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Jack's Slow-moving foreign body
Jack is a 5yr old male neutered Westie, and a lovely
character.
But he does enjoy scavenging rubbish. Up to now he'd got away with it and either
vomited or passed anything silly that he's eaten. He was brought to us early one
Monday morning having vomited bile several times over the last few days and was
now off food and listless. Actually he still looked reasonably bright but
clearly was nothing like his bouncy self.
His abdomen showed no signs of pain, temperature was normal and he was
moderately dehydrated. Rectal examination showed dry dark contents and a
stagnant smell indicating that the bowel was fairly inactive. Knowing his
tendency to scavenge we suspected an intestinal foreign body. The lack of severe
abdominal pain suggested that it might be moving slowly along the intestine.
Blood tests shown no major problems except the dehydration.
First priority was to put him on a drip and get him rehydrated ready for
possible surgery. X-rays of the abdomen were not helpful, and even palpation of
the belly under general anaesthetic did not reveal a palpable foreign body. The
probability of an intestinal obstruction was still so high we decided we had to
operate. Opening into the abdomen we found a swelling on
the small intestine typical of a foreign body and bruising
in the intestine higher up where the slow-moving obstruction had caused damage
as it passed along. We opening into the intestine and removed a pyramid shaped
chunk of a hard rubber ball. The intestine was not yet seriously damaged so we
were able to close our intestinal entry rather than have to remove a length of
bowel. Jack was lucky, we'd caught him early enough. The abdominal entry was
closed with a strong dissolving suture and the skin was closed with staples.
Swelling in the
intestine
Foreign body removed
Skin closure with staples
The rubber foreign body
Jack made a great recovery, went home the next day and never looked back.
We just hope he is more careful what he swallows in future!
Jack under anaesthetic with pulse oximeter on his tongue
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