A smoked dog bone I bought for our dogs as a treat is now threatening Max's life. Please help!

Our little Maximus (named after the movie Gladiator) is an energetic 1.5 year old Bernese rescue dog. He is such a bright light in our lives but sadly now his light is flickering.

We rescued him from an unwanted litter in Montreal. He was taken too early from his Mother and is therefore smaller than other Berneses and a little socially awkward. He is so full of energy all the time and since my Husband, Stephen, and I recently bought our first (very modest) home in Welland, Ontario he loves going for long runs and swims along the canals. While he is in this fragile state I am haunted by the night we brought him home. He was so so tiny since he was weaned too early and he curled up on my lap in a little ball for the long car ride to his new home. His big sister, a Golden Retriever named Mindy (named for the Heroine in the movie Kick Ass) was over the moon with joy when she saw him. We tried to keep him in his crate as much as we could but they would just cry and cry to be together. They, and we all, have been absolutely inseparable ever since. We even made our honeymoon a cottage week on the water because we knew that we had to have them with us. Last spring we returned to that cottage for a weekend and it was as if they had never left.

Last weekend I was in Seaway Mall here in Welland and came across a booth setup by a local Italian deli. They were selling smoked dog bones, 6 for $10. I should have known that it was too good to be true. They had had many bones before with no problems and I thought that these would be excellent rewards for after I gave them their ear mite mediation that night. Indeed, they both quickly forgave me and devoured them. Tuesday night I administered the follow-up treatment and rewarded them with the bones again. This time something went wrong. Wednesday afternoon Max threw up heaps of liquid again and again. He was shaking and very dehydrated so I contacted Stephen immediately and he rushed home from work. By that time the local vets were closing so we had to take him to the insanely expensive emergency Vet. He was checked out and given x-rays and what we most feared was confirmed. A large piece of the bone I gave him is lodged in his intestines. We had to leave him there overnight and if he doesn't pass it on his own he will need surgery.

Please say a prayer with us that he is able to pass it on his own.

We have almost exhausted all the funds that we have. Buying our first home ate up our savings and we haven't bounced back yet. If he needs surgery it will be about $3000. He is just so young at 1.5 years and is such puppy at heart that we can't give up on him. My Husband is talking about begging his existing credit cards and loans to extend his limits but that would absolutely destroy us financially and we wouldn't recover. We are talking about trying for our first child in the spring but that would be out of the question with added debt. Even with that knowledge we can't give up. Please, any tiny bit that you can give to help him will change our lives considerably.

If God grants our prayers and lets him pass the bone naturally we will absolutely without a doubt reinvest any funds that the vet doesn't require for his treatment in another needy dog like him on this site.We are more than happy to provide scanned copies of the upcoming vet bills for proof.

Please pray for his health and that he passes the bone naturally!

Either way I will be working to ensure that this deli stops selling these bones so this doesn't happen to another family's baby.