* A CASE STUDY - MISSY
We saw a 3-month-old female Staffordshire Terrier called Missy a few months ago. She had been vomiting for three days, was quiet and not at all interested in food. If a 3-month-old Staffy doesn’t want to eat, you certainly know it is unwell.

On feeling Missy’s abdomen we could feel a structure that should not have been there. It was firm, and was about 5cm in diameter. Our usual assumption in a puppy with such a noticeable lump is that she has eaten something she shouldn’t have, and it has become stuck in her small intestine. In saying this, it is best not to make assumptions. It is always better to know what you are treating before treating it.

Typically the next step would be to x-ray and ultrasound her abdomen to gain more information. If it could be confirmed as a foreign body then surgery would be required. For various reasons after discussing our options with Missy’s owner we elected to go straight to surgery. This is where the case gets interesting.

After putting her under general anaesthesia we made an incision over her abdomen and started to assess her gastrointestinal tract. What we discovered was most unexpected. Instead of a toy, a sock, or peach seed (the usual suspects), she had what looked like a shrunken kidney attached to and compressing her small intestine. This ‘kidney’ like mass was removed with a 15cm length of intestine. The remainder of her abdomen was normal and the rest of the surgery went well. We sent this mass to an external laboratory for assessment. She woke up quickly and has made a full recovery.

After a week we received her results and the ‘kidney’ like mass was in fact a Persistent Meckel diverticulum - a remnant of the yolk sack - a part of the foetus in the womb. In Missy’s case this remnant had been compressing the intestine, stopping food from passing through and making her unwell. Now it has been removed she will make a full recovery… if indeed she stays out of mischief! How likely this is we don’t know as we only saw her again a few weeks ago because she had fallen over and hurt one of her legs. On top of this, her brother ‘Buster’ has just had knee surgery.