Have you ever done something you really regret? Well that is me and I will have to live with the knowledge that by giving our lovely Bernese Mountain dog [Isla] a bone, has led to her having two operations because a large bit of bone she swallowed, stuck in her chest.

The first operation was done by our own vet who removed a piece of bone from her stomach. They kept her in overnight on a drip; we picked her up the following day. We got Isla home and were told to feed her food for sensitive stomachs, but every time we fed her she brought it all back. This went on for another day so we contacted our vet to explain and she was taken back for more x-rays which then led to him phoning us to take her straight away to the University of Glasgow Veterinary School who were waiting for her.

A 3 hour trip later we found ourselves signing another consent form for more surgery. The plan being that the surgeon was firstly going to put a scope down her throat with the hope of being able to grab hold of the bone and pull it out. The next option was to do major surgery on her. With a very heavy heart we set off on our three hour trip home. Whilst still on the road the surgeon phoned us to say the scope couldn’t pull out the bone, as it was too big and because this bone had been inside for nearly a week, body tissue had started to form on it, our lovely sweet natured girl was to spend that night in hospital on different drips to prepare her for a major operation.

The day of Isla’s operation is a day I never want to go through again. We were told that if things looked bleak when they went in they would get someone to leave the theatre to contact us for the go ahead not to let her come round. The surgeon had to cut Isla the length of her side, then cut through her ribs to get to this bone, which was very close to her heart and lungs. It was a massive operation but the surgeon put all her years of training into gear that day.

Isla made it through the night but we were told she was still seriously ill and we could still lose her. We were also told that after a major operation we had to go along in stages, one was 24 hours, then the next 48 hours, then it was a case if she gets to days 3 to 5 which is the time when infections will show, and if that happened there was a good chance we could lose her.
Our lovely girl was in intensive care with tubes everywhere including one draining fluid from her chest and on a very large amount of morphine. Our surgeon has told us she is not out of the woods yet, but her chest drain has been removed and has improved a little on day 4.

My reason for sharing this tragic event is to make you all aware that bones are a big NO NO, not even marrow bones. It has been a very expensive trip to the vets by the time Isla gets out [fingers crossed] we will be looking at a VERY large bill, to which our insurance cover of £2.500 will only go some way towards it. But hopefully our beautiful girl will get home and I will never ever give any of my dog’s bones, not even marrow bones, they are definitely off the Mathanach menu!!

Update on Isla
After 4 days in intensive care and 3 days on the ward, Isla was well enough to come home. One week after being rushed in for surgery. When we collected her the surgeon who performed Isla’s operation came to see us and showed us the bone that had caused all this pain. It was a rough bone with jagged edges that were as sharp as a razor. We were told that the bone’s sharpest edge was lying next to her aortic valve which could have severed at any time. This bit of bone is being kept so that students learn how dangerous bones can be. And it will be kept for 13 years and Isla will be part of the students learning programme.
The surgeon then told us she was very anxious about removing this bone. It took three hours, using all her skills and very delicate hands to remove the bone. Now that is real life “Your life in their hands”, that’s how it felt to us.
During the surgery all the students were very anxious while the surgeon tried to remove the bone and were amazed at the whole operation.

Isla is home but still a very sick girl. She just wants to be on her own, giving herself time to heal. She came home with a bag full of different tablets to take. So special treats of boiled chicken are helping her to take all these pills twice a day. Our own vet phoned to tell us he had spoken to Isla’s surgeon and she told him that Isla was the first dog to have survived this particular operation, removing a bone lodged so close to the vital organs. It’s is a miracle she survived against all the odds. We are so glad we only found out the true complexity of the operation after we got her home.

Day 9 post op, and our vet has come to remove Isla’s stitches from the first operation, he was amazed to see how well she looked compared to the way she was on that awful day. All we hope is that she makes a full recovery.
We have had Isla home for 5 days now, although she still wants to be on her own and sleeps quite a lot, she will come and see the other dogs but its like a voice in her head says ..you need to rest. Each day that goes by we are starting to see a wee bit of our Isla coming back, We have to be careful she doesn’t get knocked and that she doesn’t catch any infection. If any good comes out of this terrible accident it would be that bones are now off the menu here and everyone else will think long and hard before giving their pets bones to our pets or you could well be in the situation we were in….and having a large vet bill and perhaps no dog to take home..