I stupidly wasn't paying attention to how much kibble he was getting during his physical therapy appointment*. He got laser on his entire body which took about twice as long as usual, then we were doing some new things (hopping up and down a ramp, obstacle course type stuff). At home he was whining while I made lunch but that's not unusual because he can't hop on the wood floor in the kitchen. After lunch I took him downstairs and his stomach felt full, but not scary full. He drank water, and then kept whining so I took him outside. When I carried him back in his stomach felt firm and distended. I immediately looked up signs of bloat to refresh my memory. No sooner had I looked than I heard him gag and dry heave. I grabbed him, called the rehab clinic which is in the same building as a 24 hr emergency vet, and rushed him in. He threw up on the way- and ate it again before I could wipe it away. Then at the ER we waited. Waited and waited. Receptionist came up and said they'd just had a few triage cases come in so they might not be able to get us into a room for an hour or so. I asked if he could wait that long... bloat can kill pretty quick, it didn't seem that his stomach was twisted but I was really worried because it was *so* hard and distended. We had a vet tech come out to take a look. Temp was fine, vitals fine, so we waited. No emergency clinic is going to be fast and at this point changing clinics wasn't going to actually be faster.
When we finally got in a room we continued to wait. The vet popped his head in and said "Oh! Sorry, wrong room!" and shut the door before I could say anything back. At least we'd be seen soon? No. Bobb was getting worse. He started whining again (he'd stopped when we got to the vet) and I've rarely felt so helpless. I was exactly where I needed to be, and I wasn't getting help. Mind you, I knew that they were slammed, techs were rushing back and forth, I do understand that there has to be priorities and a dog bleeding out after a loose dog attack gets priority, but it was still awful to have to wait. The Bobb made this awful gagging, gurgling, dry heaving noise. I left the room and took him back up to the front desk. The receptionist took him back to the ICU where there were a couple people who could keep an eye on him better. And then I waited and waited and waited. Finally the vet came in and said Bobb had thrown up twice. He wanted to xray and see how much kibble was left, then we either induce or decide he's ok. Xray was quick, vet came back in and said there was still a lot in his stomach so I immediately gave the ok to induce vomiting. And I waited. Waited for much longer than I expected to, considering they were just having him puke. I'm not sure how long, 20 minutes or so? Vet came back in and said it was "massive amounts of kibble" but by this point it had been 4 hours since he'd eaten the kibble, and after drinking the water it was all well expanded. The vet also said that last parts coming up were tubular shaped, meaning it had been getting impacted into the bottom of his stomach. Really scary, and could have been really, really bad for Bobb. I agreed to do a 2nd xray to see how much was left. That was quick. Vet came right back in and said there was still a little in there but enough he could handle it. We could go home. He went and got Bobb, and Bobb just collapsed in my lap totally exhausted from the pain and barfing (that's the pic I posted). Bill wasn't bad at all and they waived a $100 emergency fee because I had to wait so long which was very nice of them.
He was flopped the entire ride home. I put him in his bed next to my computer where I expected he'd be for quite a while recovering. Nope. The huskies started playing, he perked up, and within 10 minutes he was totally back to himself. Shortly after he was begging for some of my burrito I was having for dinner. Freak. He almost died, and he bounced back ridiculously quickly. Totally fine ever since.
*Edit: Normally he gets maybe 1/4-1/3 cup during his appointments, which are every other week. It's a LOT for a tiny guy but I can't be giving him so much sugary/salty type treats and he is very enthusiastic for kibble so it works well. I don't feed him in the morning and he gets a very small dinner on rehab days. This day I think he got about twice as much kibble. The difference of 1/4 cup is very significant for a tiny dog. I actually weighed him before rehab and he was 4.6 lbs. (We aim for 4.5-4.75).
