You may have seen that Specsavers ad on TV where the dog eats a pair of reading glasses. Well…sometimes truth is stranger than fiction…
As you can see, Duke is an adorable 7-month-old Cavalier puppy who did what puppies sometimes do- he chewed and swallowed something that he shouldn’t have – in this case, a pair of reading glasses. When Duke’s owners came into SASH, however, even our experienced vets were somewhat surprised to think that a pup would crunch up a pair of glasses and swallow them.
Unfortunately, X-rays confirmed our fears, when we saw that there were pieces of what looked like glass in Duke’s stomach, and they were not moving through the bowels when we took repeat X-rays the following day. This is a real problem because sharp objects such as glass can puncture through the stomach wall and cause peritonitis.
Dr Phil Brain performed gastroscopy where a camera is placed into Duke’s stomach and the pieces of glass and plastic were able to be removed with forceps through the scope (endoscopic forceps). Because there were about a dozen pieces of glass and plastic the procedure took about 1 hour but, thankfully, this saved Duke having to have surgery to open up his abdomen and stomach.
As you can see from the photos above there was not much doubt about what little Duke had eaten and his brand awareness was exemplary.
Duke woke up uneventfully from his procedure blissfully unaware of the seriousness of his indiscretion and has made a good recovery from his procedure. He has now returned home where his owners continue to maintain a vigil in preventing him chewing any more household items.
We wish Duke all the best for his future and hope that he will “see his way clear” to eating more conventional food as he grows into a lovely more discerning adult dog.
