A tenth of a second. That’s how long it takes for the human eye to blink. It’s likely the same amount of time it took for this unfortunate pup to SWALLOW an entire Kong® toy. “Your dog should be able to comfortably chew on their KONG® – but not fit it completely inside their mouth.” – kongcompany.com

A 1-year-old FS Golden Retriever presented for recurrent gastroenteritis. Eric Lindquist, DMV, DABVP, Cert. IVUSS, founder & CEO of SonoPath was the sonographer for this patient and although he has performed thousands and thousands of ultrasounds, the opportunity to find an interesting foreign body in a curious dog always presents itself.

A 6.5 x 4.0 cm translucent, fluid filled structure was noted in the jejunum with regional, hyperechoic surrounding fat. This is consistent with peritonitis. Partial obstructive pattern was noted with mild, dilated hyperperistalsis. Consistent with the SDEP® protocol, the upper gastrointestinal tract was followed past the obstructive pattern to empty small intestine. Trace amounts of free fluid were noted in the abdomen. This is consistent with emerging peritonitis. Variable small intestinal thickening was noted. This is suggestive for underlying inflammatory bowel or similar. Regional lymph nodes were reactive and measured up to 2.5 cm.

Jejunal foreign body with emerging peritonitis. Intestinal thickening, likely underlying chronic disease.

Immediate enterotomy and GI biopsies were recommended.According to Sonopath research presented at ECVIM 2016 (Stockholm, Sweden), Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery (May 2017), and EVDI 2017 (Verona, Italy), concurrent underlying chronic inflammatory neoplastic intestinal disease can often reside in PICA patients. Therefore, surgical biopsies are essential in this case regardless of the exploratory findings.

An enterotomy was performed and an entire Kong® dog toy was retrieved from this Golden Retriever! The patient is did great post-op and is recovering nicely at home.