Saved! ASPCA Vet Rescues Rottie Who Ate Bottle Cap

Benny, a four-year-old Rottweiler with a strong stomach and a taste for “street food,” is a true New Yorker. Earlier this year, he arrived at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City and, according to Dr. Robert Reisman, Medical Coordinator at BMAH, began passing bits of glass in his stool. Radiographs indicated tiny shards scattered throughout the dog’s digestive system. Reisman knew Benny would continue to eliminate the broken glass, but he was troubled by a more serious sign on the radiograph: the outline of a bottle cap stagnant in Benny’s stomach.

Wary of performing major surgery, Dr. Louise Murray, the hospital’s Director of Medicine, decided to take a less aggressive approach to removing the cap. Passing an endoscope (fiber optic technology attached to a tiny camera) through the mouth, down the esophagus, and into the stomach, Murray surveyed Benny’s GI tract on a computer screen. She quickly located the bright green cap, but soon lost it among excessive fluid, hair and other foreign objects in the dog’s stomach. Clearing the debris, she passed a long, grabbing instrument through the endoscope to remove a piece of Styrofoam as well as a mass of hair, glass, twine and twigs. After more than an hour of persistence and patience, Murray located and removed the bottle cap, sparing Benny from invasive surgery.

Months later, Benny is enjoying a full recovery—and an extra thirty pounds—with the help of caring ASPCA staffers and a nutritious diet. Currently available at the ASPCA Adoption Center, now he just needs to meet a permanent dining partner, one who will spoil him with a buffet of love...and healthy treats!