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Anyone with an overzealous dog or cat (particularly young kittens or puppies) must always be concerned about foreign body ingestion as a cause of progressive vomiting in animals. Particularly in young animals, but even many older dogs will often eat indigestible items. In human medicine this is known as PICA, and while many used to think it was from a nutritional deficiency, the desire to eat indigestible items has no known causes in most cases. |
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Amongst the favorite items include articles of clothing, parts of toys, corn cobs, pine cones, and rocks to name just a few. Cats often prefer more linear items such as string, rubber bands, tinsel around the Christmas tree, and dental floss. While routine X-rays are often done on severely vomiting animals, many foreign bodies can be easily missed because they often don’t show up on routine survey X-rays. Many times vets only see stomach or intestinal gas distention, and “suspicious” patterns hinting at “possible” obstruction.
While in years past, many vets simply did exploratory surgeries on chronically vomiting pets to discover if foreign body obstructions were present, we have since developed more sensitive technologies like Ultrasound and endoscopic exams to diagnose and remove certain foreign bodies. While many vets still will use contrast X-ray material like barium swallows, I’ve found that in most cases this technique is not as helpful and often raises the cost for the client due to higher number of X-rays, as well as increased X-ray exposure of both veterinary staff and animals.
In addition, my experience has caused me to believe that many barium studies are inconclusive. So, as with any severely or chronically vomiting animal, an appropriate workup, including X-rays, blood work, and Ultrasound can often make a diagnosis of foreign body obstruction. Plus, it may also avoid unnecessary exploratory surgeries and physical and/or emotional trauma for both the animal and guardian.
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One Comment
Smelly socks are a bad one for this. That just happened to my cousin’s yellow lab. She found a gym sock lying around and it caused a major obstruction. Careful with the laundry.
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