We get to see a variety of illnesses and diseases here at R.R.A.H. and in this section we hope to share some of the more interesting cases we have dealt with. Please be advised that some cases may contain pictures during surgery, and should be viewed with caution.

DECEMBER 2011

Patient: “Bronnie” Wheat

Breed: German Shorthaired Pointer

Age: 9 ½ years

Owner: Andrea Wheat

Well…. Leave it to one of our own to have, not only the most interesting case of the month, but what Dr. Sealock claims as the most interesting case of the year! Here is the story of my sweet “Bronnie” and what she did that had all of us amazed.

Just like any other Sunday, Ryan and I were both at church and the dogs were left out in the house (as they have always been). We had decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, with the same decorations we’ve used the past few years. The dogs were left alone, maybe a total of 3 hours and when we came home the house was a disaster zone. Tree skirts were strewn about the living room, ornaments off of the tree, and there were already a few piles of foamy vomit containing what seemed to be metal. After cleaning everything up, we determined that the metal was a pick we had in the tree that had glittery berries on it, and that one of the dogs had attempted to eat it. You see, we have 3 dogs, so figuring out which one had done what can be a problem. All of the dogs ate their dinner like normal, and everything seemed fine.
Monday morning I left for work like normal, only after being here for a few hours, Ryan called to let me know Bronnie had vomited up her breakfast. He brought her up, and Dr. Sealock and I took radiographs of her. They showed some metal in her stomach, which was not surprising. He recommended taking her home and feeding her dinner again that night, as it could either help her vomit the metal back up, or push it through the other way. I fed her and she seemed ok for a while, and then about 4 hours later, she started vomiting everything she had eaten. It was dark outside and I had let her out so there wouldn’t be so much cleaning involved. So you can just imagine me, outside in the cold, with a stick, digging through her vomit looking for metal…. And there was none.
I brought her back Tuesday, and when we took her radiograph this time, we could see that it didn’t move at all. Still in the exact same position, in the same spot, in her stomach. I knew surgery was in store for us now.
We ended up in surgery with her late that afternoon. What was so surprising about her case is that as soon as Dr. Sealock opened her up and began to locate her stomach, he could feel the metal wire. Low and behold, the wire had actually punctured her stomach and was sticking out about 2 inches. It was a good thing we did surgery when we did, because she would have gotten very sick from infection if we hadn’t. Her surgery and recovery were all uneventful, thank goodness! She’s back to her normal crazy self!
I said this before, but it is so great to work for a doctor I would take my pets to, even if I didn’t work here!