Emergency of the Week – Rubi

This sweet girl is Rubi. She visited us shortly after ingesting an entire wooden popsicle stick.

Luckily Rubi’s paw-rents brought her in quickly, so the stick had not had time to pass beyond the stomach. Once a foreign object passes through to the intestinal tract it becomes much more complicated to remove. Often, surgical intervention is the only option if the object does not pass on its own.

After reviewing all the potential next steps and risks, we induced vomiting. Compared to softer foreign objects (such as socks), inducing vomiting can sometimes be riskier as there is the possibility for penetration damage to the stomach or esophagus on its way up.

For many pet owners it is usually unknown if a foreign body has been ingested by their pet until clinical signs appear. These can range from no signs at all to nausea, repeated vomiting of food/bile, lethargy, inappetence, and/or a painful abdomen.

Rubi was able to bring up the stick completely intact, along with her dinner. With the popsicle stick successfully removed, Rubi was given an anti-nauseant and was sent home where she is doing well and hopefully staying out of mischief!