Sad Sunday

When I went out to the barn to feed the horses this morning Ladybug was in her stall laying down on her side and she wouldn't get up!  I tried and tried to make her stand.  She would raise her head but wouldn't get up any further.  I was so scared!  Of course I called the vet school right away to get someone out to see what was wrong.  It took them about 45 minutes to get here and by the time they came I had managed to get her up and had been leading her around the yard for about 15 minutes or so.  Each time I let her stand still, though, she would look around at her hip as if she were hurting.  Obviously colic.  But WHY?  Ladybug has never had any sort of digestive problem in all her 22 years.  

When the vet came, they sedated her, then checked for blockages in her intestines (as far up as she was able to reach anyway).  Then they ran a tube up her nose and down into her stomach and flushed everything out of there.  

Vet student holding the gastric tubing

They are removing the tube here.

The bad thing is, most of the food she ate at 6 PM last night was still in there.  NOT a good sign.  It may indicate that there is a blockage further up in her colon that isn't reachable without surgery.   I called Janet to see what she might know about it, and if she knew of anything I might give her.  Other than the vet, no.  But she also said it's possible it could be something else, like a tumor or something, since she's never had any problems in the past and she is so old at this point.  I sure hope that's not the case.  But we'll just have to see what happens.  I'm supposed to call the vet back at 5 or 6 this evening and let her know if she seems like her normal self yet or is still having problems.

Guess I'll be spending most of the day out there checking on Bug.  (Please, please, PLEASE let her be okay.)