Bogey, a 7 year old German Short Haired Pointer, presented to the Internal Medicine Department at MVS after battling with a cough and fever for months. Bogie had always been an incredibly healthy and active hunting dog, who enjoyed running through fields of wheat with his family. His owners were crushed at watching his cough and fever make it difficult for him to run and enjoy his everyday life. Prior to coming into MVS, Bogie was prescribed multiple rounds of antibiotics which would temporarily improve his condition but his nagging cough would always come back shortly after discontinuing the antibiotics. Looking for advice on how to help with this conundrum Bogie’s family veterinarian reached out to MVS and Dr. Bates.
After discussing the case and looking at Bogie’s chest x-rays, Dr. Bates was suspicious that something peculiar was happening in one of Bogie’s lung lobes. Dr. Bates recommended using an endoscope to better visualize the inside of Bogies Lungs. This involved him undergoing general anesthesia while Dr. Bates and her team of technicians inserted a camera through Bogie’s trachea and into his lungs. To everyone’s surprise and amazement they saw the culprit of Bogies discomfort, he had a wheat berry embedded in his lung! The severe infection present prevented proper visualization of his airway, which raised concerned that plant material may have been left behind.
Once the secondary infection from having foreign material in his lungs was cleared up, Dr. Bates and her team were able to remove an entire stalk of wheat from Bogie’s lung lobe, once again using their endoscope. Bogie recovered well from the entire ordeal and is now back to frolicking through the fields of Wisconsin with out a care in the world!
