Polly was put on a drip to give her supportive treatment,
and prevent her from getting dehydrated. The next day she
was still lethargic, and not interested in her food at all,
and I decided to do a blood test. This test did show no
abnormalities, however later that day our head nurse noticed
that she had vomited. On close inspection it looked like
there was some evidence that it contained tinsel.
When I discussed this with the owner it turned out that
their Christmas tree was decorated with tinsel, and they
had also found some in the garden. That was when I began
to worry about a foreign body being stuck in the bowels,
and we decided that if there was no improvement overnight
we would have to x-ray Pollys tummy.
However, on arrival the next morning, Erain,
our head nurse had noticed a strange object sticking from
Pollys bottom. When she pulled it, a strand of tinsel
about 40cm long appeared!!
After further discussion with the owners it became clear
that Polly had already showed some mild symptoms of illness
a few weeks back, which is often the case in partial obstructions.
This is common as it can take as long as four weeks before
these problems can be detected, because the onset can give
very mild and vague symptoms.
Luckily Polly is now on the mend, and the owners will have
a whole year to reconsider their festive decorations for
next Christmas.
Ingrid Segboer MRCVS
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Added Jan 09 2006
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