On the night before Thanksgiving (11/27), our beloved Giant Schnauzer, Winston, was rushed to the hospital to receive emergency bowel obstruction surgery. His ailment wasn't from the night before, or even from the previous week, it had started much earlier. It took 4 pet hospital visits over 3 weeks to get a diagnosis, and an emergency surgery to save Winston's life.

The end of October was abnormally hectic for us. My wife was in the hospital twice as a result of a particularly nasty case of COVID she had contracted at work. In the chaos, our pup Winston was able to sneak into our infant daughter's nursery and subsequently her laundry bin. We don't quite know when he did it, but it became apparent when he threw up two pairs of baby socks.

The next day, Winston seemed to bounce back from this but to our dismay Winston once again fell ill two days later. Hoping that his stomach was just raw from eating the socks, we gave Winston a bland diet for the day. Things didn't improve by the morning, and fearing that maybe he had a blockage, we took Winston to a hospital where he was evaluated and X-rayed. At around 3:30am that morning, we arrived home with Winston who had been diagnosed with gastroenteritis, pumped full of fluids, and equipped with anti-nausea pills.

Our Winston was back. He was eating, trying to play, and being his goofy self, or at least he was for a week. Winston fell ill for about two days then he recovered again. After a week of this up and down, we thought that maybe an infection was causing this, so we took him to another hospital. Once again, Winston was diagnosed with gastroenteritis (after pancreatitis was ruled out) and he was armed with a regimen of anti-nausea pills and a restorative burst of subcutaneous fluid. When we picked up Winston we asked the vet why they didn't prescribe him antibiotics, and they told us it was because his White blood cell count was normal. For 5 days Winston was as good as new, and we thought that finally found the fix to his illness.

On the morning of Wednesday the 26th, Winston woke up feeling not quite himself. No matter what we offered him, he refused to eat, even his favorite salmon treats and for the first time since the beginning of the month, Winston's bowel movements became abnormal. Winston is a sensitive dog, but this was very out of character. My wife had a feeling that something was very wrong, so we loaded up the car and drove an hour away to a well reviewed pet urgent care.

Within a minute of examining Winston by hand, the vet was able to identify a potential obstruction, and after seeing the labs he was concerned with the elevated WBC (which the previous vet had said was normal, it was not). An ultrasound confirmed two things, 1) there was a 4cm obstruction in his bowel which had been a partial blockage but had now become a full one, and 2) it had been present for some time. The vet gave him an antibiotic shot, and subcutaneous fluids and a list of emergency vets in the area. He even called a few for us, but since it was the evening before Thanksgiving, few had any openings.

Knowing that a full obstructed bowel is swiftly fatal, especially one that had been present for so long, my wife and I spent the next two hours calling all the animal hospitals within a 150 mile radius that were capable of emergency surgery. The moment we found one, about 2 hours from the vet, we left for it immediately.

When we arrived, Winston was swiftly taken back and prepped for surgery. Time was of the essence. In the pre-surgery meeting, the doctor told us that he was concerned with the outcome since the obstruction had been there all along and the longer an obstruction is present in the bowel the higher the risk for necrosis. We left the hospital, hoping that Winston would pull through.

At home, we tried to maintain a sense of calm for our daughter and our other two dogs, but a phone call came that shattered it. When we answered the phone, the sound of a heart monitor came pouring out of the speaker. The doctor was calling us while Winston was on the table in front of him. He cut to the chase, we had two options which he called a "rock" and a "hard place". Because the obstruction had been present for about 3 weeks, it had caused damage to his intestine and it was unclear if the sutures would hold or if they would break open, leading to another emergency surgery and a high risk of infection. The second option was to remove that portion of the intestine and stitch it, but since it was right next to the pancreas, he was worried that it would be damaged in the process. After a brief but intense discussion, we all decided that attempting to close the incision was the best course of option for Winston.

We were understandably distraught, it seemed as if the odds were stacked against Winston. We felt frustrated that it had taken this long to find the obstruction and naturally we felt guilty that we hadn't done more, but we had done everything we could with the information that was provided to us by professionals. Sitting around became unbearable so we took our daughter and two dogs on a drive. After about an hour, as we headed towards home, we received a second call. After observing his work, the doctor felt a little better about the sutures, but told us that we needed to wait 2-3 days to know for sure. The following day, right after Thanksgiving dinner, the doctor gave us a call, telling us that Winston's intestines were already starting to heal and there was no sign of infection. We got the okay to visit him that night. During the visit the doctor showed us the root of this issue, not a sock but a Philips Avent pacifier. He then explained that before Winston had swallowed it, he had chewed the nipple off the pacifier. This opening allowed food to pass through it, which explained why he had intermittent symptoms. On the Wednesday morning we took him in, the hole had finally plugged and the obstruction became a total.

Winston with his Scoops Ahoy Squishmallow

As of writing this (12/3) Winston is now 6 days post surgery. He is getting stronger and more energetic each day and has returned to his goofy self. He still has weeks of recovery, but by then not only will it be our daughter's first Christmas, but it'll be Winston's first time being able to play in nearly two months!

Each contribution will be used to help us pay off the nearly $7000 cost for the 3 appointments and the surgery. We do not expect to receive anywhere near the full amount but even a little will go a long way. This was particularly difficult financially because the first half of the year we had multiple hospital bills since our daughter tried to come too early, then a NICU stay after she was born. We had planned for most of that, but this nearly 7k expense made things a lot more difficult.

So if you want to pitch in to help pay for Winston's hospital bills, we would really appreciate it!! I'm sure Winston would too, if he knew what was going on! Thank you very much!

A breakdown of cost is below:

First Pet Hospital Bill: $1400.00

Second Pet Hospital Bill: $719.99

Pet Urgent Care Bill: $637.08

Hospitalization & Surgery Bill: $3991.67

Additional Prescription Bill: $115.00

Enjoy some videos of Winston doing what Winston does best, being a crazy funny dog!