Fitz is a very lucky Springer Spaniel who has a bit of a penchant for eating things he shouldn't. About a week and a half ago he started being sick. After 24 hours of not keeping anything down his owners brought him to see me. Luckily for Fitz, his owners made the right decision early enough.
After some xrays to prove our suspicion of an obstruction in his intestines I performed emergency surgery to remove a number of foreign objects. Fitz's surgery took three and a half hours!! He had swallowed a pair of tights and followed it up with a meal of bone which he had stolen from the bin. The tights acted as an anchor in his stomach whilst the bone travelled through the gut. The normal movement of his gut along with this anchoring effect caused his gut to squash up so that his entire intestines were conertina'd. In this situation his guts have little more than 24-48 hours before they will die leading to a life-threatening problem.
Fitz required one incision into his stomach and six into various places in his intestines. The entire pair of tights and all the pieces of bone were successfully removed. Fortunately for him, all of his gut survived and a week later he is well on the way to a full recovery.
Fitz was very lucky. It can be very hard to stop dogs from eating things that they shouldn't but it was Fitz's owners rapid response to his symptoms that enabled us to save him. If your dog is the type to eat things he/she shouldn't then try as hard as you can to ensure all dangerous items are out of their reach. The main sign of a blockage is uncontrollable vomiting along with an absence of faeces. If you see this in a dog suspected of eating something that they shouldn't we would strongly advise that you seek veterinary advice.
