A puppy needed emergency treatment after a mysterious and problematic foreign body turned out to be three snaffled socks!
The 10-month-old Bernadoodle called Molly had been left vomiting, suffering from diarrhoea and, not surprisingly, had lost her appetite.
Concerned owner Kerrylee Hempenstall was oblivious to any missing socks and was shocked when told by vets at Primrose Hill Veterinary hospital in Sallynoggin, Co Dublin, they were the cause of Molly’s issues.
Kerrylee, from Ballybrack, explained: “We realised something was wrong when Molly started to vomit and become very quiet.
“We were very shocked, though, to learn it was because she had eaten three socks!
“We were terrified at first but were reassured by the team at Primrose Hill and vet Katie Dwan was brilliant in explaining what was happening and what our options were.
“They were nothing short of amazing. They talked us through every step, took such good care of Molly and, even after such a traumatic event, she still doesn’t mind going in for visits, so that’s saying something!
“She’s now back to her bubbly self and I would definitely recommend Primrose Hill. In fact, I have already and will continue to do so.”
Vet Katie said it was an unusual case and the fact that the three socks were lodged in different places internally made them even more of a challenge to remove.
She said: “We X-rayed Molly to see if there was a foreign body causing her symptoms and, although we couldn’t see anything, she did have a gas pattern in her abdomen which indicated there was a blockage.
Molly's X-Ray
“I performed an exploratory laparotomy to identify and retrieve the foreign body blocking Molly’s digestive tract and quickly realised Molly had swallowed three socks.
“The tricky thing was that all three were in different areas of her digestive tract with two of them intertwined in a linear fashion in the proximal duodenum (first part of small intestines).
“This made the surgery slightly more complicated than we originally anticipated, with two procedures required – a gastrotomy and an enterotomy – for the socks to be safely removed.
“Molly recovered in the hospital’s emergency care ward but was bouncing around the practice again by the second day after surgery, looking for more things she could eat and she’s now happily back at home.”
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