pet connection

I was working as a veterinarian yesterday at North Idaho Animal Hospital and my colleague, Dr. Rob Pierce, did a complicated and expensive surgery on a 10-year-old female, canine-cocktail (Lab/golden mix?) named Sissy. The two-hour procedure was to remove an intestinal foreign body. The owner ending up spending $1500-2000 for something that was preventable.

Seems the day before, the owners finally brought the dog into the veterinary hospital to see Dr. Pierce’s wife and co-owner of the practice, Dr. Dawn Mehra, because Sissy hadn’t been eating for a few days and seemed in distress.  Hello?! If you have a dog that hasn’t been eating THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG! A dog’s greatest pleasure in the world is eating and when they stop, you should start calling the veterinarian’s office right away!  In doing a tip-of-the-nose to the tip-of-the-tail exam, Dr. Mehra noticed string coming out of the dog’s anus like a fuse for a furry stick of dynamite. An experienced practitioner, she knew this meant an explo$ive problems.

After agonizing about doing surgery on the dog (owner’s going through a divorce, money tight, dog is older, etc.), then finally voted with their heart — the right decision — and authorized surgery to remove the string. It should be noted that a needless delay in a serious problem like this can be expensive for the pet owner, and dangerous or fatal for the pet.  The intestines bunch up around the string like an accordion (or bunch up like when you push your sleeve up your arm) and this action compromises the blood supply of the gut.  Often, whole sections of dead cut must be cut out and the ends reattached (called an end-to-end anastomosis).

Luckily, the surgery went well and with two incisions in the intestines and one in the stomach, a bunch of macrame —- that spanned the entire distance between the stomach and the anus — was removed. Luckily, no sections of the intestines had to be removed from Sissy, who raided the handicraft basket, the knit-wit.

The lessons here?:

1. Get down – First of all, get down on the floor of your home sometimes and look at potential pet dangers (rodent baits, electrical cords for puppies, macrame materials, toxic plants, etc.).
2. $illy String – Once a dog or cat starts swallowing sting or fishing line, there’s going to be a big problem. If a human were to start to swallow a string they could grab it with their opposable thumb, gag, and pull it back out. When a dog or cat starts on one end of the string, they can’t stop….and just keep chomping until a) they chew it in two, or b) they “can’t believe they ate the whole thing. While almost any type of string may be of interest to a kitten, for some dogs it takes a downright delectable string like the one that ties a roast together, is wrapped around BBQ, or has a fishy taste (like a stringer used for fish). KEEP THESE OUT OF REACH OF PETS.
3. Food bowl as diagnostic tool – If your pet isn’t eating there’s a 99% chance they’re sick. Think of loss of appetite as a red flag for a problem and a sign for you to, at the very least, call the vet.
4. Time is of the essence – Don’t delay in seeking veterinary and authorizing treatment. Forget days, sometimes minutes count in starting a successful treatment for a problem. By saying “Yes doctor, do what’s necessary.” you do what you would do for any family member (two or four-legged) and give your pet the best chance for a successful outcome.