Any vets on Mumsnet tonight?

[catwithflowers]

I have a question about a foreign body trapped in my dog's throat and a limp! Sounds bizarre but my vet said its possible and I didn't quite understand why as I was a little bamboozled! Any experts care to enlighten me?

Ready to answer questions.

Ooh thank you. My retriever has swallowed a fish hook . After X-rays I was referred to a specialist vet who we saw today and she is booked in for an endoscopy and possibly open chest surgery depending on how difficult it is to remove. Sorry for a bit of history here but it may be relevant.

She swallowed the hook about a month ago but we didn't realise at the time. My son was walking her on the beach and caught her trying to eat what he thought was wire (now we know it was fishing twine with a hook attached) and chased her. She ran off and disappeared to the other end of the beach and came back limping.

We thought we were treating a sprain or pulled muscle for weeks and a different vet confirmed this. Now we know that the reason for her pain and refusal to eat is the hook lodged in her oesophagus. But ...... When she eats something which causes her pain, she lifts the front paw which we thought was injured and limps and cries. The vet we saw today is a specialist in this kind of injury and manipulated her leg, saying he was checking for some kind of link between the foreign body and the limp, saying one may be directly causing the other.

I was very confused and just delighted he said he thought he could remove the hook successfully but now am wondering what he could have meant. How can something in the oesophagus cause a dog to lift her paw and limp?

Sorry this is incredibly long winded but I couldn't find a quicker way to ask the question. Thank you so much if you have time to reply

Sorry, should add that the front leg has been examined and X-rayed and nothing showed up, though I understand that it could still be sprained or a damaged ligament. She seems to have no pain when the leg is touched or moved about and the vets have checked this quite extensively

Yes it could all be linked and until the fish hook is gone you won't really know. It could be pulling on nerves etc or causing referred pain.

Thank you. I can't wait until tomorrow when hopefully it will all be safely over with

Poor pooch! I'm wincing here for her. Hope that the vet can get it out easily.

Thank you Sally.

How did it go catwithflowers.

Thanks for asking Lonecat. She came home today after successful surgery . The vet tried for 45 mins to remove the hook with the endoscope but it wasn't possible so he had to cut into her throat. She is very lucky to be alive and we are so grateful to everyone at the surgery.

The limp and pain in the leg was related and has now completely disappeared! She is a little dazed and tired but ate a tin of wet food this morning before leaving the surgery and should hopefully be back to normal in a few weeks.

Poor baby. Sending healing thoughts to your pup.

Glad it was successful those pesky fish hooks I've removed a fair few myself. Glad the limp has also resolved.