January 26, 2026
A Springer Spaniel has undergone surgery at Blaise Referrals after the dog swallowed a stick which was found poking out his stomach.
Five-year-old Obi was admitted to Blaise Veterinary Referral Hospital in Birmingham after owners Robert and Katie believed he had impaled himself on the stick.
The skewer had pierced the stomach, which caused concern of life-threatening peritonitis, but unusually the dog had shown no symptoms. It was not until the procedure that vets realised the dog had likely swallowed the stick months earlier.
Obi was running around the garden happily when Robert and Katie noticed the wooden skewer poking out his stomach. Strangely, there was no sign of bleeding, so they assumed Obi had landed on the skewer.
“As I slipped his lead over his neck, we suddenly saw it sticking out,” said Katie. “It was protruding really clearly, and we thought he’d maybe fallen onto something, and it had stuck in.”
They quickly took Obi to their local first opinion vets who then transferred him to Blaise Referrals for an urgent appointment.
Oddly, according to vets, Obi was still “bright and trying to bounce round” when he was brought into Blaise Referrals. After being offered CT imaging and blood tests, Robert and Katie decided to immediately proceed with the surgery.
Lara Dempsey, Head of Soft Tissue Surgery began the procedure and soon realised the stick had been piercing out of the skin. This meant the dog had most likely swallowed the stick several months prior.
And despite the circumstances, Obi had shown no key symptoms, aside from no weight gain.
“There wasn’t much abdominal fluid, and I could see the stick had perforated through the stomach, skewered the spleen and then exited the left abdominal wall,” said Lara. “This leads to peritonitis which can be life-threatening.”
Fortunately, the team successfully removed the stick and conducted a splenectomy on the dog as the spleen had been severely damaged. Once the abdominal wall was debrided and carefully closed, the team left Obi’s external wound to heal.
Following the procedure, Obi was able to return home the next day and was in great spirits, showing signs of quick recovery.
“Obi’s body had managed to wall off the stick, which is why he didn’t show any obvious signs,” concluded Lara. “Having had such damage to his organs and the stick in him for so long, Obi was very lucky.”
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