Charlie Brown bit off far more than he could chew! While having his evening dinner he quickly gobbled up an entire rib bone and swallowed it whole!
Charlie Brown is no spring chicken. He is a 16-year-old, male, neutered Lhasa Apso, who only weighs 5.5kg. His very concerned owners brought him to the clinic the next morning, as he had been vomiting since swallowing the bone. Charlie Brown was admitted for an X-ray. The x-ray revealed the extent of Charlie Brown’s very serious predicament. The bone was stuck in his oesophagus. This was a medical emergency. The bone couldn’t stay where it was, it either needed to come back out or be pushed through to the stomach and then removed via surgery. Either option was risky for Charlie Brown. The ideal choice was to remove the bone without having to take him to surgery.
Why was it so risky? The bone sitting in the oesophagus was stuck. This puts pressure on the oesophagus which can cause necrosis of the tissue. This means when trying to remove it the oesophagus could tear open. To be able to remove the bone we needed to put either a large metal rod (known as a proctoscope) down into his oesophagus and then pass a long pair of forceps down the tube to grab the bone or to put a camera down the oesophagus (known as an endoscope) and then slide the forceps down beside the camera and grab the bone. Either of these methods can put pressure on the vagal nerve which can cause life threatening heart problems. Lucky for Charlie Brown his owners brought him in so quickly and Dr Craig and Dr Sebastian we able to safely remove the rib bone using the proctoscope. Well done team! Charlie Brown was able to go home just hours after this life saving procedure.
Now Charlie Brown no more eating rib bones!!!!