October 17, 2016

Every year, Veterinary Practice News publishes an article which showcases radiographs that veterinarians have submitted. These radiographs have a common theme: interesting, unusual and hard-to-believe foreign body ingestions from a variety of animal patients. Foreign bodies are a common finding in the veterinary profession. (It even happens to us “animal professionals”; I previously posted about my own dog’s unfortunate gastric adventure with a foreign object.)

While dogs are much more likely to present with a foreign body, or with symptoms related to a “dietary indiscretion” (e.g., eating trash, strange objects in the yard, fecal matter from other species, furniture, rugs, and anything else you can conceive) cats can also be culprits. I’ve known two veterinary technicians whose cats needed surgeries for the same type of foreign body ingestion: elastic hair ties!

The most common foreign bodies I’ve seen over my career are corn cobs, “feminine hygiene products”, socks, bones, rawhides, pacifiers, rocks, hair ties, carpet fragments and toys (both canine and human). The list is endless! Every vet has many crazy foreign body stories that could rival the ones in Veterinary Practice News, although these are pretty spectacular. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as your staff at Newtown Square Veterinary Hospital does.