Dublin vets saved the life of a young dog after they discovered a serious blockage in his intestines.
Arlo, who is nine-months-old, underwent emergency surgery lasting two-and-a-half hours. Firhouse vets Gillian Johnston and Claire Meaney found the little pup had swallowed several small bones and had to remove 15 centimetres of his small intestines.
The vets performed a clinical examination and took X-rays, which revealed significant damage due to bone fragments. The pair were forced to take serious measures and perform surgery at MyVet practice in south Dublin.
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Gillian explained: “We carried out a clinical examination and X-rays of Arlo’s abdomen which revealed lots of small bones causing an obstruction in his small intestine. It was a very challenging scenario as there had been significant trauma and loss of blood supply to the area.
“This meant that, rather than just remove the obstructive material, we had to remove 15cm of Arlo’s small intestine. To achieve this, we had to perform an exploratory laparotomy to open his abdomen and investigate the area of obstruction.
“We did attempt to make an incision into the small intestines to milk out the obstructing material however the damage was too severe, so the diseased area of gut had to be removed and the areas of healthy gut stitched back together.”
Gillian said the surgery was risky because of a high risk of contamination but said everything ultimately went well. She added: “Arlo was then hospitalised where our nursing team gave him intravenous fluid therapy, pain relief, and antibiotics. He’s since made a wonderful recovery and is back to his happy, bouncy self, although, after his scary ordeal, he no longer gets bones as treats.”
Arlo’s owners, Sarah Ryan and Robert McCarthy, from Knocklyon, South Dublin, admitted they were shocked by their precious pooch’s deteriorating health. Sarah revealed: “We were very concerned. Your pet is like a child, all you want is for them is to be healthy and happy.
“We’d noticed Arlo had lost some weight and had planned to bring him to the vets for a check-up but the night before he was sick and became acutely unwell, so we knew we had to take him in straightaway. We had suspected there was an issue but we didn’t realise how severe it was, so we were a bit shocked and upset with the diagnosis.
“We used to give him dog bones to chew and some small bits of bone had become lodged in his bowel and created a blockage, which just continued to build up over time.” Robert joked: “He’s fully recovered and back to causing mayhem around the house.”
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