Pyramid Views FEBRUARY 2018

ANIMAL ANTICS
With Steph Williams BVS MANZCVS
NORTH QUEENSLAND EQUINE CLINIC
The strange things animals ingest!
Pets chewing objects up is one thing,
but when pets ingest these non-food
objects it can be a big problem. I thought
it would be interesting to touch on just
a few of the experiences I have had in
dealing with animals ingesting random
objects.
Let’s start with the obvious, Dogs! It
is a dog’s instinct to chew, and this
behaviour can be amplified when a dog
is a puppy, he/she is bored, or suffering
anxiety (being left alone, noise phobic
and so on). My own dog regularly passes
bits of toys that he has decided to chew
up and swallow! Unfortunately, not all
objects can be passed and instead
have to be manually remove from
dog’s stomachs and intestines. Some
common examples include corn cobs,
golf balls, fish hooks, rocks, cooked
bone fragments, bras, undies and even
socks! Obviously, prevention is better
than the cure in this instance, so keeping
these objects out of reach and providing
your dog with lots of SAFE alternatives
to chew is essential.
Most people probably don’t realise that
cats can find themselves on a surgery
table for foreign body removal too. Some
cats, especially kittens that have been
removed from their mother too soon
may develop unusual sucking behaviour,
whereby they suck and ingest fibres
from wool blankets or even sometimes
whole pieces of string. Cats tend to be
better at hiding the signs of intestinal
obstructions than dogs are, so it pays
to identify these behaviours early and
speak with your vet about how to avoid
an emergency situation.
I regularly get phone calls from clients
who have right in front of their eyes
watched their horse eat plastic bags and
twine from hay bales. Some horses love
mangos and while some clever horses
learn to spit the seeds out, we have had
to retrieve the odd mango seed from a
horse’s oesophagus when he has been
a bit too greedy. Ingesting chook food
or dog food or even large quantities of
grain after breaking into a feed shed can
be life threatening for horses. Seeking
veterinary advice as soon as these
situations occurred is recommended.
Perhaps one of the coolest cases I have
seen was a tree snake who ingested a
golf ball! The poor tree snake snuck into
a chook nesting box, where the owner
of the chooks had placed a golf ball to
help encourage the chooks to lay their
eggs in this spot. Apparently, to a snake,
a golf ball with the scent of chicken on
it, it is close enough to an egg and it will
have a crack at it (pun intended).
For this poor snake it could have been
well over 6 months that the golf ball sat
in her intestinal tract, preventing her from
being able to eat anything else. She was
very skinny when someone handed her
in to the clinic. After rehydrating her and
radiographing her we went to surgery
and removed the golf ball (still in perfect
condition!). She went into intensive care
and was hand fed slowly before being
rehabilitated and released.
I could go on for ages about all the weird
things animals have eaten, but I am over
my word limit and when it comes to
letting you know about ALL the items I
have seen animals ingest, it’s probably
best I keep the content PG, if you catch
my drift!
WHALE OF A TALE
Lloyd Badger
Young Lloyd Badger at 18 years of age,
has scored his dream job as a crown of
thorns (COTS) research diver.
Looking for adventure, Lloyd applied
online and progressed successfully
through the interview stages then
completing a rigorous 6 months of
training. Lloyd’s qualifications include
current Dive Master, Certificate of
Business and a First Aid certificate
including use of O2 and defibrillation.
He would like to complete Coxswain
and/or Master 5 ticket, enabling him to
drive the research vessel.
Lloyd’s job entails controlling COTS
outbreaks, collecting live specimens
for local and out of state universities;
and completing reef health and impact
surveys.
One of Lloyd’s many highlights of the
8 months he has been in the job is
sighting a 6 metre whale shark on the
edge of Rib Reef, 50 km off the coast
of Mission Beach. This is not a common
experience with Lloyd’s dive buddy on
the day confirming he had never seen a
whale shark in the 20 years of diving on
the Great Barrier Reef.
During the routine 40 minute COTS
control dive, the large shadow passing
over Lloyd was initially quite unnerving
for him. Relief set in when Lloyd realised
it was a large whale shark drifting past
him at a close distance and then he was
able to enjoy the experience.
Page 7- PYRAMID VIEWS, FEBRUARY 2018 “Celebrating and connecting our community”
Words by Sandra Charlton Photo by Shane Harris