Alfie on the mend after bone lodged in his gullet
APET West Highland Terrier who swallowed a turkey bone the size of a “gobstopper” underwent emergency surgery to remove it after his owner found him hunched up and retching.
Joy Griffiths took 11-year-old Alfie to the vets where an X-ray revealed the blockage lodged deep in his gullet, close to his stomach.
Vets at North West Veterinary Specialists in Sutton Weaver, Runcorn, confirmed the diagnosis with radiographs, and internal medicine clinician Francesca Venier carried out an endoscopy to try to investigate further and pull it out.
But it was stuck.
Alfie was transferred to theatre where soft tissue expert Krizia Compagnone completed the “long and arduous” removal of the bone with help from colleagues and without needing to do a thoracotomy – which would mean cutting into his chest.
Krizia said: “The surgery took a long time as the bone was difficult to move even from the gastric approach.
“Eventually, after many attempts and repeatedly lubricating the bone in a bid to dislodge it, we finally managed to move it forward into the oesophagus.
“That’s when we quickly decided to go back to the endoscope so that, while we were still in theatre, I could push from the stomach and Francesca could try to retrieve the bone from the mouth.
“Finally, our nurse Rhian GriffithsJones managed to grab it from the back of Alfie’s mouth and pulled it out.
“We were delighted we were able to remove the bone with this combined surgical and endoscopic approach that spared Alfie a thoracotomy.
“It was a very successful outcome to a very challenging, emergency case and we are pleased Alfie recovered so well.
“We monitored him for 48 hours to make sure there were no complications before discharging him, with medications, to finish his recovery at home with his family.”
Relieved owner Joy Griffiths, from Oswestry, Shropshire, was delighted with Alfie’s recovery and added he had ended up in surgery before due to a bone.
Joy believes he must have gobbled the turkey bone down while on his night-time walk.
She said: “He’s a serial offender and is like a cat with nine lives.
“He is a terrier through and through and in his younger days enjoyed ratting and digging up moles.
“Unfortunately, six years ago he needed major surgery after eating a bone.
“Since then, he’d been banned from having them.
“We have no idea how he managed to get hold of this turkey knuckle bone, it was the size of a gobstopper.
“It was left over from an 18lb turkey we had at Christmas.
“It must have been when he went for his night-time walk but I knew that something was wrong the following morning as Alfie was all hunched up and wrenching.
“I took him to the vets and they could see a bone lodged in his oesophagus and he was referred to Northwest Veterinary Specialists straight away.
“They were excellent.
“They were on the case very quickly but were hampered because of Alfie’s previous surgery which had left him with a narrower oesophagus and some scarring too.
“Thankfully they managed to successfully retrieve the bone and Alfie has recovered well so we’re very grateful to Krizia, Francesca and the Northwest Veterinary Specialists team.”