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By Andrew Montague M.V.B. Cert. Small Animal
Medicine
Home Page: Dogs: Respiratory: Brandy
Corn in the Lungs
Posted 10th June, 2000
I could hear him before I could see him. Brandy had a persistent,
harsh cough that could be heard throughout the clinic. As I walked into
the waiting room I was greeted by the exuberance of a two-year old Irish
Setter, but the excitement only increased the severity of his cough. Mr.
and Mrs. Shalle-de-Barron, Brandy's owners, had travelled over a hundred
miles, from Wexford to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Dublin, to
have Brandy examined. They were obviously caring and attentive owners
and it was their attention to detail that led me to the source of Brandy's
problems.
"A large ear of corn had lodged deep inside his lungs"
Mrs. Shalle-de-Barron explained that his coughing started suddenly after he had been running in a field of corn. They hoped that the cough would be temporary but as the days passed they saw no improvement. Their insightful history made me suspect that Brandy had inhaled an ear of corn, but how was I to find it and remove it?
I took x-ray films of Brandy's chest and found an abnormality on the right side. Armed with this information I examined Brandy's airways under anaesthetic using a flexible endoscope. Noticing some mucus at the entrance to a small airway, I manoeuvred the endoscope until I came across the cause of Brandy's problem. A large ear of corn had lodged deep inside his lungs. Using the endoscope I grasped the corn and slowly pulled it out of Brandy's airways.
Brandy was awake and ready to go home within an hour and he has made a complete recovery.