Case of the Month - October 2017

Ever heard of the saying that things come in threes? We have had a whirlwind of cases needing endoscopy in the month of October!

An endoscope is a fibre-optic, lighted flexible and/or rigid tubular instrument that can be used to visualise the inside of hollow organs. It can be used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and is able to take little biopsies if needed. It is a marvellous non-invasive instrument that is another tool for examining and sampling the inside of the body without having surgery.

Our three cases are:

Labrador mistakes hearing aid for breakfast

Batteries can be toxic and cause electrical and chemical burns if chewed and ingested. Lucky for little Pickle, her owner was aware of this and rushed her straight down. Radiographs were taken revealing the culprit in the stomach. Pickle had a general anaesthetic and the handy forceps were used to retrieve the battery and little Pickle’s intestinal tract was saved for another day.

Pickle as a much smaller pup!  How cute!?

The curious incident of foil up a Spaniel’s nose

Betty had ongoing sneezing and nasal discharge for a month and was not responding to the usual treatment. Due to her breed and the clinical signs we were suspicious of a foreign material up the nose but were surprised to find tin foil! We do not know how or why it got up there but good news for Betty is that it has been removed and her sneezing is improving although there is a chance there may be more hiding up there!

Grass seed seeks new home in boxer’s nose

Grass seeds are notorious for ending up in places they shouldn’t and poor little Tia had a similar history to Betty with sneezing and a discharge from her right nostril. There are many causes of this, particularly in older dogs so differentials like fungal disease were ruled out before we used endoscopy to see exactly what was going on. The grass awn and stalk were located and removed and Tia is certainly much happier at home.