They Ate What?  Second Installment- 2011

One of my first blogs was about the crazy things pets eat.  Veterinary Practice News just came out with the 2011 x-ray contest winners, in their September issue!!  I had to share these amazing x-rays!!

Grand Prize Winner


Vanessa Hawksin, DVM
Bayshore Animal Hospital
Warrenton, Ore.

The dog was presented for lameness in a hind leg, and while taking radiographs looking for musculoskeletal abnormalities, nine handballs were discovered as an incidental finding.




Runners Up


Lisa Anne Attanasi, DVM
Eaglewood Cliffs Veterinary
Eaglewood Cliffs, N.J.

Wailen, a 12-year-old beagle, ate shoe laces, mulch, knee high stocking, a plastic plant, plastic ties and bristles of a car snow cleaning brush.



Jenny Yanson, practice manager
Suburbia North Animal Hospital

A 6-month-old bulldog, Tinkerbell, ate a training collar off another bulldog in their house. The owners had no idea until she ate a second metal slip collar and then proceeded to become seriously ill. Doctors were surprised to find two slip collars in her stomach.




Honorable Mentions

Michael Herko, DVM
Falls Road Animal Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

Penelope, a 2-year-old duck, presented for left leg lameness and was uncomfortable upon abdominal palpation. Radiographs showed a nail and stones in her gizzard. Surgery was performed and Penelope went home. She was back a month later. Radiographs revealed another nail and a second surgery was performed.



Lisa Anne Attanasi, DVM
Eaglewood Cliffs Veterinary
Eaglewood Cliffs, N.J.



Radiographs showed a 2-inch sewing needle seen in ventral proximal neck in Sally, a 1-year-old dachshund.



Melissa Seavey
Healthy Paws Veterinary Center
Westborough, Mass.




A 4-month-old golden retriever ate 10 baby bottle nipples.



Dr. Shriaz Juma
Sherbrook Animal Hospital
Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada

A 6-month-old male kitten, Keelee, loved playing with the guitar that the owner was fixing. Owner tried to pull the string and because it wouldn’t come, he brought Keelee in.



Stephen Crosby, CVT, VTS
New Haven Central Hospital for Veterinary Medicine
New Haven, Conn.


The owner was feeding peanut butter off a spoon to her Alaskan malamute, who gulped down more than just its treat. The rads also show a piece of a collar and a toy the dog had eaten earlier (totally unrelated to the spoon incident).



Monica Hazelwood, DVM
VCA Mountainview Animal Hospital and Pet Lodge
Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Barkley, a 5 1⁄2-year old cocker spaniel, presented for vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Radiographs revealed a game board die in his small intestine.



Adam Honeckman, DVM
Mobile Veterinary Diagnostic
Orlando, Fla.


Raven, a 4-year-old female Labrador, was offered a spoonful of peanut butter but decided to eat the spoon, too. The spoon was successfully removed endoscopically.



Beth Shannon, DVM
North Liberty Pet Clinic
North Liberty, Iowa

A 1 1⁄2-year-old male Chi-weenie had chewed on a bottle of Gorilla Glue. The glue expanded in his stomach and molded to it perfectly. He had a complete recovery after the surgery.



Caitlin Fickett
Alaska Veterinary Clinic
Anchorage, Alaska

This dog came in for vomiting and eating grass. A radiograph revealed a foreign body in the stomach. The next morning, an additional X-ray better showed the object: a hard plastic dinosaur.



Bridget Landon, DVM
Fairgrounds Animal Hospital
Reno, Nev.

A 9-month-old golden retriever presented for vaccines. The owner reported that the patient started vomiting two days prior and appetite had decreased. The patient had a gutful of rocks measuring 4-6 cm in diameter.





Patti Klein Manke, DVM
Woodstock Veterinary Clinic
Woodstock, N.Y.

Prince Edward, a 9-year-old bulldog, ate his owner’s false teeth when he found them in a bowl that had ice cream in it. The teeth were returned to the owner and she is smiling again!