Willow and the twig!

Willow, a sweet little 10-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was referred to our Internal Medicine team in Hampshire, as she had been sneezing for two months and had a discharge from her nose. The antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications she had been given didn’t seem to be making her better.   

Nicoletta Fantaconi, a vet in our Diagnostic Imaging team performed the CT scan of her head to investigate and diagnose the problem. The scan revealed a 3.5 cm long thin foreign body that had entered her right nasal cavity through a palatine fissure. This hole, or fissure, resulted in a connection between the mouth and nasal cavity which the foreign material moved through.

A foreign body is material which gets lodged or stuck in any part of a dog or cat’s body; if inhaled, it can become embedded in the nasal passage (nasal cavities), throat, trachea (windpipe) or deeper in the branches of bronchi in the lungs (airway branches).

Now it had been identified, the foreign body could be extracted. And a twig was successfully removed using surgical forceps by Iris Heinsoo, a vet in Anderrson Moores Internal Medicine team.

Willow was sent home to rest and recover. The sneezing resolved for a few weeks; however, her signs reoccurred, so she was re-examined by us. From these investigations, Willow was diagnosed with chronic rhinitis which is non-specific inflammation of the nasal mucosa (tissues of the inside of her nose). It is unclear whether Willow had an underlying inflammation that had progressed further or whether the foreign material had caused permanent changes to her nasal tissue. Willow was discharged from us and thankfully has shown a good response to treatment.