18/08/2025
Our Brave Dog of the Month award has returned! Congratulations to Stanley, Our Brave Dog of the Month for August. Stanley was originally brought to the clinic because he was very quiet and had begun vomiting. While it initially appeared he had a simple upset stomach, it soon became clear something more serious was going on as he began to deteriorate quickly over the following 24 hours.
X-rays showed an area where his intestines were filled with gas and appeared as if they may be tightly folded. This, along with his rapid deterioration led us to suspect that Stanley had eaten a foreign object that had become stuck in his intestines. The only way to know for sure was to perform exploratory abdominal surgery.
When we began the surgery, we discovered that Stanley had what is known as a linear foreign body. This is when an animal swallows a long thin object like a piece of string or strip of cloth and it becomes stuck at one end as it passes through the intestine. The intestine continues to try to push the object along, but because it is unable to move, what happens is the intestine instead slides backwards along the foreign body, forming concertina-like folds as it does so. These folds can eventually become so tight that they cut off the blood supply to the affected area of intestine, so the condition can rapidly become life-threatening.
Fortunately, in Stanley's case, we were able to remove the foreign object before the blood supply to his intestines became too badly compromised. He recovered well from the surgery and was very patient having to have his diet and activity levels carefully restricted while he healed.
