4470 El Camino Real

Los Altos, California 94022

Veterinarian Always on Duty

Foreign body in Abdomen

Simon's Three Day Weekend

Simon, a young two year old cat, disappeared on a Thursday and came home three days later on Sunday. When he came home he was not himself, he was lethargic and didn't want to eat. His owner also noticed a lump on the abdomen. She called us that Sunday and told us what was happening and we told her to bring Simon in to get checked out.

The first time we examined Simon he had a fever of 104 degrees and a firm painful swelling in his groin. We took some x-rays, did some blood work, and started him on antibiotics for a presumed abcess. His blood work and x-rays were fairly normal, so we scheduled a recheck the next morning. The next morning his owner reported that overnight he only ate a tiny bit of food and was still lethargic, but his temperature was now normal. The lump in his groin felt just the same. We decided that it would be best to anesthetize Simon and try to drain the abscess. After we anesthetized him we shaved his stomach and found a small 1/3 inch cut in the skin next to the swelling. I attributed it to some type of trauma. When I cut into the swelling there was no abscess but instead a lot of swollen irritated tissue and a hole in his abdominal body wall; Simon had a hernia. I opened up the hernia to examine his internal organs to be sure there was no damage and was shocked to find a four centimeter stick lodged just in front of his bladder. Amazingly the stick had missed all of his organs, but it did cause a lot of bruising. I took out the stick, cleaned up the hernia, double checked his organs, and sutured him back together.

Simon stayed in the hospital on intravenous fluids, intravenous antibiotics, and pain medication the night after his surgery. He felt better and started eating the next morning, and went home with oral antibiotics and pain medication that afternoon. Simon rested inside at his home and was back to himself within a week, and is now back to his indoor/outdoor lifestyle.

It is amazing that Simon looked as good as he did with a stick lodged in his abdomen for two to three days, and it is hard not to wonder how it happened. Given the location of the entry wound and the force needed to drive a stick though the wall, I think he impaled himself on the branch of a tree while jumping or falling, and with the force of the impact the branch broke off inside. He probably hid somewhere for the first day or two and then managed to get himself home so his owner could take care of him.

A hernia is a hole in the body wall, and as a result the internal organs and/or tissues will pouch out under the skin causing a soft swelling that can usually be pushed back into the abdomen temporarily. Simon's hernia felt hard because it was infected by the bacteria on the stick, and also was in a strange location for a hernia.

Date: 2002

Species: Cat

Diagnosis: Hernia

Doctor: Peter Hill

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