I just wanted to give you all a heads up on a rather distressing last 10 days we have had at the Barrowclough property. Our dog Poppy loves hazelnuts, as I am sure many of yours do also. She has been cracking them in her teeth and eating them for 9 years without any problems. However about 10 days ago, she must have ingested one in shell without cracking it first. We did not see this. She started to get unwell and presented as if she had a gastro bug. Vomiting and no appetite and worse, she wouldn’t drink water either. So after 3 trips to the vet on consecutive days and IV support for hydration, they finally diagnosed the problem by tracing a radioactive pill which stopped moving through her digestive tract at the small intestine. There was something blocking her intestine. Either a growth (possibly cancer) or a foreign object. She was very unwell at this point and there was a substantial risk she would not survive the surgery. We had no choice, she wasn’t going to survive without it. So the wonderful vets at Lincoln opened her up only to find an undigested intact hazelnut in shell blocking her intestine. They removed it, the radioactive pill and 10 cm’s of her intestine and sewed her up. Fortunately she has come through that major life saving surgery and is on the mend.
So a cautionary tale. Poppy is a small dog, Westie cross Poodle, but has been eating hazelnuts successfully for a long time. Never in our wildest dreams would we think that this could happen to her. So if your dog also loves hazelnuts, be careful. I expect the Vet bill will wipe out next years orchard profit! But we are so relieved to still have her with us.
Regards
Peter
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