All Sewn Up

Animals eat the strangest things. I was perusing the patient board in the Critical Care Unit Sunday night and was surprised to read "FB needle". Fortunately I knew the code and realized that "Ozzy" had eaten a needle. What?!? I went to find "Ozzy" in his cage and found an adorable orange colored domestic short hair kitty resting quietly. Hanging on the side of his cage was a plastic bag with the needle and thread that had been recovered from his stomach during surgery.

I included the digital x-ray taken of "Ozzy" before surgery. If you look right in the center of the image the needle is clearly visible. Most likely "Ozzy" got to chewing on the string and pretty soon had the whole string and needle sliding right down his throat. Fortunately "Ozzy's" owners saw him ingest the needle and brought him to the hospital right away. A needle like this one could perforate the stomach or intestine and cause internal bleeding and infection. Or the needle could migrate to another part of the body and cause multiple other issues. "Ozzy" got lucky, this needle stayed right in the stomach and didn't cause any further damage. Most likely "Ozzy" will go home tomorrow and will recover just fine from this incident and hopefully he won't chew on anymore string, especially string attached to a needle.

Good luck, "Ozzy"!!