Lotte - Star Pet Hall of fame

 8 month old Lotte required life saving surgery after eating something she shouldn't have!

Lotte was seen by our vets after she started being sick.Although Lotte was quieter than usual, she was bright, so Lotte was prescribed some treatment to help settle her stomach and her owners continued to monitor her at home.Her owners reported that although Lotte had an appetite and was eating bland meals, she was still suffering some bouts of sickness. They had also spotted some string/wool in her faeces. Lotte was brought back in for a further assessment. With a suspicion that there might be more wool inside Lotte, vet Louise took an x-ray of Lotte's abdomen.Although the wool itself is not visible on an x-ray, Louise was looking for evidence of the intestines looking bunched up or for signs of an abnormal gas pattern within the intestines. Although the x-ray results did not show any obvious obstruction,a foreign body could still not be ruled out.

The next step was to continue to assess Lotte's symptoms. On her next clinical examination, the vet felt her abdomen and could now feel something inside. Lotte required an operation called an exploratory laparotomy which involves making a surgical incision into the abdominal cavity in order to examine the abdominal organs and look for a foreign body.  Vet Nigel, along with the assistance of a nurse, gave Lotte a general anaesthetic.Once Lotte was asleep, it gave Nigel the opportunity to fully examine Lotte's mouth. Looped around the base of Lotte's tongue was some wool and Nigel could see that both ends were extending down her oesophagus. Firstly Nigel cut the string from around the tongue and then Lotte was prepared for theatre. Nigel then carried out a procedure called a gastrotomy which involved making an incision into her stomach. This revealed more wool and Nigel could now access the string extending into the oesophagus. He carefully removed this via the opening in the stomach. Nigel could see that more wool had continued to make its way out of Lotte's stomach and into her small intestine.The next stage of the operation was to remove the wool from the length of the small intestine, a procedure called an enterotomy. Nigel carefully followed the wool along the small intestine and cut and removed it at four seperate incision sites. He found the free end of wool and finally it was all removed. All of the incision sites were then stitched and Lotte's operation was complete. Lotte was recovered from the anaesthetic and she was monitored closely in recovery by our nurses.Lotte was well enough to go home the following day. We are so pleased that lovely Lotte is now fully recovered.
For her bravery during her visits to see us, as we know Lotte gets nervous, and for being such a well behaved girl during her procedures, Lotte is our much deserved star pet!