Paul s Pet Page PAUL COCKERHAM MA VETMB PHD MRCVS Has over 30 years experience in both small animal and large animal veterinary practice and is a director of Rosemullion Veterinary Practice Ltd Are you a dog owner that wants to avoid huge vet bills? Then here s a word of advice don t throw sticks for your dog! I know it looks like your pet s having fun but you are seriously endangering your pet s life (and your wallet!). It is one of the most frustrating injuries a vet has to deal with because it is usually avoidable. If you are of a squeamish disposition then try to avoid the photographs that will follow; they are deliberately shocking because this is one of those stories that may happen to you. These photos were taken in our practice and in the last few months we have had to deal with at least 3 more incidents like it, so it is far more common than you may think. Before we get to the gruesome case study, what are the risks? When you throw the stick and your dog goes belting after it, the stick may lodge in the ground pointing towards the dogs open mouth as the poor pooch hurtles towards it at 30mph..So what happens next? On the simple to deal with end of the scale, the dog may get some superficial cuts and scratches to its lips, gums or tongue. They may or may not get infected but the chances are they will - after all, if you think about the stick it is probably covered in mud or dung but it is definitely covered in bacteria or fungi. You might get lucky and only have to deal with a stitch or two and a course of broad spectrum antibiotics; this will probably set you back about 70-100. That s the cheap end of this story. Alternatively, you have injuries that include septicaemia, paralysis of limbs, or life threatening blood loss. These are a lot more serious and now this could start to cost you from 400 with no guarantee that your pet will live, but that s not where the story ends, oh no! Let s get to the scary part: damage to the oesophagus or
gullet, penetration through the roof of the mouth to the nasal cavity, the severing of major blood vessels, or simply going straight through the neck remember these sticks are dirty and usually have a sharp point, or shards of the stick break off. You ve probably seen your dog chewing at the ends of the stick you have been throwing. These shards can enter the digestive tract where they can become lodged and start to work their way through the intestinal lining until it is perforated which is sometimes difficult to spot even with decent endoscopy, ultrasound and x-ray and this can be days after the walk, so you are not sure why your pet is suddenly not behaving normally or is off its legs. Now, suddenly, you are looking at a bill of over 1,000, in some cases over 3,000. At this point you start to wonder if not having insurance was such a great idea and after all you threw the stick, so it absolutely is not the dog s fault you have a large vet bill. Anyway, now I have had my rant about it, here are a couple of stories, one with photos, that I hope will make you take it all more seriously. Case 1 - Odin, a 1 year old Rottweiler, was brought in as his owners had noticed he was off his food and not as boisterous as usual. The vet found his abdomen was painful and he had a very high temperature so he was admitted for further investigation. As Odin was being prepared for fluid therapy he collapsed. Having stabilised him, we took x-rays which showed a foreign body had penetrated his digestive tract. He was taken to surgery immediately where we found a stick had become lodged in his stomach, penetrating the stomach wall as it was too big to pass through normally. This was removed, and his oesophagus checked using the endoscope to make sure there were no tears here. All was going well and the team of three vets and as many nurses were starting to think that the afternoon was going to have a good outcome. However, Odin s breathing started to worsen so there was clearly another issue as well it proved to be a second puncture wound through the stomach, but this had also penetrated the diaphragm, a life threatening injury. This had caused the chest to fill with fluid. The biggest concern was from infection caused by the stick entering the chest. The chest had to be drained every 2 hours and Odin needed intensive fluid therapy. Odin was hospitalised for 4 days and the bill was over 3,000. I would just like to thank Odin s owners for allowing me to use him as an example and would also like to stress that they had not been throwing sticks for him in the first place.
Case 2 Fred s owners had noticed a funny smell over the last couple of weeks but couldn t work out where it was coming from. When we looked in his mouth, we found a stick wedged across the roof of his mouth stuck between his teeth. Fred was sedated and we removed the stick however, the stick had been stuck for a while and had worn away the roof of his mouth leaving a hole the width of his mouth through into his nasal cavity an oronasal fistula. This was where the smell was coming from as the hole was badly infected. We treated Fred with antibiotics for a week and then operated
We had to close the defect by creating a flap of tissue from his soft palate, and then we had to slide it forward to cover the hole created by the stick. This was then stitched into place.
Fred recovered very well but had cost his owners over 700 in the process. If you are still with me, well done sorry about the photos but these were the less blood filled ones but you can clearly see what was going on. There are properly designed dog toys out there, but if you don t want to spend a fortune a simple tennis ball will suffice. Do be careful when choosing a ball for your dog as sometimes a tennis ball will be too small and a steady source of income for vets is cutting tennis balls and golf balls out of dogs tummies. If you are not sure come and talk to one of our veterinary nurses their consult is free and they spend their time advising our clients on these sorts of things; a little thought could save you a lot!