emergency remedy: In praise of metamucil®
 

One evening, our puppy Neisha and her sidekick Dilys found a small plastic bag that had four 1 1/2 inch, heavy, furniture screws in it. We found three of the screws: one was missing, and we feared that it was inside one of the two dogs. We called Corally Burmaster, and she said that (1) we should start both of them on a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Metamucil® mixed with a half can of dog food mixed with water to make a slurry, 3 or 4 times a day, (2) we should be sure to keep them hydrated so the system would keep things moving, and (3) we should take both of them into the vet in the morning for an x-ray to determine who had the screw (if either of them did). So we gave them both the Metamucil® mixture and in the morning, we gave them both a large bowl of chicken broth to ensure that they had plenty of fluids to keep their system moving.

We went to our back-up vet for the x-rays because the regular practice could not see us as early as we wanted to be seen. When the x-rays were taken, the screw turned out to be in Neisha, the seven month old puppy. It looked huge on the x-ray: it was in her stomach, and the vet who took the x-rays (not our regular vet) said that there was no way that this screw could pass through her intestines. He recommended immediate surgery to save her life. The pressure was horrendous: who were we to refuse the vet's advice? But something told us not to rush into the decision. We asked him to pack up the x-rays so that we could take them to our regular vet.

We called Corally and she told us several success stories about the Metamucil® cure, including one about a rock that was two inches long and at least one inch wide. So we decided not to do the surgery and to give the Metamucil® until Monday to effect a cure. We then checked that decision with our regular vet, who told us that he thought the Metamucil® would work to bulk it up and protect the intestines as it passed through, and he also said that there were no downsides to this equation: if it did not pass, he would prefer to remove it from the intestines than from the stomach -- the exact opposite advice of the first vet. His advice made sense to us.

So we proceeded to give Neisha three meals a day of Metamucil®, Wysong canned dog food, and chicken broth mixed into a slurry with in-between bowls of water and chicken broth mixed 50-50 to keep her well hydrated.  Poops were frequent and rubbery: you could use a pooper scooper to pick them up and they left nothing on the floor or ground -- everything came up like one big rubbery mass and plopped on the pooper scooper. She also had to pee frequently, but she happily continued drinking all the chicken broth/water fluid mix that we gave her. 36 hours after the x-rays and the vet who said it would not pass, the screw appeared in her poop, a little changed in coloration, but firmly ensconced in the rubbery mess!

So instead of a dog recovering from serious stomach surgery, we have a dog who does not realize what she has been through, has not missed a beat in her training program, is ready to find something else to grab and take to her crate, and will be able to participate in her Monday morning obedience class. She has not had a moment of discomfort (at least, not that we are aware of but then, we did not see the poop with the screw pass), and she is as spirited as ever. No anesthesia; no recovery time; no mess, and no antibiotics.

I have heard of a lot of remedies for things ingested (canned asparagus, cotton balls and heavy cream, hydrogen peroxide to bring them back up, etc.), but nothing comes close to what the Metamucil® did. We had it on hand because of Corally's earlier posting. We will always have it on hand because of the dramatic results we got. And we recommend that everyone keep Metamucil® on hand for this reason! 

But remember to follow these steps if your dog does swallow a sharp or solid object:

1.   Give a 45 to 50 pound dog a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Metamucil® mixed with a half can of dog food mixed with water to make a slurry, 3 or 4 times a day, 

2.   Be sure to keep the dog well hydrated so the system would keep things moving, and  

3.   Take the dog to the vet as soon as the vet opens for an x-ray to determine whether the dog has indeed swallowed something, and to determine if it is a size that can pass with a mass of rubbery poop.