Announcing the 2024 X-ray Contest results!
Welcome to the 2024 They Ate What?! X-ray Contest, where we celebrate the unexpected and often bewildering cases keeping veterinary practices anything but dull. Every day in the clinic brings a new challenge, but few things are as surprising as the unusual objects our furry, feathered, and sometimes scaly companions manage to ingest.
You would think there are enough pet food options available in the market until a patient comes in proving an appetite for the peculiar. From the more common pet and human toys to household items, the radiographs in this year’s lineup capture our patients’ most interesting dietary choices. Plus, it highlights the eventful days in the clinic and the good work veterinary teams do to ensure patients receive the best care possible.
Join us in marveling at these extraordinary cases and honoring the skill and dedication of the veterinary teams who work tirelessly to ensure these curious creatures make a full recovery. Top contest entries were selected by our panel of judges. The winner receives a $500 VISA gift card from contest prize sponsor, Dechra Veterinary Products.
Sponsored by:
Contest judges
- Robin Downing DVM, MS, DBe, DAAPM, DACVSMR
- Michael Petty, DVM, DAAPM, CVPP, CCRT
- Jessica McCarthy, BVSc, DECVS, MRCVS
- Jennifer Serling, CVT, RVT, BVSc, AAS, VTES
- Kendra Freeman, DVM, MS, DACVS
- Tracy Revoir, DVM
Winner
Watery woes
A pitbull escaped from home and was found a few days later to be anorexic, lethargic, and vomiting. The dog was immediately brought to our clinic, where radiographs were taken to try to see what it had consumed. Although the material was opaque, it obviously had taken over the dog’s whole stomach. Crazy clue? After being doused with fluids, the patient was still very dehydrated. The pet owners approved an exploratory laparotomy, and lo and behold, the mystery was answered—water beads.
Submitted by Pam Venezuela, Dallas Animal Urgent Care
Runners-up
Now that’s a spoonful!
A dog named Koda was presented for acting lethargic and having loose stool. It has a history of intermittent diarrhea since being adopted and recently experienced on-and-off diarrhea and vomiting. The dog’s primary veterinarian initially treated with cerenia and propectalin, but Koda’s vomiting continued. Radiographs taken at the Great Lakes Pet Emergencies revealed a metallic foreign body in the intestines. CBC/Chem-17/venous blood gas was unremarkable. Surgery was performed and the area where the offending spoon had resided was ulcerated and almost ruptured. A resection and anastomosis were performed on the area in question. Koda recovered quickly without complications. The pooch tried to eat the spoon again upon seeing it in a baggie attached to the chart clipboard!
Submitted by Amanda Audo, Great Lakes Pet Emergencies
Horsing around
Racker is a French bulldog that had recently turned one year old at the time of this foreign body ingestion. The dog presents for shaking and eating slower than normal. Upon taking a radiograph we determined the possible issue—a horse toy! Racker underwent surgery to remove the foreign object, which ended up being stuck in the jejunum and had almost perforated the patient’s intestines. Racker went home 10 hours post-operatively and made a full recovery. While he has not tasted horse again, his new delicacy is Nerf darts.
Submitted by Megan Puwalowski, Richmond Veterinary Hospital
Honorable Mentions
Watching for puppies
A bulldog presented with dystocia. The veterinary team did radiographs prior to a C-section to determine how many puppies and found a round object in the patient’s stomach slightly larger than a quarter. Following the C-section, we retrieved the object, which turned out to be the back of a wristwatch. Momma and puppy are doing very well.
Submitted by Yvette Rozmarynowski, Rugby Veterinary Service
More than just a chew toy
An almost-two-year-old male, neutered English bulldog presented for vomiting and anorexia. It was painful on abdominal palpation. Radiographs showed a rounded, snowman-like object in the area of the pylorus. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a small, intact toy. Patient healed well and showed no signs of guilt.
Submitted by Catarina Benavides, Village Veterinary Hospital
Can you stomach this?
A 19-lb pug presented for wellness exam. Client noticed decreased appetite in the patient. After abdominal palpation, the veterinarian recommended radiographs, which revealed a stomach full of unidentified objects. Gastrotomy revealed at least 100 hair ties, five bandages, pieces of a plastic bag, pieces of hard plastic, paper, cardboard, and wads of hair. Pet made a full recovery.
Submitted by Connie Friday Saylor, Animal Medical & Surgical Clinic
Lug nut Linus
A six-month-old puppy named Linus was watching its owner change his daughter’s car tire in the garage. One of the lug nuts dropped to the ground, bounced around a bit, and rolled toward little Linus. The dog picked it up and when the owners tried to take it back, it ran away. A fun game of chase through the yard went on for a minute or so. When the owners finally caught up to Linus, the lug nut was nowhere to be found. The owners searched the yard for a while thinking the dog dropped it in the grass. Without luck in finding the lug nut, Linus was brough to our clinic, and a quick radiograph confirmed our fears. The lug nut was right there in Linus’ stomach. I did a simple surgery, cut into the patient’s stomach, and retrieved this big hunk of metal. Linus did great and was sent home the next day. The owners did want their lug nut back, which secretly I wanted to keep as a souvenir of this funny story. I returned it, along with their happy puppy. I suggested they rename Linus, because every time I see him at the clinic, I’ll be calling him Lug Nut!
Submitted by Blake Foskey, Neighborhood Veterinary Centers
Pup rocks!
A nine-month-old German shepherd ate rocks—the kind you put on your driveway—probably thinking they were candy. The puppy came in for vomiting, but was still eating. We took X-rays and saw foreign material and went ahead with surgery. The final count was 13! The patient did well during surgery and went home the next day.
Submitted by Asia S., BluePearl Emergency and specialty
That’s one ‘hairy’ situation!
My tech brought in her 6.5 year-old female dog, Sunni, for a sudden onset of an episode of acting “spacey” and anorexia that started the night before. Upon exam, a large, round, firm swelling was found in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. We X-rayed Sunni and saw a perfectly round, very radiopaque foreign body in the stomach, which looked too large for little Sunni to have swallowed. Owner was very nervous because Sunni’s dog mom had tossed her across the room as a puppy. Since then, Sunni has had neurologic problems and almost died once before, when she had to undergo surgery. Our team prepped Sunni for a gastrotomy. I had to make large incisions because the foreign body was so heavy, I had difficulty lifting the stomach to perform the extraction. As Sunni’s owner looked on nervously, we all gasped when the foreign body was extracted. Sunni recovered from surgery uneventfully. The foreign body turned out to be a perfectly round trichobezoar that weighed in at 0.26 lbs (Sunni weighs ~30 lbs). We cut open the hairball, expecting to find a ball in the middle that would have served as a template to form a perfectly round hairball. To our surprise, it was hair through and through to the core!
Submitted by Cathy Grey, Shirley Animal Hospital
Snap, crackle, rocks
Ruger was presented to the clinic when the owner noticed the dog eating gravel off the driveway. The abdomen was distended and pendulous. The stomach was palpable and had a “crunchy,” “crackly” feel to it. The dog had a larger visible and palpable stores in its rectum. It was anesthetized and prepped for gastronomy/enterotomy. Eight pounds of primarily gravel and rocks were removed from the stomach, and one rock was removed from the small intestine. Normal closures were done, and the dog recovered completely after surgery. It is alive and well, and hunting today with its owner.
Submitted by Robert Beiermann, DVM, Western Veterinary Service
Benson’s tag-tastic trouble
Benson was my one-year-old shepherd-retriever. I came home from work one day to find him missing his collar while being crated. Of course, I feared the worst—that Benson had managed to grab his tags and pull off the collar to eat it. I loaded him up and headed back to work, where radiographs confirmed my fears. He had eaten his collar, and his tags (ID, rabies and microchip tag) were in his stomach. We attempted Apomorphine, but only parts of his collar were vomited. We were able to retrieve the tags without surgical intervention and Benson recovered well after this incident. From then on, Benson wore a tag-less ID collar!
Submitted by Sarah Brown, Devonshire Veterinary Clinic
A big toy for the big boy
Hercules was a six-month-old, 73-lb male English mastiff who presented with a firm object visible and protruding from his left flank. Radiographs revealed an 11-inch inflexible rubber-coated arrow that belonged to the six-year-old boy in their home. The arrow was wedged pretty firmly in the abdomen and extended from the stomach through the pylorus and into the duodenum. The arrow was removed through a gastrotomy incision. Today, Hercules is a 195-lb healthy boy.
Submitted by Janet Lee, Dames Point Animal Hospital