Dr. Phil Zeltzman’s Blog

Riley wasn’t feeling well. A five year old Lab, he wasn’t acting like himself and had been vomiting. He went to Berks Animal Emergency and Referral Center and had an X-ray taken.

The arrow is pointing at a very subtle abnormal area. If you look closely, you can see the “grainy” structure that is classic for a corn cob. Corn cobs are notoriously difficult to see on X-rays. Riley is very lucky that a doctor at the emergency hospital noticed the anomaly!

Abdominal surgery revealed the corn cob stuck was stuck the small intestine. The strange thing is that the only known cob he chewed on was possibly swallowed on Memorial Day, five months prior.

Riley will make a full recovery. His owner says,”Riley thanks you so much for taking such good care of him. He is healing up nicely and can’t wait to have the cone come off!”

Dr. Phil Zeltzman is a traveling veterinary surgeon in Pennsylvania & New Jersey. An award-winning author, he loves to share his adventures in practice along with information about vet medicine and surgery that can really help your pets. Dr. Zeltzman specializes in orthopedic, neurologic, cancer, and soft tissue surgeries for dogs, cats, and small exotics. By working with local family vets, he offers the best surgical care, safest anesthesia, and utmost pain management to all his patients. Sign up to get an email when he updates his blog, and follow him on Facebook, too!