When dogs and cats eat weird things

When dogs and cats eat weird things
When dogs and cats eat weird things

The annual state veterinary association convention is one of my favorite events of the year. The meeting brings together vets from all over the state, giving them an opportunity to update their clinical knowledge and connect and reconnect with friends and colleagues.

During the final evening of this year’s meeting in Rapid City I found myself doing just that with a table full of veterinarian friends. The conversation eventually coalesced around a single topic – weird things we’ve surgically removed from the bellies of dogs and cats!

It was a hearty discussion that everyone was able to contribute to since some animals will swallow about anything! Offending objects mentioned by the group included golf balls, corn cobs, toy action figures, socks and underwear. My personal contribution to the roundtable was a young lab brought to me because of persistent vomiting. He felt unusually heavy when I lifted him onto the exam table. Upon examination, his abdomen felt like he had rocks in his stomach. This was because he actually had rocks in his stomach! This dog had the eccentric habit of flipping landscape rocks into the air and swallowing them. I surgically retrieved 110 small river rocks from his stretched-out stomach!

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