Jack

This is the lovely Jack. He is an 8 year old Labrador Retriever. His owner noticed that he was uninterested in food and a bit off form. He was brought to us at The Animal Hospital when he began to vomit. Previously, he had to have a surgery to remove a plastic toy from his belly and they were very worried that this could be a similar situation. They had seen Jack with these symptoms before and given his mischievous personality this was a very high possibility.

On first examination, we were not 100% convinced that this was the problem. He had a number of issues noted at the time, including a potential heart complaint and an enlarged prostate. His bloods showed a number of issues including pressure on the kidneys and dehydration due to his anorexia. He was placed on intravenous fluid therapy to make him feel a bit better and give him some much needed energy while we tried to figure out what exactly was happening here.

Radiographs did not show any immediate problems. There was no obvious foreign body and all we could see was gas in the stomach. We also could not feel anything strange on palpation of his abdomen but why was he vomiting nasty brown material? As there was no improvement in Jacks condition, and we feared things could turn for the worst, it was decided between the vets and the owner that an exploratory surgery was needed and to our surprise we found a very hard potato blocking the intestine! This was a 1st for us at the clinic! He had to have part of his intestine removed as a result.  Jack had sneakily stolen an uncooked potato from his owners and ate it whole!! This was definitely not his best decision.

Jack recovered really well after his surgery and went home to his owners 2 days later. We have since seen him for a wound check and he is back to eating his food and in good form. His wound his healing well. We will see him again next week to have his stitches removed.

We hope he has learned his lesson and will not repeat his naughty habits of stealing things he shouldn’t again!

For his uniqueness and great spirit, Jack has been awarded November Pet of the Month. Well done Jack!