ANIMALS CAUSING MEDICAL MAYHEM
— Kevin’s owner took him to AHVEC with excessive vomiting, only for staff to discover through radiographs he had ingested several rocks. After a successful surgery, 14 blue metal rocks were removed and Kevin made a safe return home. Dr Edie Bishop said some dogs became repeat offenders and took a shining to apparently tasty rocks.
Cats love playing with wool, but they don’t count on swallowing a needle and thread like this unlucky feline. Dr David Boersma assured us curiosity did not kill the cat in question, but the incident could have ended tragically. “We did open its abdomen because I thought it ate a curtain cord — a needle or thread can cause a severe issue if it gets caught in intestines.”
A walk in the park turned sour when a miniature poodle was attacked by a larger dog. Dr Bishop doubted whether the pooch would survive due to severe injuries and the pet being 15 years old. “He was with us for two weeks back and forth,” Dr Bishop said. But the little fighter made it home for Christmas. “It was really nice to see pictures of him going for walks again.” Dr Bishop warned holidays were a common time for pets to fight, with some unhappy about sharing their turf with relatives’ pets and others competing for treats.
AHVEC staff were perplexed when small shards of a razor blade were found in a Staffordshire terrier’s stomach. Dr Bishop and the team had to carefully remove each shard in surgery, with razor-sharp objects posing a serious threat to health.
Chocolate and raisins, among other holiday treats, are poisonous to dogs. Dr Boersma said one had eaten an entire chocolate bar over summer. The dog had a strangely high resistance to morphine, so Dr Boersma doubled the dose before the chocolate finally emerged from the poor puppy’s stomach.
Grass seeds get stuck everywhere, from ears to mouths to paws. Dr Boersma said one dog was unlucky enough to have one lodged up its snout. “It was a small 6kg dog, so I don’t know how it managed to sniff up such a large seed,” he said. “We removed it and it’s been fine since.” Dr Boersma recommended keeping fur on paws trimmed as short as possible to avoid seed surgery.