do not wait till morning is somethign happens (or seems to happen) in odd times....

OOOH Yes please! All ideas welcome! They are worse than kids sometimes, aren't they?

zaksmum

withabix wrote: »

Your vet is JUST a business. Anyway, they were still open, as they answered the phone.

You could have just phoned another vet business.

Yes I could have, but I tend to stick with the vet I use regularly.

It's no good them being open if there's nobody there qualified to deal with my query, is there?

rising_from_the_ashes

I agree with you - I've been at my current vets since moving here (with a cat with kidney failure so it was imperative that I found a vet I was comfortable with straight away - I went to 3 other practices, walked in and went "no way" and headed straight out the door) - I felt at ease as soon as I walked in and they've been great.

IMHO the thought of having to go to a "strange" vet, who wasn't aware of the medical history of my animals would be bad enough at the best of times, let alone when facing an "emergency" situation.

zaksmum

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I agree with you - I've been at my current vets since moving here (with a cat with kidney failure so it was imperative that I found a vet I was comfortable with straight away - I went to 3 other practices, walked in and went "no way" and headed straight out the door) - I felt at ease as soon as I walked in and they've been great.

IMHO the thought of having to go to a "strange" vet, who wasn't aware of the medical history of my animals would be bad enough at the best of times, let alone when facing an "emergency" situation.

That's exactly what I thought, you need to feel your vet of choice knows your dog and, more importantly, your dog feels more at ease with that vet.

Had my dog needed an operation to remove the balloon, I'd have wanted it to be with someone I trusted to take good care of him.

I will be having a word with the vet though. I'm not happy about the prospect of there being no vet available happening again.

lozzybeast

All vets legally have to provide a 24 hour service, whether thats by way of using an out of hours clinic or by them being on call, if you have a genuine emergency regardless of the time of day then they should always have a service for such a case.
Although your home remedy to induce vomiting worked well on this occassion please do not use it for anything in future, every situation is different, in certain cases inducing vomiting is contra-indicated as it can cause damage to the oesophagus and also if what the dog has ingested is toxic it can cause more harm than good. Vomiting should only be induced by a vet for this reason