12 Nov 2021
Four-year-old Marley discovered to have swallowed hook and attached line, as well as weights, which continued down into the dog’s small intestine.
Joshua Silverwood
Job Title
Marley swallowed a fish hook, line and weights.
A shih-tzu that swallowed a fish hook that became lodged under its heart on a day out with its owner has been saved at a west midlands practice.
Four-year-old Marley was on an angling trip with his owner when they discovered that as they prepared their equipment, he had swallowed whole a hook and the attached line, as well as weights, which continued down into the small intestine.
Marley’s owner ran over, and grabbed him and the line, which was going deeper into his throat, but realising the damage attempting to pull it out could do, cut the line.
Marley was rushed to West Midlands Referrals near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where Chris Lancelott took charge of his case.
Dr Lancelott said: “He ate a lump of meat, which had been prepared as bait.
“Unfortunately, this meat was already attached to a large, double-barbed fish hook. The owner managed to cut the line, but the hook embedded in the thoracic oesophagus, and the remaining line and weights passed into the small intestine pulling on the hook.”
Practice staff took x-rays and performed an endoscopy to confirm the position of the hook and weights, as well as to examine where the hook had penetrated.
They then used the tools of the endoscope to carefully free the hook and remove it, along with the attached line and weights.
Dr Lancelott added: “This was a difficult, challenging procedure – especially as we were dealing with a double-barbed hook and it had penetrated deep into the oesophagus, just beyond the heart and heading into the chest.
“We also realised that, if this minimally invasive removal had not been successful, we would have needed to operate to perform a thoracotomy, which is obviously a much more invasive surgical procedure.
“Thankfully, this was not necessary in Marley’s case, as the endoscopy went well and he was back to normal after a few days with no ongoing problems.”
