The Adventures of Dutch: Episode Two

So I have to apologize for the extended week long sabbatical I've taken from updating my blog. OK, it wasn't really a sabbatical, or even a vacation, it was a crazy, sleepless, emergency-filled week. And it all started about three weeks ago.

Over Memorial Day, the Lumberjack and I went on vacation for Las Vegas. Since we couldn't bring our little furkid Dutch with us, we had a very good friend of ours stay at our house. When we returned from vacation, Dutch started throwing up in the middle of the night, every night. He seemed normal otherwise, so we didn't think much of it, though we did switch his food and started feeding him smaller meals more often.

Last Friday, he threw up at about 5 a.m. and TWO PEACH PITS came out. I immediately panicked. Not only do peach pits contain cyanide, which can kill a dog, they can also easily become lodged in their intestines and kill as well.

Turns out, over Memorial Day, my friend took Dutch over to her house and let him play in the backyard, where she has peach trees. Somehow, he ate some.

So Friday, I took Dutch to the vet for an x-ray. Two-hundred dollars later, they tell me there is something wrong, but they can't actually see the pits, so we need to wait until the pitts make him sick and then do an ultrasound.

Saturday and Sunday, Dutch was miserable. He didn't want to play or go for a walk. He just wanted to sleep, and even that was challenging. He was getting up between four and eight times each night because he was so uncomfortable. Monday night, I called the vet and told them that he was very lethargic and throwing up even more often, and we scheduled an ultrasound for Tuesday. Dutch, above, over the weekend, moping on the sofa with his duck comforting him.

Tuesday morning, he was even sicker and clearly in pain. Luckily (or not, I guess), the $700 ultrasound showed a peach pit in his stomach that was basically acting like a plug to his intestines (hence the vomiting) AND making his stomach hemorrhage because of the roughness of the pit.

That afternoon, Dutch had emergency surgery and was anesthetized. The animal internist stuck a camera down his throat into his stomach and pulled out not one, but TWO peach pits. Apparently, the going rate for peach pit removal surgery is a cool $1,000--making Dutch's peach pit ordeal cost $1,900, and all for a few mouthfuls of peaches.

Within three hours of the anesthesia wearing off, our Little Dutch was back to 100% and causing trouble as if nothing had happened to him.

Luckily, we have pet insurance, which will help with some of the ridiculous cost, but we will still owe a pretty penny for this accident. Next time we go on vacation, we're putting him in daycare!