Mimi the Papillon

On February 7th, I rushed Mimi to Pet ER for emergency surgery.  She had a hiatal hernia - her stomach and spleen had relocated themselves into her chest.  I almost lost her.  The surgery was an amazing success, and she was sent home with me on Saturday morning, February 9th.

It all started on that Thursday morning, when I dropped her off at my parents’ house for the day while I went to work. Mimi and I had been taking our long walk around my neighborhood, and then to my parents’ neighborhood.  My mother came outside to greet us and while we were down the street by about 10 townhouses, Mimi saw my mother and immediately started running towards her, as she always does.

We went into the house and Mimi started to show signs that she wasn’t feeling well.  Her crate was on the floor and she oddly went inside it and walked to the back of the crate and sat there.  It was a very odd thing for her to do while we were standing there.  I called her to come out and when she did, she sat right by my feet and didn’t want to leave me.  I also noticed that her belly seemed like it was a little swollen.  Of course I thought this was odd, but my mother and I both agreed that perhaps she was constipated and that she would be okay once she went to the bathroom.

My mother called me at around 10:30am to tell me that Mimi had been vomiting.  She was still acting strange as well.  I decided to call the vet.  After telling them that my puppy’s belly was swollen, that she had been vomiting and acting strange, they said they could take her in at 1:30pm.  I thought this was kind of late, but at the same time, I was trying not to overreact.

I called the breeder for some advice, wanted to know if she had any experience with this type of condition.  She thought I should call the vets and ask to come in sooner.  I agreed and thought I would either take her there at that moment or I would take her somewhere else.  I called them back and pleaded that they take her in as soon as possible, and they agreed to do so.  I asked my mother to drive her to the vets while I drove from work to meet them there.When we arrived, we were taken back to the examination room after about 10 minutes in the waiting room.  I explained her condition to a technician who felt her belly and didn’t seem to think anything was wrong.  The same thing happened when the vet came in.  She felt around her belly and thought it felt normal.  She said we could take an x-ray or we could just monitor her for the rest of the afternoon.  I asked what she would do in my situation and she said that if it were her dog, she’d just monitor her.  I said that I wanted an x-ray.

The x-ray came out and the vet said that it looked normal.  She said that Mimi was essentially full of poo and that she would feel better once she went to the bathroom.  I was sent home.

When we got home, Mimi seemed to get worse.  She wanted to hide in her crate.  Her head was hanging low and her little ears were drooping.  I just didn’t like this at all.  I called the breeder again as we were keeping in touch very closely since I had brought her home.  We both agreed that I needed to take her back to the vets.

When we got there, they took another x-ray.  They brought in the x-ray and said that I had to take her to Pet ER immediately.  I asked what was wrong, and they said they didn’t know.  I freaked out and ran out the door and rushed over to Pet ER, which was about a 15 minute drive away. They took us immediately as an emergency case.  I took with me the 2 x-rays that the first vet took.  They looked at the x-rays and immediately noticed that Mimi’s stomach was not where it was supposed to be.  The worst part - they were showing me this with the 1st x-ray, the one which the first vet said there was no problem.I was a mess.  They told me that she had a hole in her diaphragm and that her stomach and spleen had gone up into her chest.  They gave her some dye to show up on the x-ray to confirm this and it was true.  I asked if they could fix her, and they said they could, and that it would cost between $2,200 and $4,400.  I didn’t even blink an eye and told them to go ahead and do it right away.

She went into surgery shortly thereafter.  It was a success and they told me that the first 48 hours would be critical.  As long as she didn’t get fluid into her lungs, she would be fine.

I picked her up from the hospital on Saturday morning.  She had a blue vinyl cape around her neck to prevent her from licking her incision, which was a good 6 inches long.  The stitches would come out about 10 days later.  She also had a gauze t-shirt around her tummy.

They gave me pain medicine to give her with a syringe looking gadget that would put medicine in her mouth easily.  I was to give this to her twice a day for 5 days.

The next few days were so scary for me.  I gave her the meds but realized that she didn’t need them after the 3rd day.  She was not showing any signs that she was in pain.  In fact, she was playing a lot and I had to try and prevent her from running around too much.

More in my next post about her recovery…

For the past 3 nights in a row, Mimi has slept in her crate overnight. She is still waking me up every 2-3 hours. She needs to learn how to hold her bladder a bit longer.

She is definitely getting used to the crate and stays in there happily during the day and takes naps. She doesn’t give much fuss about being in there anymore, which is wonderful.

I’ve come to the hard realization over the past few days that I’m spoiling Mimi rotten. I need to correct this immediately, or Mimi will become an unbalanced dog, and we definitely don’t want that to happen. I want her to be a happy and healthy dog. People in my life who are close to me have been telling me subtlely (and not so subtlely) that I’m not training her correctly, or more specifically, that I’m not firm enough in how I correct her bad behavior. Also, it seems as though I’m giving her too much affection. This is what I struggle with the most, because she is just so hard to resist!

Everyone that meets her thinks she is the cutest thing in the world, so soft and cuddly. Mimi loves to snuggle with me and sleep on my arm or my leg, or just right next to my face. These adorable little gestures are what make it so difficult to not show her so much affection.But I need to stop making excuses! As much as I would love to cuddle her, I need to cut back on that just a little bit, for her own good.The main problem I’m having right now is that she loves to bite while playing. Sure, this is normal puppy behavior, but when we play, it escalates and she becomes hyper. Closing her muzzle doesn’t work. Saying “OOwww” in a high-pitched voice doesn’t work. Saying “NO” in a deep, threatening voice doesn’t work. I have found that only one thing works - holding her body down until she stops squirming. When she stops squirming, I release her and she stops biting.

Tonight I will start crating her on a regular basis for bedtime. I had been letting her sleep with me, but in the long run, it’s for her own good to let her sleep in her crate all night.

Wish me luck!