Page 17 - Harnett Life Winter 2020

Your Pets

and X-Rays

By Dr. Janet Batker,
Lillington Veterinary Hospital & Boarding

Hello pet lovers! There was a bulldog that ate a box of staples, vomited some
of them, and the other bulldog promptly ate those! The first
Our top for this issue is x-rays for your pets. We use x-rays patient had to have surgery.
daily to help us reach conclusions about what might be causing
your pet to be sick. They are fabulous tools and one of the best A cocker spaniel ate 6 rubber duckie toys and they could not
decisions our hospital ever made was to upgrade to the com- go downstream.
puterized systems. They give us quality images and we feel
like Superman! An iguana ate a quarter but didn’t seem to have problems until
it got to the end of the line where it flipped and acted like a
X-rays have some limitations but are usually the first imag- stopper!
ing technique we use before ultrasound, CAT scans or MRI’s.
More and more practices are investing in this technology, but We once had a patient that swallowed a spoon, and in this se-
it is costly. ries a fork was clearly in a dog’s stomach.

A recent contest was held for veterinarians to submit their most Even birds occasionally eat the odd shiny object like a needle
interesting x-ray cases and I enjoyed reviewing these! A lab - or in one case, a button with the word LOVE lasered into it,
of course, swallowed all the owners change from the console, visible on the x-rays.
about $13 worth and that was a lot of metal! Must have spilled
something on them to make that money disappear! This is truly the easy stuff to diagnose. Be forewarned, animals
will and do eat anything!

Lillington Veterinary Hospital

Best Friends Deserve the Best Care

We Provide Comprehensive Veterinary Care for Dogs & Cats of
All Breeds & Ages, and Exotics.
20% off exams • Immunizations • Checkups

(with this ad) • Spay & Neuter • Preventive Care

• Dental Cleaning • Surgery • Microchipping
• Flea Control • Radiology • Lab Testing

2366 NC 210 ~ Lillington, NC

910-893-2081

www.lillingtonvethospital.com