They Ate What!?

Veterinary Practice News
l September 2013
TheyAteWhat?
September 2013 l Veterinary Practice News
HONORABLE MENTIONS
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California vets win top honors
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The best of our 8th
annual competition
TheyAteWhat?
VeterinaryPracticeNews.com
The name of Veterinary Practice News’ annual radiograph contest—“They
ate WHAT?”—is especially appropriate this year. The dog in one of the two
winning radiographs ingested a long piece of metal that no one could identify.
“The owner had just moved into that house and didn’t know where it
came from,” said Ivan Mayor, DVM, of Humane Veterinary Hospital of San
Diego in Spring Valley, Calif. “Penelope, a 6-month-old female pit bull, was
by herself all day. The owner found her with a rigid neck and drooling when
he got home.”
The second winning radiograph found a 10½-inch serrated bread knife in
a 6-months- to 1-year-old Jack Russell pup, Maya. The X-ray was submitted
by J.R. Hight, DVM, and S.L. Svarvari, DVM, of Sunny Brae Animal Clinic in
Arcata, Calif. The knife was surgically removed without incident. Maya was
surrendered to the clinic and placed in a safer environment.
Sound-Eklin of Carlsbad, Calif., sponsored the contest. It will award the
two winners digital single-lens reflex cameras. The staff of Veterinary Practice News judged the contest.
Another amazing radiograph showed something quite long in a 16-weekold pit bull puppy that had been vomiting pieces of wood. The owners said
the only thing missing at home was a back scratcher.
Sure enough, Yoda had eaten the back scratcher, ball-end first, so it slid
all the way in. It was removed in surgery.
THE WINNERS
Ivan Mayor, DVM
Humane Veterinary Hospital of
San Diego
Spring Valley, Calif.
Penelope, a 6-month-old female pit bull, presented for gagging and drooling. A heavy gauge
metal with a 2-inch curve was in the mouth.
X-rays found a metal rod from the mouth to the
anterior wall of the stomach with both ends
having a 2-inch 90-degree curve. Endoscopy
was unsuccessful, so exploratory surgery was
performed.
Robert R. Blease, DVM
Animal Health Center
Stewartsville, N.J.
Yoda, a 16-week-old-pit bull, presented vomiting pieces of wood, having difficulty breathing,
and in shock. The owners said the only thing
they couldn’t find at home was a wooden
back scratcher. Yoda had swallowed it
WHOLE. He recovered beautifully from surgery.
Maggie Klein, DVM
Animal Emergency Center
Watsontown, Pa.
Glenn Gray, DVM, and Grant Nisson, DVM
Muddy Creek Animal Hospital
West River, Md.
Alice, a German shepherd, was taking a
break from her 10-day-old puppies and
playing with her owners. They threw a ball
and it lodged in her oropharynx; she was unable to breathe but made it 30 minutes to
the ER clinic. The ball had a bell in it, plus
holes at both ends which, she was breathing
through. The dog did great, the owners were
very thankful.
Owners of 17-week-old Labrador retriever brought him
in for lethargy and vomiting,
and said he had been eating
a deer carcass. Radiographs
found an arrowhead, which
was surgically removed. The
puppy recovered beautifully.
Tammy Pappelis, DVM
Riverbend Pet Hospital
Hastings, Minn.
Mary Ann Adams, DVM
Freestone County Veterinary
Hospital
Teague, Texas
Baxter, a 2-year-old male
neutered Labrador/
golden mix, ate a drapery
hook. An exploratory
found that the hook had
perforated his small
intestine. Surgery was
curative, and Baxter recovered nicely.
The metal rod was 20 inches long with a
1.5-inch curve on both ends.
Eleven-month-old female yellow
Lab female, presented after
owner saw her swallow a 22-inch
choke chain the day before.
Lisa Bright
Happy Tails Pet Clinic Ocklawaha, Fla.
Fred Mulch, DVM
Whitehaven Veterinary Center
Davenport, Iowa
A bald eagle was in severe distress. A
urinary catheter
was passed
into its craw
to flush out
whatever was
obstructing its
throat. A chicken neck was
extracted.
Small dog presented with vomiting and
lethargy. We took X-rays but could not
identify stomach contents. Prescribed
meds, hoping it would pass. She ended
up at the emergency center, where they
removed 70 hair ties from stomach, duodenum and jejunum. The client’s daughter had wondered what happened to her
hair ties. Chloe made a full recovery.
J.R. Hight, DVM, and
S.L. Svarvari, DVM
Sunny Brae Animal Clinic
Arcata, Calif.
Jack Russell pup
ingested 10.5-inch
bread knife, which was
surgically removed.
Eugene Osburn, DVM
Osburn Veterinary Clinic
Florence, Ore.
When the rod could not be removed endoscopically, doctors made an incision in the stomach,
cut the rod at the curve and pulled it out through her mouth. When she woke up, Penelope was
back to being a playful puppy.
Eight-week-old miniature pinscher George
had been vomiting. Radiograph showed earring that was removed
endoscopically.
Jared Coren, DVM
West Hills Animal
Hospital &
Emergency Center
Huntington, N.Y.
Headset in a
10-year-old Wheaten terrier was endoscopically removed.
Kristin Fleming, DVM
Sand Springs Small Animal Hospital
Sand Springs Okla.
Hoss, a 9-week-old great Pyrenees, swallowed a rib bone,
stretching his stomach
The bone was removed via gastrotomy. Hoss recovered
uneventfully.
Veterinary Practice News
TheyAteWhat?
l September 2013
TheyAteWhat?
VeterinaryPracticeNews.com
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Eva J Ojolick-Ryan, DVM CCRT
Ranch Animal Hospital
Braddenton, Fla.
Cheyenne Pet Clinic
Cheyenne, Wyo.
14-year-old William, a bichon frise,
is fed a raw diet. Checking on him
after dinner, owner noticed a whole
llama rib bone was missing. Patient
is doing fine after surgery.
Four-month-old French poodle Lola’s owner thought
she might have eaten a
phone charger cord. Turns
out she’d actually eaten chargers from three
phones. She went home
five days after surgery.
Gayle Jaeger, DVM,
MSpVM, DACVS
VCA Newark
Delaware
Prince, a 3-year-old, male,
neutered cocker spaniel ate
a box of staples out of the
home office. They were removed via gastrotomy. One
staple was able to pass into
the small intestines as well.
Maddy, a 3-year-old female spayed pug, presented with a history of
vomiting. The foreign body
is exactly what it looks
like. The local fireman
came to school that week
and handed out erasers
to the kids.
Brenda England, RVT
Veterinary Medical Center
Glasgow, Ky.
Emily Perez, veterinary technician
Bethel Mill Animal Hospital
Sewell, NJ
A dog came in not feeling
well; radiograph showed a
coin. Two pennies were removed in surgery from the
pelvic region.
The second radiograph features clinic residents. A red tail boa
escaped its cage. The next day, a technician asked who had Simon,
a green-headed parrot, out of his cage. They radiographed the
snake and found Simon.
Tallula, a 5-year-old spayed female
DSH, presented with a history of not
eating for a few days and vomiting. Radiographs showed foreign
material in her stomach and small
intestines. Gastrotomy was performed; about 40 hair bands were
removed from her stomach and
intestinal tract.
Jenna Klein, CVT
Lexington Pet Clinic Eagan,
Minn.
A puffer fish who resided in a dental office had
stopped eating. He was
brought in for an exam,
and a foreign object was palpated. The puffer fish underwent
exploratory surgery to remove the obstructing clam.
Dean Domeyer, DVM
Boothbay Animal Hospital
Boothbay, Maine
Two-year-old female intact pit bull terrier presented for a
cough. Radiographs showed foreign material in the stomach. A gastrotomy found a knife in a leather holster, choke
chain, cigarette box, empty tube of Neosporin and a large
amount of unidentified debris. Patient made a full recovery.
Karen Pastor, DVM,
Dipl. ACVS
Massachusetts
Veterinary Referral
hospital
Woburn, Mass.
4-year-old male neutered Lab mix with history of vomiting. He had eaten the
remote control for the PlayStation.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Stephen P. Sawyer, BVSc, MRCVS
Jamul Veterinary Hospital; Jamul, Calif.
David Wempe, DVM
Spring Hill Animal Clinic; Spring Hill, Fla.
Leila, a 4-year-old German shepherd dog, came in with a ball was lodged
in her throat. The ball was designed with holes, which allowed her to
breathe, with difficulty. Minor sedation was administered; the doctor inserted a finger in a hole and removed the ball. Recovery was uneventful.
A 1.5-year-old yellow Lab presented for vomiting. The owners live on a golf course and see her playing with balls hit
into their yard. Financial constraints ruled out surgery. After
two doses of an emetic, we retrieved all the balls.
Trends seen
in entries
Tobe Singleton, DVM
Southside Animal Hospital
Nashville, Tenn.
Candace Born, DVM
Heartland Animal Hospital
Faribault, Minn.
Five-month-old Trixie, a Yorkie mix, eluded her owner after nabbing a charm bracelet. Dr. Born said Tinker Bell’s pose makes
this a once-in-a-lifetime radiograph. Tink was
allowed to pass uneventfully.
September 2013 l Veterinary Practice News
Veterinary Practice News
Editor Marilyn Iturri said that
this year’s radiograph contest
entries showed some trends.
“Two dogs nearly choked
to death on balls,” she said.
“Luckily, one ball was
made with a lot of holes,
which let the dog keep
breathing. The second ball
had one hole, which was
enough that the dog could
breathe. Luckily, the owners
got the dogs to their vets
quickly and both survived.”
Both dogs were German
shepherds.
Radiographs of hair ties in
cats are a contest mainstay.
The contest receives several
such entries every year, and
this year was no exception.
But there were two twists on
the theme.
“One X-ray found what
turned out to be 70 hair ties
in a dog’s stomach,” Iturri
said. “Having a dog with the
ties was a first for us.
“In another case, owners
took their cat in for its annual exam, and the vet found a
hard mass. The owners said
OK to an X-ray, which showed
something indiscernible. But
instead of allowing surgery
to check it out, they opted for
euthanasia. The veterinarian
did a necropsy, and the ‘mass’
turned out to be hair ties.”
Iturri said all the entries
were great, and good reason
for owners to keep closer
watch on their animals. Some
of the emailed copies were
not of high enough resolution to reproduce well in the
magazine, she said. So some
X-rays might not appear here
only for technical reasons.
“Many thanks to readers
for sharing their radiographs
with us,” said Chrissy
Laughlin, director of marketing for Sound-Eklin, sponsor
of the contest. Sound-Eklin
has sponsored the contest
since its inception in 2005.
Ever buy equipment you don’t use?
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