Archie
Foreign Body
Archie, a 4½-year-old Vizla and known sock eater, became very lethargic, was vomiting, and not eating. His owners didn’t notice anything missing or evidence of anything he may have eaten but his family veterinarian found a lump on his throat/neck and tenderness in the area and referred him to WVRC. When Dr. Brinson examined Archie he was drooling and had a fever with cough. X-rays uncovered that he had an incredibly large foreign object (rope toy with hard plastic central core, which was not a toy Archie owned) deeply lodged in his throat. Luckily, Dr. Brinson was able to remove it with an endoscope instead of having to perform surgery. Although there were no clear tears in his esophagus, there was very extensive damage that could have lead to necrosis (death of the tissue) or extensive scarring that would narrow his esophagus diameter and make eating very difficult, if not impossible. It was touch and go for a while, but over the next few weeks Archie recovered, slow but steady, and is now well on his way to getting back to normal.