The Flagg Agency

Stella on my daughters bed

I wanted to post a review of our cruise today, however fate intervened. I was making bacon and hash browns for my daughter and I as it was the only thing in the house. I missed the phone ringing as the television was up loud. My cell phone rang and it was a colleague. While we were talking, my wife buzzed in, but I missed her call. She called on the home phone and my daughter answered.

My dog, Stella, was still at the kennel and had been fed and given a bath for pickup. The owner noticed her throw-up and then she started to show signs of anxiety and discomfort. She started then to swell up in her chest like she had swallowed a basketball. He called us and then seeing how far away we were from him and how far he was from the emergency clinic, we agreed to head to the vet while he took her there. Bloat is the second leading killer of dogs. It is when the stomach fills with gas and literally twists inside the chest wall.

Luckily he caught it in time and Stella is now out of surgery. She had some adhesions in her intestines from previous surgeries and as she is now 10 the ligaments are starting to get a bit loose. He sutured her stomach to prevent this happening again. Her gums were still pink and there was no signs of necrosis as when this happens the blood supply gets cut off.

I will tell you when we saw the cost of this, Laura and I both had thoughts of putting her down. I hate that we thought of that, but it is going to come to making a house payment or surgery for the dog at some point. The surgery and follow-up cost us twice as much as our just completed cruise.

Thankfully a very attentive kennel owner saved our dog. We just picked her up from the vet and will be taking her to her regular vet for observation this morning. She is resting comfortably, as she can having had major abdominal surgery, in her crate. I will be publishing a review of our dad and daughter Carnival Dream cruise in the next few days. However, I wanted to share about the unexpected postscript to our cruise.

Chuck and Laura Flagg are fee-based travel consultants.

We own The Flagg Agency in Canton, and our number is  770-355- 9569

We are fee-based travel consultants. We help people make better travel decisions

so they may find an experience that matches both their wants AND their needs.