Your pet ate what? S. Florida vets share their most unusual finds.

Forget dog eat dog.
 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-strange-things-pets-eat-palm-20140919-story.html#page=1

 Veterinarians say it's more like dog eat tube sock. And diamond ring. Chess pieces. Even lingerie.
They have seen it all — and removed it — from the stomachs and intestines of both dogs and cats that ingested far more than their allotted kibble or treats.

South Florida pet owners may be known to pamper their "fur babies" with hundred-dollar ball gowns, pet proms, doggie day care and "pupscale" pet lodges, but Fido and Felix can still get into stomach-turning mischief.

"We get a lot of crazy things," said Palm Beach Veterinary Specialists' veterinarian Dr. Robert Roy, recalling the yellow lab that swallowed a sewing needle and the cat that ate fishing bait — hook, line and all.

At Boynton Beach Animal Hospital, staffers recall a small Chihuahua/terrier mix that had ingested not only its owner's area rug, but her underwear, pantyhose, tampons and artificial plants, too. The household items were safely removed during surgery.

"It was like a Hoover vacuum," said surgical nurse Billie Gaetano, of the 15-pound dog with the bloated belly. "The owner had no idea the dog did that, until it started gagging and puking. I looked in its mouth, and I saw bits of rug, and I just kept pulling and pulling."

Here are some of the most unusual stories shared by South Florida veterinarians. All end happily, with the adventurous animals surviving to live, and eat indigestible objects, another day.
However, they offer a cautionary tale: Fido and Felix will eat just about anything when you're not looking. So watch out!

With this ring ...

Unlike many owners unaware of what's ailing their pet, the seasonal Palm Beach County resident who called the Boynton Beach Animal Hospital in a panic last year knew exactly what her Wheaten terrier had ingested: her 5-carat diamond ring. And she wanted it back.
Gaetano told her just how to get the dirty deed done: "Follow the dog around and wait for it to pop out" in one of the animal's daily bowel movements.
It worked. "It came out shinier than it was when it went in," Gaetano said, with a chuckle.

Ready to run
Don't underestimate a dog's ability to get what it wants.

One yellow Labrador treated at Boca North Animal Hospital in June leapt onto a kitchen counter and tore through an entire case of protein bars — boxes, bars, "wrappers and all," veterinarian Dr. Dwyatt Bull said.
It was a pet-sitting nightmare. The sitter had ordered the case off the Internet, and by the time the owner returned from an out-of-town trip, "the feces had hit the air circulator," Bull said.
Over the next few days, the dog released about a dozen wrappers on its own. Then it started exhibiting tell-tale signs — vomiting, diarrhea and loss of appetite. Bull figured only surgery would relieve the blockage.
He removed at least 15 more wrappers during the operation.
"There were a ton of them," Bull said. The dog suffered no lasting side effects.

'The needle dog'
While foreign objects often have to be removed surgically, some don't. Like the sewing needle that Palm Beach Veterinary Specialists' Roy took out of a yellow Lab's chest.
After the dog swallowed the prickly piece, it traveled through the esophagus, into the lungs and finally landed in the animal's chest wall.
Roy said he was able to put a scope into the chest and pull the needle out with a pair of forceps. The animal became known as "the needle dog."

Added crunch
Glass in my food? No problem. So it would seem for the Labrador that jumped onto the kitchen counter to eat from a bowl of meat, according to Roy.

The jostling knocked the glass bowl to the ground, smashing it in pieces amid the spilled food. The dog ate the entire mess, Roy said, adding that he eventually "took out fistfuls of glass" from the pet's stomach. It recovered without complications.

A corny predicament
The chocolate Lab puppy must really have been hungry to eat an ear of corn, whole. That's what the staff at Fidelity Animal Hospital in Boynton Beach figured last year, when they took an X-ray of the dog's swollen belly and found the cob stuck inside, said technician Kathy Parys.

"How it swallowed a whole corn cob is beyond me," she said.

The cob was surgically removed.

Gone fishing
Dogs aren't the only object-eating patients. Roy said he performed surgery on a cat that swallowed its owner's fishing bait, with the line and hook attached, because of the precarious way the fishing gear landed.
The hook had gotten snagged in the pet's aorta when its owner, noticing the line sticking out of the cat's mouth, yanked on it.

"That didn't do anything but hook it into its esophagus and aorta," Roy said.

After surgery, the cat made a full recovery.

The whole ball of ... cords?
A 15-pound domestic shorthair cat came to the Plantation Animal Hospital recently, vomiting for no obvious reason, veterinarian Dr. Lisa Feinstein recalled. An ultrasound revealed a good-sized obstruction in its intestines, but it wasn't clear what was causing the blockage.
The culprit: "tons of cords," like those used in window treatments, along with hair ties.
"Over time, it builds," Feinstein said. After surgery, the cat recovered nicely.

A not-so-merry Christmas
A Weston resident didn't know what to think when her 9-month-old golden retriever began throwing up and suffering bouts of diarrhea in December 2013, according to Chris Viotti, owner and manager at Weston Lakes Animal Hospital.

An X-ray revealed the results of the dog's attack on the family Christmas tree.Veterinarians removed four or five stuffed teddy bear ornaments from the pet's intestines, then all were able to enjoy the rest of the holiday season, Viotti said.

Penny for your thoughts?
A routine chest X-ray performed on a King Charles Spaniel turned up something troubling to doctors at Hollywood Animal Hospital: a foreign object later identified as a dissolving penny, said Linda Ream, the hospital's Communications Coordinator.

Pennies are toxic and can cause a life-threatening condition called hemolytic anemia. The coin was removed through an endoscopic procedure, Ream said, and the pet was fine. Coins seem to be quite popular, though. There was also a pregnant Pekingese with its intestines blocked by 13 pennies. The animal's owner brought the dog to the Hollywood hospital during a hurricane-induced power outage, forcing the doctors to extract the pennies by flashlight.

At Weston Lakes Animal Hospital, Viotti estimated doctors have removed about $10 in coins from pets' stomachs over the past year alone, in all denominations.

"Even foreign money. They don't choose," Viotti said of the animals, typically dogs. "They just pick it up and swallow it."

The re-offender
The 7-year-old Lab mix treated at Hollywood Animal Hospital for impacted foreign objects over the past few years has one heck of an appetite.

When it first showed up with something strange in its belly, doctors removed 14 tube socks, Ream said. The dog was back six months later after eating 3 pounds of garden stones, then five months later with couch cushioning in its stomach.

Turns out the pet wasn't just a voracious eater. It suffered from Cushing's disease, a hormonal imbalance that can induce pica, or an appetite for nonfood items like chalk, sand and dirt, Ream said. Once the dog's illness was treated, the pica stopped.

Re-offending foreign substance eaters, though, often have no causative medical condition, just an insatiable appetite, a curious nature and a lack of training, area vets said.

"Pets that eat foreign objects often do not learn their lesson the first time and will become re-offenders," Hollywood Animal Hospital veterinarian Dr. Anne Murphy said.

Tips to keep your pet safe

South Florida veterinarians offer these tips to protect your pet from nonfood items.

Remove the temptation. Keep objects off the floor, counter or other space that your pet can access, especially if you've already noticed the animal eating something it shouldn't.

Train your pet. Don't feed your animals anything but pet food, and train them not to misbehave. Seek advice or services from a professional trainer, if necessary.

Know the signs. If your pet has eaten a foreign object, it is likely to be exhibiting symptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, gas, loss of appetite, changes in normal behavior, lethargy, abdominal discomfort or pain, and bloating or swelling of the abdomen.

Seek help immediately. Your pet's chances of surviving the ordeal are higher if you get quick, early intervention from a veterinarian.

Source: nbrochu@sun-sentinel.com
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