Dog's Life Was In The Balance Before Hertfordshire Vets Remove Kebab Skewer
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A much-loved French bulldog has cheated death after vets at a Hertfordshire animal hospital successfully removed a kebab skewer he had swallowed.
Two-year-old Milo’s life was in grave danger before he was rushed to Linnaeus-owned Davies Veterinary Specialists near Hitchin where specialists performed a complex operation to remove the 14cm-long skewer which had been lodged inside his stomach for a staggering two weeks.
Surgery was made even more difficult as the skewer had also perforated the stomach wall, liver, diaphragm, a lung lobe and the pericardium (the sac that contains the heart) ending up in the chest, lodged over the heart.
Krizia Compagnone, soft tissue surgeon at Davies, said: “It was shocking to find such a big foreign body in a small dog like Milo”.
“The operation was also challenging because it required bi-cavitary surgery, which means more than one cavity needed to be opened to remove the foreign body and repair the tissues that were damaged.
“There was also infection to deal with as the kebab skewer had been inside him for two weeks making him progressively unwell, ultimately causing him breathing difficulties (due to subsequent pleural effusion called pyothorax).
“However, we managed to retrieve the stick safely and debride the infected tissues that had thickened and wrapped the stick along its way.
“The great news is that Milo had an outstanding recovery following the operation. Less than two weeks after surgery, his owners reported that he is back to his normal self and is playful and cheeky.”
Milo’s road to recovery also included the internal medicine, diagnostic imaging and nursing intensive care team at Davies.
Andrés Salas García, resident in internal medicine at Davies, added: “Unfortunately, removal of sticks from dogs is not as unusual as we would like.
“Milo’s case was unique due to the involvement of two body cavities, the abdomen and thorax, as the stick had migrated from the stomach to the vital organs in the chest, luckily without causing major damages that could have costed his life.”
For more information about Davies and the wide range of specialist-led services it offers, visit https://vetspecialists.co.uk/ or search for them on Facebook or LinkedIn.