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Health & Fitness

Highly-Skilled Surgeon Improvises with Endoscope to Remove Chew Toy Firmly Wedged in Dog's Throat

Shetland Sheepdog mix Rogan was brought to Newtown Veterinary Specialists’ emergency service when his owner suspected something might be caught in the dog’s throat.  This happened because Rogan and his sister had been sharing a dried beef snack when he swallowed it whole so his sibling wouldn’t eat it. His owner noticed the classic symptoms of an esophageal foreign body, including hacking, coughing and drooling.

Rogan was immediately stabilized by our emergency service veterinarian. Chest radiographs confirmed that the treat was lodged in the esophagus. It was just too big to pass into the stomach. Dr. Chad Andrews, one of our highly-skilled board-certified veterinary surgeons, was available on call and came in right away to perform an endoscopic removal of the treat. 

A sophisticated piece of equipment with many functions, an endoscope is basically a thin, flexible tube with a camera.  A bright light and instrument port allow tools to be inserted into the body with the camera. With a set of joy-stick-like controls, the specialist can move the head of the endoscope around inside the body. Our board-certified internal medicine and surgical specialists use endoscopy for many minimally-invasive procedures, including biopsies of the GI tract, to evaluate the inside of the bladder or urethra, and to assist with joint or body cavity surgeries. 

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In Rogan’s case, we used the endoscope to assist in retrieval of the esophageal foreign body. The patient was anesthetized and the endoscope was passed into his esophagus through the mouth.  We could see the foreign body just before the opening of the stomach. But the endoscopy instruments (a small snare and tiny graspers) couldn’t budge the chew toy, which was very firmly stuck.   

Dr. Andrews improvised and used the endoscope camera as an aid to pass a long, sterile Foley catheter past the toy. The balloon at the end of the catheter was inflated with saline and as the catheter was pulled out, the balloon caught on the chew toy and pulled it out! Inspection of Rogan’s esophagus with the endoscope showed bruising as a result of the toy being stuck, but no perforations, which can be a serious consequence of this type of incident.

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To help prevent this from happening to your pooch, feed dogs separately so they don't get competitive. Feed small bite-sized treats so if they’re swallowed whole they won't get trapped. 

In the photo, taken with the endoscope’s tiny camera, you can see the toy lodged in Rogan's throat. This picture gives you a good idea of just how valuable this sophisticated tool is to our advanced diagnostic and treatment work.    

The patient recovered well with the aid of some medications to help heal the bruising. Rogan was soon back to his agility work! If you suspect that your pet has an esophageal foreign body please call us right away as it can be very serious! The emergency service at Newtown Veterinary Specialists is open 24/7/365 for your convenience.





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