Bella’s Emergency Vet Bills

On Friday morning, our chihuahua Bella wasn’t able to hold her food down. She kept vomiting a few more times through the day so, deciding to play it safe and take her to the emergency vet (our vet was closed for the evening).

Initially, they suspected an intestinal blockage and they kept her overnight on IV fluids. In the morning, her X-rays looked better and she had kept all her food down, so she was discharged.

Sunday she was struggling to have a bowel movement, so we went back to the our regular vet first thing Monday morning, but they couldn’t find any evidence of a blockage so advised we keep on the same path. But Tuesday she showed signs of still being sick, so we went back to the vet for another follow up X-ray, which still left us with no blockage and no answers. We changed up our medications and she seemed to be doing a bit better overnight.

But Wednesday we knew something was seriously wrong and going the opposite way quickly, her diarrhea had turned black and she was warm and lethargic. We drove her back to the emergency vet, where she was admitted with a fever of 105.2, put immediately on IV fluids, and got a full blood panel done.

Right now, they’re suspecting acute pancreatitis but we’re waiting on the results of an ultrasound. It could be a lot of things.

If you know me, you know that most of my time and extra income go directly to my kitten rescue work. Bella is a beloved, important member of our family and is such an amazing part of helping socialize cats and kittens to dogs before they are adopted out. She adores meeting every new baby kitten that comes through our doors and loves playing with them and letting them lay on top of her. The money we’ve spent trying to diagnose her sudden illness has come out of our own pocket, and we’re a long way from out of the woods still.