Unusual Foreign Objects

Here are some of the other entries from our 'What have you found?' competition featured in the Veterinary Review:

Beach pebbles x-ray

'Rooney' the Weimeraner had previously had a pair of tights removed from his intestine and has subsequently had a large plastic 'bolt' removed too. On this occasion when seen for vomiting there was an interesting rubbing sound as he walked. This was the 13 Worthing beach pebbles grating on one another in his stomach. Radiography was informative. Gastrotomy was uneventful and the owner was pleased she was insured. Is this a record for rapid weight loss - 13 stones in 10 minutes?

Jeremy French, BVM&S, MRCVS, Heene Road Veterinary Practice Ltd

 Tremain x-ray

Maverick, a one year old collie, was presented one evening looking very unwell. His abdomen visibly sagged, and felt very heavy as if it were a big bag of pebbles. An x-ray revealed his stomach was severely distended with stones, to the point of rupture. He was operated on immediately. Over 1.88kg of pebbles, gravel, grit, sand, sticks, paper, feathers, grass and leaves were removed from the stomach. More than 200 stones were counted. Maverick made an uneventful recovery and fortunately has not returned to his beachcombing activity.

Mandy Fyson, BA, Vet MB, MRCVS, Tremain Veterinary Group

Rees x-ray Mischief had been missing for a few days. He presented with a golf ball sized, open, infected swelling on his left flank. This failed to respond to antibiotics so he was booked in for further investigation. On closer inspection, what initially felt like caudal rib, felt more like bony/cartilagenous reactive tissue, so radiography was performed to rule out rib fracture or tumour. The x-ray revealed a spoon in the stomach, protruding through the ribs. This was successfully removed. Mischief made a full recovery and the cutaneous lesion resolved spontaneously. (No vomiting/GIT signs had been noted by the owner).

Diane Wilshaw, MRCVS, Rees Veterinary Centre