Salisbury Vets

Peppy, an eight year old Cocker Spaniel cross Jack Russel, was not feeling his usual bouncy self. Over Easter he’d stopped eating, was losing weight and occasionally vomiting

A brief trial with medications did not help Peppy so he was admitted to Pet Practice for further investigations where blood tests were run in the in-house laboratory. His cell and protein counts were high indicating dehydration would need to be corrected with fluid therapy but fortunately all other vital parameters were normal. Intravenous fluids were instigated and Peppy was prepped for further investigations.

Abdominal radiographs were taken as thoughts turned to a possible ingested foreign body. X-rays can highlight a lot of things but some objects are radiolucent, meaning the x-ray beam passes through, hiding their presence. Although Peppy’s radiograph didn’t show an obvious foreign body there were some clues such as the dilated loops of intestines. Peppy was taken to theatre for exploratory abdominal surgery where a large piece of tennis ball was located and removed from a section of small intestine.

Peppy has made a full recovery and is back to his usual lively self. He is however under strict instructions that tennis balls are for chasing not eating!