[Dailydrool] Rock Eating

[Katie Strobel]

Watson ate a rock when he was 10 months old too - it was a complete
surprise, and of course it was 4am on a Friday evening before I
figured it out so we got to visit the emergency vet and have emergency
surgery. I fully support getting pet insurance that covers ingested
objects. After Watson made it clear that he planned on being a very
expensive dog, we purchased pet insurance. The DAY BEFORE he ate the
rock, the insurance policy became active - thank DOG for that! I had
to be persistent and get mean, but eventually they ended up
reimbursing us about half of our emergency vet bill...they still owe
us more but I decided to stop fighting after we got the third check.
We have Watson insured through VPI on their superior plan - but I
think the standard one covers foreign objects too...
http://www.petinsurance.com/index.aspx - I am a huge advocate for pet
insurance. We pay about 30 dollars a month for the superior plan plus
a preventative care package that picks up the bill for his dental
cleanings, heart-worm and yearly checkups. Already it's saved us
thousands (even with having to pay the premium) on Watson's vet bills
and the sooner you get it the better!

Anyway, I think Watson's rock eating was an accident - I am really not
sure what happened. I think he probably thought either that it was
poop (a delicacy in Watson's world) or he had picked it up and was
running with it when he accidently swallowed it. We ventured to the
vet at 5am  and the emergency vet said when we got there that he was
severely dehydrated and in shock and that he was so critical they
couldn't even do x-rays. He eventually had emergency surgery to get
the rock out of his small intestine and a two day stay at the
emergency vet before we got to take him home. All in all the surgery
was 2400 and we got back 1400....much better than nothing :)

So I hope and pray that Watson's rock eating was a one time
incident/accident. We still watch him carefully because he enjoys
stealing things to take to the backyard and rip apart - he doesn't eat
them though - so maybe thats a good sign....

I have a classmate whose Brittnay Spaniel just ate a ton of gravel out
of their fish pond and required emergency surgery....i think it may be
a phase that some puppies go through and training and supervision are
just required to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Katie and Watson (I will do anyfing not to go back to the vetlady....ANYFING!)