Platelets help the blood clotting, and because of the lack of these, bruises became visible in the skin, and it explained the bleeding from the mouth. Doyle was put on immunosuppressive treatment and needed to have regular blood tests to check if this was effective. After almost 6 months of treatment Doyle was in remission and could come off these tablets.

Unfortunately only a month later he was back in my consulting room because he had started vomiting. Initially I thought he had a simple gastroenteritis, but when his vomiting did not stop, I took x-rays of his tummy and noticed a lot of gas in his bowels. This can be an indication of a foreign body, and therefore he was operated on. I discovered a large piece of corn on the cob in his bowels - which I removed. Doyle made a complete recovery.

Six months later Doyle was back again. He was walking on three legs. The lameness had occurred after playing with another dog, and a rupture of his cruciate ligament was diagnosed. Because anti-inflammatory tablets did not improve the lameness, Doyle again had an operation to repair the cruciate tear. I guess you can already predict what happened then…he tore the cruciate ligament in the other leg. Luckily this time it could be controlled by anti-inflammatory treatment.

Doyle, showing his scar and "an eleven-centimetre long kebab stick"

Then Doyle seemed to be fine for a while until August this year (2004) when my colleagues saw him with vague signs of lethargy, anorexia and a fever. Several blood and urine examinations, x-rays and an endoscopy were performed, but they were unable to find the cause. Because of his previous history, we thought we might be dealing with an autoimmune disease, . Doyle never got completely back to normal.

Ten days ago I saw him again. Mr Salisbury brought him in because a firm large lump had developed on his chest. I feared the worst, thinking it could be a tumour. Doyle was put on antibiotics over the weekend, and admitted on Monday. I sedated him and took several x-rays, but no evidence was apparent, and a tumour became less likely.

I had planned to take some biopsies, but felt a softer area in the firm lump, which gave the impression we could be dealing with another foreign body. I made a small incision over this soft area, because I could feel something harder underneath, which I tried to grasp with some forceps. When I was successful in pulling it out, we were all shocked…I had just removed an eleven-centimetre long kebab stick. This explained all the vague symptoms from August onwards.

Mrs Salisbury told me later that it had all started after Doyle raided a bin after a barbeque in August. Hopefully Doyle will be feeling a lot better now, however the question is “for how long???”

By Ingrid Segboer MRCVS

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