Home Page
Meet the Staff
News
Healthy Pets
Pet Problems
Recent Cases
Useful Tips
Downloads
Fun Stuff
Pet Links

         VAT No. 174346162          Clients' Thanks

USA: U.S. Dermatologist Lowell Ackerman has discovered and used pictures from this website in his new book on Veterinary Dermatology book 

Australia Parts of our website are now being used for teaching vet nurses on Gilles Plains Campus

JAPAN: Our Firework Phobia leaflet is now in use in Japan!!
 (Download Japanese version)


 Heaven for Pets

Link to   
Cats Protection
Blackburn and District
Local Branch

back> to recent cases     
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

<top of page>