2939. The Sheltie swallows an "aluminum foil wrapper of sweets" but it is actually an ankle sock

Feb 29, 2016

"No way he had swallowed the aluminium wrapper. It appears like a disc in the X rays

Tues March 8, 2016

The couple had promised to provide feedback to me although they had gone to another vet for the operation.Total cost of surgery (removal of ankle sock) and hospitalisation was around $2,500 as compared to another vet practice (Vet 3) that quoted $6,000. Some bruising in the gut but nothing serious.


The wife phoned me to say that her dog had recovered from the intestinal surgery done by Vet 4.
The dog went home last Saturday.

The dog had swallowed an ankle sock. That was how I palpated a hard golf-ball lump in the mid-abdomen as the sock must have had bunched up. I had advised surgery but the dog had a blood bacterial infection on that day. Surgery was postponed to the next day after IV antibiotics and drip. However the owner went to Vet 4 who did the surgery.

The dog is OK now and had not passed much stools yet. "He had not eaten for the past few days and so no stools were formed," I explained. The owner fed porridge and chicken. The big skin wound was necessary to open up the abdomen to take out the intestines.

Video of dog pre-op in You Tube.

EVIDENCE
2 ultrasounds
2 x-rays
Several vet consultations

In my opinion, a painless hard golf-ball lump in the mid abdomen and the first ultrasound stating possible foreign body would have been sufficient evidence to go for exploratory surgery. Barium meal contrast X-ray is another option but all these cost money.