Caught Hook, Line and Sinker

By John Morgan | Dated May 13, 2020

We have all taken up new hobbies while we wait out this terrible pandemic. Fishing has definitely become a good way to pass the time as many take to the coastline to test their luck. Unfortunately for Zulu he played too active a role when his owners went out to catch dinner!

Zulu saw Dr David at Gordon Vets with fishing line hanging out of his mouth after he ate a delicious raw chicken bait attached to a hook. X-rays were taken that confirmed the hook was still present in the stomach.

The distinctive shape of the fish hook can be seen in the stomach (towards the bottom of the image). It appears white as X-rays don’t pass through metal as much as they do Zulu’s body.

This put David in a tricky predicament – the hook can’t be pulled out via the fishing line coming out of Zulu’s mouth as it could traumatise his stomach or oesophagus on its way out. It also appeared to be stuck to the stomach wall. It is also incredibly risky to play the “wait and see” game with fish hooks to see if they pass as they can perforate the stomach or intestinal wall causing a serious, often life threatening, infection.

Fortunately for Zulu, Gordon Vet Hospital is equipped with an endoscope. An endoscope is a tube of video fibres so we can see into tricky areas with a port that allows instruments like biopsy punches and graspers to pass. Once Zulu was anaesthetised, this allowed Dr David and Dr John to view the fish hook, remove it from the stomach wall and pull it out of the mouth via the oesophagus without having to go in surgically or cause any damage.

Zulu needed to be under a general anaesthetic to pass the endoscope into his mouth.

Dr David navigating the oesophagus and stomach to retrieve the fish hook.

Victory!!

Zulu made an uneventful recovery and is no longer welcome on fishing trips!