There can be many different reasons for a dog to be sneezing. One of these can be having something stuck up their nose. This turned out to be the case for the lovely Bella.
Bella had been running through the trees having fun at the weekend and when she came back to her owners she sneezed out a small bit of wood and blood. She was otherwise fine in herself but came in to see us during the week as she was still occasionally sneezing.
The continued sneezing may have been due to general inflammation or if she still had something stuck up her nose. Bella was otherwise very bright and, on discussion with her owner, we decided to treat Bella for nasal inflammation with a view to a general anaesthetic and further investigation if she was not improving.
After this treatment Bella’s sneezing got a bit better but it still was not going away. We decided further investigation was needed.
When looking for nasal foreign bodies we flush the nasal passageway to help dislodge anything stuck up there that we can’t see. During this process, we need to protect the lungs.
For this a general anaesthetic is required. This allows us to place an endotracheal tube down the airway as well as pack the throat with swabs.
Bella was given an injection when she came in to help make her sleepy and relaxed. We then inserted a catheter into the vein on her foreleg. Through this, we injected an induction agent.
This is a drug which induces anaesthesia and allows us to insert the endotracheal tube through which oxygen and an inhalational anaesthetic drug is administered.
Bella, however, was still very sensitive when examining her nose. To help with this a numbing agent was applied up her nostril.
Once we were able to look up past her nostril to the nasal passage and conchae (folds) a small sliver of something was seen in wedged between two of the conchae. The end of this was grabbed by a pair or crocodile forceps and to our surprise, a rather large piece of wood was removed.
We then checked behind her soft palate and finally flushed her nasal passages to help remove any further possible splinters of wood.
We would normally expect much more discomfort and more than just an occasional sneezing session with the size of wood removed.
However, Bella is obviously a very tough little girl and she is now doing even better minus her bit of tree.
Claire Turner is a Veterinary Surgeon at St Vincents Veterinary Surgery, a family-owned practice providing personal care for all your pets in and around Wokingham. She can be contacted at the surgery if you have any concerns about your pet’s health, and you can also arrange a tour of the practice and meet the team by calling us on 0118 979 3200. For more information visit www.stvincentsvets.co.uk or find us on Facebook.
