Advice needed - Needle stuck in my dog!

Keith1985

Hi everyone, hoping for some advice on an unusual situation with my lovely Chocolate Lab, Leo.

A few weeks ago, he had an operation at the vets to be castrated. The vet put the anaesthetic into the muscle at the top of his right leg, but as she pulled the needle out, he jumped slightly, and the needle snapped off the syringe at the base and is embedded in his muscle tissue. The vet called me straight away to tell me what had happened, she said she had never had a needle snap like that in her 13 years experience.

The vet completed the operation as normal and then did a few X-rays to try and see where abouts the needle was in Leo's leg. They thought they had identified where it was and so shaved a patch on his leg and cut him open. Unfortunately the vet wasn't able to find it, as the needle is only approx 1cm in length.

Fast forward a few weeks, and a couple of visits to the vet later as the area on his leg had some localised swelling where the needle is, we haven't really made any progress in getting it out. The vets gave him a light sedation on Monday to do some more X-rays. The vet was confident that the needle hadn't moved at all in the few weeks it has been in him. They tried a method of inserting some longer needles into him while he was under, in an attempt to pinpoint exactly where the needle is. The idea being that if they can get a long needle to the exact area of where the small needle is, and confirmed by X-ray, then they would cut him open to remove it. Despite lots of attempts, they couldn't get a needle close enough and so didn't want to cut him open unnecessarily.

The vet has now given me two options.
1) As it clearly isn't causing Leo any pain, leave it where it is for a few months and then X-ray him again. If the needle still hasn't moved, then consider leaving it where it is.

2) A referral to a specialist. This would likely involve another major operation for Leo, and they would have to trawl through all the muscle tissue in his leg, trying to find a needle in a haystack! My concern with this option is there is still no guarantee that they would be able to find it, and I'm worried about any potential long term damage to his muscle as a result of the op.

So my questions are as follows:

Has anyone ever heard of anything similar?
Do you think the vet has been negligent or would you class it as a freak accident?
Any advice for what to do next?

Thanks for trawling through the long post, and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

teddysmum

I don't think the vet has been negligent, but perhaps they should cover the extra costs as a goodwill gesture.


I would , if it was my dog, leave be and see how things go, rather than have him prodded about. After all, the needle is not in a dangerous place, such as near the heart or lungs.

missbiggles1

I would definitely expect the vet to cover any further costs on this and would be very angry if they suggested anything else.

How old is Leo?

Keiths1985

We haven't paid anything for the additional X-rays etc, and I certainly wouldn't expect to pay for anything else further connected to it.

I think I'm going to try and see a different vet this week for a second opinion. I really don't want to have to put him through another op and pain if it's not necassary.

Leo is a two and a half and a healthy happy dog ��