Dr. Sam's Thoughts

THE FOREIGN BODY FLU!!!

Well what is foreign body flu season anyway? It is much more common for our pets to ingest foreign bodies over the Holidays. Foreign bodies ae anything our pet eats that does not belong in the stomach and intestines. Sometimes they cause little if not problems (very small ones) to those that cause severe abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhea. The latter are usually very large, or of the wrong consistency for the intestine to pass on into the bowel movement.

Our first one this season was about two weeks before Christmas, a kitty cat who decided he would help mom trim the tree. Seems she left a box of ribbons, bows and ornaments open near the tree overnight. Next morning kitty was vomiting. This particular owner is one of the best and she brought in kitty the next morning. Radiographs (x-rays) revealed nothing but an excess of gas in the stomach. This owner was SURE kitty had eaten the twelve inch piece of green ribbon and we opted to go straight to surgery. The owner was absolutely correct; I could feel the ribbon through the stomach wall once the belly was opened for surgery. A small incision into the stomach allowed me to “hook” the ribbon with a surgical instrument and pull it right out.

The stomach was closed with a few sutures, the remainder of the intestine was explored manually, and the belly was closed.

It is important to realize, as in this case, many foreign bodies are radiolucent (you cannot see them with x-rays) and a barium series or exploratory surgery are necessary to get to the root of the problem. And one should never just remove a foreign body and NOT explore the abdomen carefully.

Because this owner was pro-active this kitty has suffered no ill effects. Many times people want to wait and see if things will get better on their own.

Several factors, I think, are responsible for people not wanting to do surgery.

1) If the doctors cannot find it on radiographs why cut my kitty open? (We have already addressed this, if the object is not dense enough it will not show up on x-rays)
2) Anesthesia is always risky (Yes they are, and that is why preoperative bloodwork and radiographs with safe anesthesia monitoring can make anesthesia as safe as possible).
3) MONEY is often the primary motivator in cases such as these, that is why we highly recommend Veterinary Pet Insurance(VPI) (http://www.veterinarypetinsurance.com/).

This insurance has helped prevent many very loved pets to avoid an “economical euthanasia.” We do every thing possible to avoid this in our practice in several ways 1) VPI is the most important thing to have in place, pets are easily covered as youngsters and if you get them covered early, even routine things like vaccines and spay/neuters are covered. 2) Care-Credit is a financial service catering specifically to pet owners. It helps many owners out, but high interest rates are consequence. 3) We extend credit to long-tem clients in unusual situations

So far the ribbon eating kitty is the only one we have had to perform to my knowledge.
Let’s see we had the lab who ate the ham AND the tin foil, she had vomited it all up before she came in. This owner chose to wait five days after the occurrence to come in. He got REALLY lucky, tin-foil going up or down the esophagus and cause sever cuts in that organ, (the food tube to the stomach).

We had several little dogs that could not resist the Holiday chocolates. These we do induce regurgitation (vomiting) and then tube or syringe feed activated charcoal, this substance helps absorb toxins in the intestine and they are eliminated in the stool. Specific medications are also used to stop the vomiting and help the patient become more comfortable.

We had a yellow lab who ate a glass Christmas ornament!!! He sustained a few cuts in the mouth. The smart owner brought in what ws left over of the ball shaped ornament to the hospital. We first x-rayed the piece of ornament by itself, to make sure it was radiodense, i.e. that it would even show-up on x-ray. This particular ornament was VERY thick glass with painting on it. It showed up very well! We radiographed the abdomen (belly) and no signs of the ornament were apparent. So I guess he just like munching on it, must not have tasted very good so he did not swallow any! He got a round of antibiotics to prevent infection from the cuts in his mouth.

So all in all the Holidays of 2004-2005 were not too hard on the beloved patients of Veterinary Associated Stonefield.

I hope each and every one of you are welcoming the New Year, and have a happy and successful 2005.

Sammy Vaughn