Dog Swallows Fork, Pierces Stomach, Recovers
Description
Pet Pulse Staff Reports
August 19, 2008
CARY, N.C. -– Doctors cannot believe that a 10-year-old dog ate the whole thing -- a fork, that is, and lived to tell about it.
OK, make that, he just barely lived.
“He’s doing great,” a hospital spokeswoman for Veterinary Specialty Hospital of the Carolinas in Cary told Pet Pulse, adding that the dog’s stitches have been removed and that he has returned home to Raleigh.
The dog, named Apachee, endured surgery and multiple blood transfusions last week after his veterinarian identified the fork in his system.
“The handle went through the stomach a few days after he ate it,” the hospital spokeswoman said. “His owners didn’t know that he had gotten a hold of a fork. He just collapsed and they took him to his veterinarian. And they did the radiographs and were stunned to see a full size fork in him.
“It pierced a hole in his stomach and went into his chest cavity, and punctured his pulmonary artery, and he started bleeding around his lung.
“So he’s pretty lucky. He was pretty much dying when they brought him into VSH (Veterinary Specialty Hospital).”
Dr. Gary Spodnick led the surgery team that patched the vein and removed the fork.
“He should be just fine,” the spokeswoman said. “It’s pretty amazing, the whole story, considering that he is 10 years old, and the severity of the injury. Not to mention that he went into cardiac arrest on the table before they did the surgery.
“And they were able to revive him and complete the surgery.”
Apachee’s owners says he must have snagged the fork from the kitchen sink early this month. He developed a cough, declined food and later collapsed, leading to his emergency surgery.
“He just had an amazing team of surgeons working on him, and he’s just a remarkable dog. Because he was standing up in the ICU unit the next morning after the surgery.”
August 19, 2008
CARY, N.C. -– Doctors cannot believe that a 10-year-old dog ate the whole thing -- a fork, that is, and lived to tell about it.
OK, make that, he just barely lived.
“He’s doing great,” a hospital spokeswoman for Veterinary Specialty Hospital of the Carolinas in Cary told Pet Pulse, adding that the dog’s stitches have been removed and that he has returned home to Raleigh.
The dog, named Apachee, endured surgery and multiple blood transfusions last week after his veterinarian identified the fork in his system.
“The handle went through the stomach a few days after he ate it,” the hospital spokeswoman said. “His owners didn’t know that he had gotten a hold of a fork. He just collapsed and they took him to his veterinarian. And they did the radiographs and were stunned to see a full size fork in him.
“It pierced a hole in his stomach and went into his chest cavity, and punctured his pulmonary artery, and he started bleeding around his lung.
“So he’s pretty lucky. He was pretty much dying when they brought him into VSH (Veterinary Specialty Hospital).”
Dr. Gary Spodnick led the surgery team that patched the vein and removed the fork.
“He should be just fine,” the spokeswoman said. “It’s pretty amazing, the whole story, considering that he is 10 years old, and the severity of the injury. Not to mention that he went into cardiac arrest on the table before they did the surgery.
“And they were able to revive him and complete the surgery.”
Apachee’s owners says he must have snagged the fork from the kitchen sink early this month. He developed a cough, declined food and later collapsed, leading to his emergency surgery.
“He just had an amazing team of surgeons working on him, and he’s just a remarkable dog. Because he was standing up in the ICU unit the next morning after the surgery.”
