What’s Stopping Up Rover?
By Bill Ignacio
When people at social occasions learn that I’m a veterinarian, there’s a standard set of questions I’m bound to be asked. My favorite is, “What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever found in surgery?” The reason I love that question is that the answer is, “The other woman’s panties.”
Long story short: a Doberman pinscher was taken to surgery because of a foreign-body obstruction in his tummy. The culprit? A leopard-print thong. So we cleaned it up a little, stuck it in a plastic baggie, tittered among ourselves a little, and showed it to the dog’s family when they came to discharge him. You already know the punch line—it wasn’t mommy’s. Bad dog, both of you!
It may make for a humorous anecdote, but gastrointestinal obstructions really aren’t funny. In addition to being life-threatening, the cost and inherent risk associated with an invasive surgery like this are exceptional—$20 in cheesy lingerie can quickly turn into more than a grand. We see both dogs and cats in our hospital almost every day with suspected foreign bodies in their stomachs. Because the symptoms are fairly nonspecific, we usually consider foreign-body obstructions. Animals with obstructions usually show a lack of appetite and vomit; but hormonal disorders, gastroenteritis, or organ dysfunction can all look the same in the early stages. It can be frustrating because each of these disorders needs to be treated in very different ways. Standard diagnostics include blood work to rule out metabolic or hormonal disease, and X-rays to discover obvious foreign bodies. But often, even that’s not enough. While bones or rocks show up nice and bright on X-rays, panties don’t. In questionable situations, your veterinarian may perform an ultrasound exam or repeat X-rays after an amount of barium has been administered orally to your pet. Barium will highlight foreign objects we can’t see otherwise. And if there is something blocking the road, that’s usually when it’s time for surgery.
While exploratory surgery is common and more than necessary in certain situations, there’s no denying that it’s invasive. Any time the stomach or intestines needs to be opened, there is a very real risk of infection. Other complications following surgery include heart arrhythmias, blood loss and, of course, pain. It sounds scary, and it is, but the truth is that with proper and prompt care, major complications following a foreign body retrieval surgery are rare.
Here’s a list of some popular objects our furry friends seem to find irresistible. Cats: little pieces of stuffed toys that they stalked for an hour, killed, and then of course ate; string, ribbon, and thread; foam earplugs; and rubber bands. I have even seen a few sewing needles in some kitty tummies. Christmastime and birthday parties are key events for cats to find something shiny and indigestible. Dogs: the list is endless, but beware of bones (chewing does not mean eating), toys and balls, and plastic objects from the trash. And incriminating underwear. They’ll eat those every time.
So, if your pet shows a lack of appetite or is vomiting frequently on an empty stomach (especially if you watched him eat a baseball earlier that day), get him or her into your family veterinarian right away. Waiting with this problem can seriously jeopardize healing and increase costs. In some cases, objects that haven’t left the stomach can be removed with an endoscope, eliminating invasive surgery.
Here are some more weird cases I’ve seen lately. Flynt is a handsome little border collie who decided to get hit by a car, develop pancreatitis, and eat half a tennis ball, all at around the same time. He was with us for nearly ten days before we realized he had a foreign body obstruction. Luckily, Flynt has one of the greatest moms there is; she stuck by him the whole time. Flynt did just fine through surgery, and I’m happy to tell you he’s back in fighting form today.
Then there’s Milo, a little ragdoll kitty who got a giant hairball good and stuck in his tiny little intestines. Hairball obstructions in cats are quite rare, but Milo is the second one I’ve treated this year! He’s also lucky enough to have a world-class mom, and he was home in just a couple of days.
So, know what to watch for, but more importantly, help prevent the problem. And for goodness sake, don’t cheat on your wife. There’s nothing worse than being busted by your dog.