Hi everyone, I thought Id start a new topic to make it easier for those of you who have followed this and helped me so much already.

The vets called me this afternoon. Prince was sent home yesterday as I thought. The x-rays showed a small chip in the shoulder bone and a sliver of bone is "floating" loose apparently.  They dont think it will cause any problems but dont know for certain, so dont know as yet if there will be any ongoing treatment.  It could just stay there and cause no more issues, but if not then Prince will have an op to remove it.  As it stands now, he is just on a course on pain relief and antibiotics.   The vet bill is £489, they asked if I would settle up by card over the phone, but I asked if an itemised bill could be sent to my address so I could see exactly what was done, so they will be sending me the bill and I should get it tomorrow.  I still havnt heard from the owner, but I guess he simply doesnt want to talk to me, and who can blame him really!

I borrowed a friends muzzle today and took Stavs for a walk onlead, just road walking. Im a bit concerned about something unrelated to this sorry episode though.  Stavs had a bit of a poorly stomach last night and I had to take him out to the garden a few times as he wanted to eat grass.  He does this when his tummy is sore so I didnt think too much of it, and because it was too dark to see in the night in the garden, I made a mental note to check his poo this morning to see if what he passed in the night was normal.  This morning I couldnt find any, and again didnt think too much of it.  On our walk this afternoon though, Stavs went to the loo and there was a lot of bright red blood in it! :(   I didnt want to go sifting through it out on the main road, but wanted to look at it properly ( sorry, not a nice subject, lol) so instead of bagging it and throwing it away, I brought it back home with me.  When I looked at it properly, it was very sloppy and was very bloody, and there was a big piece of thorny stick in it (again sorry to be graphic) along with grass.  The stick bit was really quite big..ouch!  

Now, I know he didnt "eat" this stick today because of the muzzle, and he didnt go out yesterday, so it must have been in his tummy for a few days!  Would this stick piece have caused the blood?  Im thinking it might have scratched his bum as he passed it, or maybe scratched his insides?  
Im wondering if I should take him to the vet tomorrow, or just wait and see what his poo is like in the morning?  Is there another reason there could be quite a lot of blood in his poo?   I dont want to leave him if it could be something more sinister obviously, but by the same token Im a little financially fed up at the moment, lol...even though I now have insurance I still have to pay £100 excess, and what with needing to pay for Princes vets fee, which may go up even more, and my daughters birthday tomorrow, I dont want an unnecessary expense if it could just be the stick that scratched Stavs bum/bowel.   Has anyone had this happene before, where a dog has passed fresh blood due to a sharp object or stick?   Stavs doesnt seem in any pain at all and is playing, eating and generally behaving normally, but being a staff he doesnt show much pain anyway.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and I know you,ll all be glad to know that Prince is on the mend hopefully :)

glad prince is doing ok.

about the stick, i'd want to see the vet. if its been in there that long then i'd be worried about perforations in the bowel which could be really serious. better safe i think.

Prob gonna get slated for this bUT it IS what I would do, my own dogs health and my daughters happiness would be my priority!!  Prince is OK, I have money in the bank, I would pay for my own dog to be sorted first, my daughters birthday seccond, a deposit on Princes vet fees then monthly repayments for Prince!  SORRY but charity begins at home.........no law saying you have topay for Prince, your offering to,  thats fine but dont let your own suffer for it

just a warning about the insurance you usually have to a 14 day period at the start where you can not claim for illness.

Oh god Im worried about this now!  I never thought of a perforated bowel :(

What a nightmare.

It might be just a scratch or it may be more serious.  Unfortunately the vet is the only one who will be able to tell which it is.  What a rotten start to the year you've had, fingers crossed that Stavs is ok.

Just caught up on your threads. You sound such a responsible caring owner and certainly don't sound like you deserve such an awful bad luck. I'm afraid I agree with the others and would have Stav checked over by the Vet. Keep us posted and I really hope it's something and nothing.

Hi, and thanks for your replies.

Been hoping Stavs goes to the loo again so I can check it, Ive been really worried and after googling "blood in poo" Im even more concerned because Parvo info keeps coming up. :(
Stavs woke me an hour ago as he wanted to go out to toilet, but he only went a wee.  Hes been drinking a lot tonight (another alarm bell ringing!) so needed to wee, but I,ll check his toilet in the morning and make an appoitment with the vet. 
What a start to 2009, lol..I had a really bad year last year and said to my Mum "Thank god 2008 is over!"  ..Typical.

I,ll keep you informed. Thanks again for all your support, lets hope its just a case of a scratched bum or something.

Don't panic too much, if he's happy in himself then its not likely to be parvo. Possibly more likely to be colitis when the bowel is inflamed, possibly started by stress or the stick? Only guessing here though so i really would get it checked out for piece of mind. Its unlikely you would be able to claim for it on insurance though if you've only just taken it out. I would make an appointment with the vet and keep him on chicken and rice (unless he has any known allergies to these) until he's seen or back to normal. If he starts to have a lot of diarrhoea then i would starve him for 24 hours, free access to water and take him to a vet during that time asap. Hope everything goes ok.

Thanks lucyandmeg and everyone.

Just got back from the vets, and Stavs is fine, thankfully! :)  All it was is a teeny little cut just inside stavs bum, so small I couldnt even see it when I looked yesterday, and the vet said its like a small fissure that people get and needs no treatment.  He doesnt even think the bit of thorny stick was inside stavs, he thinks its much more likely that when stavs went to the loo yestreday on our walk, I probably picked it up along with the poo when I bagged it!   Looking back, stavs did go right under a hedge outside of a house, and there was leaves and stuff on the floor, so it is possible.  I probably just over-reacted, I think Im running on "high alert" mode at the moment, lol.

The extra drinking in the night was more than likely because Id kept the heating on full all night because it was so cold, and it was simply too hot in the bedroom!  All very feasible when I think back. 

I came back and gave stavs chicken and rice for brekkie, just incase his tummy WAS a little upset, and he wolfed it down and has just had a very normal poo. :)

Thanks for your support and concern, again.  Seems I got all worried for nothing though.  Ive not slept much last night and have been really worried, and Im glad I could come here and bounce stuff off you all.

Talking of "worrying", I think I almost gave someone a heart attack in the night though at about 3ish...when stavs went out in the night to go to the loo, I took him out to the front bit of garden instead of the back, because its only a tiny bit of paved garden in the front and I wanted to be able to see properly if stavs went a wee or poo (my back garden is very big and a mixture of grass, mud, holes and clumps of generally dog-savaged lawn).  Anyway, I had on a long white dressing gown with the hood up, and had bent down to look closely to see if stavs had pooed or weed, right behind my wall.  2 women came around the corner a bit drunk on their way home I guess, just as I stood up. They jumped and screamed to suddenly see this white hooded figure appear by them! lol, they thought I was a ghost! 

Anyway, thanks again all.  I appreciate it. x

Ha ha, I think that would have scared me too at 3 o'clock in the morning ;-) I should have a little nap today if you can.
Oh and chicken (or fish) and rice is my favourite standby for upset tums too.

Just a thought, but if the thorny stick had been in there a while, that could be a possible cause for his sudden regression behaviourally.  My dobe girl tends to get snappish when she's not feeling too good - she used to be very bad with gaurding and not trusting and snapped a few times, but it's been something like 18 months since the last.  Then Sunday night she bit me for giving her a fuss - turns out her feet were hurting (she has one toe missing and a tendon sheath problem in them) and she had the start of a temperature too so was feeling grotty.