Interesting Cases

Puppies eat almost anything

Boone is a fun loving Australian Shepard puppy. One evening while his owner was watching television she noticed that he was chewing on something. Suddenly she saw what Boone had in his mouth and yelled "No!" Drop it." Unfortunately he didn't listen. By the time she reached him it was too late, his mouth was empty. Boone accidentally ate a needle and thread.

Fortunately he was seen eating this object. In the past we have had patients that had ingested similar objects, develop signs ranging from loss of appetite, vague fever, vomiting or abdominal pain. The diagnosis in some cases was delayed a day or two. X-rays show the needle was located in the stomach.

An exploratory surgery was performed late that evening to remove the needle. Due to the large amount of food in the stomach we were unable to use an endoscope to retrieve the needle.

The needle and thread were removed. The surgery was successful and Boone is doing well.

Metallic foreign bodies such as needles, hooks, coins, paperclips show up well on x-ray. Other common foreign bodies such as string, socks, plastic, or rubber are not seen on x-ray and may require a barium study or ultrasound to identify the foreign body.

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