Incidence of foreign-body-induced ileus in dogs

While playing or simply because of avidity, dogs may ingest a variety of fo reign bodies. Ingested foreign bodies, which are not stopped in the mouth o r oesophagus, enter into the stomach. Once a foreign body has passed throug h the pylorus, jejunum and ileum appear to be the most common sites of the small intestine obstruction. The records of 103 cases, treated at the Clini c for Surgery, Orthopaedics and Ophthalmology of the Veterinarian Faculty, University of Zagreb from January 1981 till December 1998 were analysed. Th e analysis included the incidence of ileus caused by foreign bodies and the distribution of patients by sex, age, breed, duration of illness, site of obstruction, types of foreign bodies and the interrelation between these pa rameters. The results of our research show that the number of patients with foreign body induced ileus is increasing. Males ingested foreign bodies mo re often than females. Foreign body induced ileus was more frequently found in animals below 2 years of age. Foreign bodies were mostly ingested by mo ngrels, but also by popular dog breeds such as Dobermanns, Poodles, Cocker Spaniels and Rottweiler. Most of these ileus cases were found in March and October and the predominant clinical signs included anorexia, dehydration, abdominal tenderness and absence of defecation. The most common site of sma ll intestine obstruction by foreign bodies was the jejunum, and the most ef fective treatment was enterotomy. Dogs mostly ingested stones, plastic and rubber objects. The treatment was more successful in dogs below 2 years of age. Patients that died post-surgically, died mostly the first day after su rgery.