Dog Requires Foreign Body Surgery

Background

It's not uncommon for puppies to snack on things that aren't food. Some are lucky enough to escape these puppyhood mishaps unscathed, others are not so lucky. Barry, a 1-year-old mixed breed pup, was, unfortunately, the latter. His propensity for making household items disappear got him in trouble in early November.

Barry's pet parent, Heather, shares the full story:

"I had two other dogs before Barry, but they were unusually human (if that makes sense) and never got into anything. Barry is the first dog I adopted from the SPCA as a puppy who has an insanely goofy, yet intrinsically mischievous, personality. The first time I took him on a walk he grabbed a mouth full of acorns that I had to get out. Even as the months go by, and with constant training, he still has an insatiable appetite for certain things like socks and underwear. So I bought a lot of baby gates to make sure that certain areas of the house were not available to him. Sometimes I think, 'what could he possibly get into now?' Yet he always finds a way. He's definitely smart. Too smart.

One morning at around 4 am he began throwing up a yellow mucus. At first I didn't think anything of it, but he continued to throw up at least once every hour for the next four hours. I took him to the vet so they could do a physical examination. Based on results from his abdominal radiographs, the vet deduced that there must be a cloth-like object stuck in the intestines. Unfortunately, they couldn't say for sure until they cut him open because his intestines were so swollen that they were blocking any outline of the foreign object inside. The doc proceeded with an abdominal exploratory surgery. They found remnants of a hand towel and small piece of plastic. After surgery, Barry was sent to an emergency vet clinic where they looked after him overnight and made sure he began to eat a little bit. The next day I was able to take him home and, over the next couple of weeks, he recovered beautifully.

I truly appreciate Embrace Pet Insurance. I called the day of the surgery and spoke with a very helpful customer service representative. I was a bit panicked and didn't know what to do. I didn't think I would have had to use the insurance so soon. But Embrace helped me through the paper work and made the claim process very easy. They have allowed the process to be more helpful, simple, and pleasant than dealing with human insurance companies."