Why do we love Labs? They are happy and playful and loving and always Hungry!!!! Griz is a 2 year old chocolate lab who loves to eat and play with balls. His owners became very concerned about him when he would not eat and started throwing up pieces of rubber and plastic. Dr. McDougall saw Griz on a Wednesday evening after he had vomited several times and seemed a little lethargic. He was very bouncy (no pun intended!) for his exam and ate some treats here but the pieces of rubber that his owners brought in looked suspiciously like the outside of a softball.

Dr. McDougall had some abdominal radiographs taken. There was not an apparent visible foreign body on Griz's x-rays, but some of his intestinal loops were dilated or swollen with gas. A foreign body will only show up on an x-ray if it is made of rock, bone, or metal. Most other substances (plastic, rubber, string, etc.) look like the surrounding soft tissue on the x-ray. Doctors have to interpret a potential foreign body x-ray by looking for changes in the gastrointestinal tract that may be caused by an obstruction. The first thing we look for are funny gas patterns in the small intestine or displacement of organs from something pushing on them.

Griz was treated with some medications for his vomiting and an antibiotic. Dr. McDougall gave his owners strict instructions to bring him back if he kept vomiting or was not feeling well.

Griz got sicker over the next two days. He vomited alot and could not even keep down water. His bounce had changed into a slow roll. He came back in and was immediately recommended for an exploratory surgery. Due to dehydration from his vomiting and inability to eat and drink, Griz had a catheter placed in a vein in his front leg so we could give him fluids before surgery. He was also given some pain medication to help him relax.

Dr. Bales and Dr. McDougall took Griz to surgery on Friday afternoon. The exploratory of his abdomen revealed large pieces of hard rubber wedged in his stomach and small intestine. The rubber pieces were all attached with clumps of thread from the inside of the softball. Parts of his jejunum (the second section of his small intestine) were very red and bruised from the large pieces of rubber getting stuck and then moving slowly on. When string or thread gets lodged in the intestine it causes the intestine to bunch up and look like an accordion, a condition we call plication. Griz had several plicated areas between the obstructions. Incisions were made in his small intestine to remove the pieces of rubber and cut the strings attaching them. These incisions are sutured carefully back together so that they do not leak. The doctors had to cut into his small intestine four times and into his stomach once to remove the mass of rubber and string. The inside of his abdomen was rinsed with saline and layers of his body wall and skin were sutured closed. There was no doubt that Griz was going to feel alot better now!

He recovered well from surgery and was kept on fluids, pain medications, and antibiotics. He was ravenous for his first little meal of canned food on Saturday night. Only a Lab would want to eat like a horse not even 24 hours after his intestines had been opened up! He was sent home on Sunday with instructions to be fed 3 - 4 small meals a day and to decrease his activity because of the stitches in his belly. We know these are hard rules to follow for a young Labrador but they are very important for him to heal properly.

Follow-Up
Griz is doing wonderfully at home, although he wants more to eat of course. His owners have picked up all the chewed up tennis balls in the yard and scoured the house for other things he could get into or chew up to swallow. They do not want to have to go through this again! But they say, and we quote, "... he is such a troublemaker, but he is so worth it!"