Let’s set the scene: It’s Friday afternoon, you’ve had the blocked cat and the chocolate-eating Labrador, your patients are comfortable, on fluids, settled, recovering. It’s been a hectic but manageable Friday, so let’s mop the floors and empty the bins with some banging tunes – come on Friday feels!
Then the phone rings at 5.55pm. A dog who has been vomiting and hasn’t eaten for a few days is now lethargic and needs to be seen as an emergency. The client insists the six-year-old spaniel, a very good boy, has never eaten anything weird or wonderful in his life.
Abdominal palpation identifies discomfort and a mass within the intestines. The patient is sad and dehydrated. Oh no, are we going to end our week with an abdominal mass and euthanasia? That’s ruined the Friday vibe.
A very good boy
The patient is admitted for abdominal ultrasound and radiographs, leaving an upset owner. Your shift finished half an hour ago, but you know this patient. He is a very good boy; he comes in regularly for check-ups and socialisation, full of wags and enthusiasm. He always gives you his paw, his head to rub and his tummy to tickle. You can’t leave just yet, not until you know what’s going on and that your friend is going to be OK.
Imaging shows an intestinal foreign body. Something fabric? Yes! It means surgery, but an exploratory laparotomy to find a foreign body is better than a hepatic tumour. Let’s do this.
Let’s play “guess the stuck object”. Place your bets… what information do we have?
- Has never eaten anything he shouldn’t have in the past – which means the client hasn’t noticed anything missing
- Six years old, so anything he has eaten in the past has passed without any problems, it’s gone unnoticed.
- It’s looking like an outside-based item… fabric? Hmmm.
All’s well that ends well
The operation goes well, minimal gut damage, no end-to-end anastomosis required, a quick, uneventful recovery. Tail wags are back and we’re keen to eat a few hours later. Perfect.
So, what was it? What was the mystery “must be something from the garden” item that caused a blockage?
A sock. The patient had been taking trainer socks into the garden for years and burying them in a corner. The client found his larder and could even date it, because they’d had to buy a specific type of sock for an indoor trampoline park for their child’s birthday party three years ago. The client had wondered where that pair of socks had gone, but thought no more of it.
However, this time, he chose a school sock, a knee-length, thick school sock, to take outside and to eat, for whatever reason.
When you assume…
Did you get paid for hanging around for the extra two hours? Of course not. Are you now so hungry you’re going to pick up a pizza on the way home, so there ends your “I need to stop eating rubbish late at night and save money” attempts? Absolutely. But you slept, knowing he was going to be OK. It was a silly mistake; he probably won’t do it again…
The moral of the story is, as we all know, never assume. Very good dogs can still have a cheeky little secret that makes for good dinner party conversation, but not for a Friday night late shift.
This can also be said for your friends, family and colleagues. Just because the creature you spend a lot of time with appears to be keeping it together, they may be keeping a stash of socks in the garden which may cause a problem later. Make sure you check in with them regularly and, if they try to show you something, be sure you spend time looking at it with them.
If something goes missing, maybe you should question it. You might end up preventing a disaster later.
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