This dog came in towards the end of hunting season and might have an opinion on the above statement. The clients had initially scheduled the dog for an appointment a week before with the complaint he wasn't eating and had been vomiting. He had seemed to improve and they cancelled that appointment only to reschedule with the new complaint of squinting. He still wasn't eating very well and other than the squinting they couldn't figure out why the dog was a little off.

On initial glance the dog didn't look much different from the myriad of shorthairs we see come in the practice:

On a little closer exam you can see that his right eye pupil is smaller than the left eye. Typically this indicates pain in that eye, as constricting the pupil can be a response to pain. I've outlined the edges of the pupils in red to illustrate that below:

When that eye was examined it quickly became clear what the problem was. This dog had a stick stuck in his eye:

Most of the stick was fully embedded under the cornea. Thankfully it was "in" the cornea like a sliver rather than "through" the cornea. Very likely most of the dog's symptoms, including the anorexia and vomiting, were related to the intense pain from having this stick in its eye. After some light sedation I was able to grab on to the very small end of it that was not completely within the cornea. Ironically I was only able to do this with the instruments that I had purchased after Belle had her issues earlier in the season.

Here you can see the tract left by the stick after it was removed:

And finally for some size comparison here is how long it was:

After a quick flush and a course of antibiotics the dog recovered uneventfully.

I realize I spend a lot of time on foreign bodies, but I think it is something that is very easily overlooked. Many of you looking at the third picture probably thought there would be no way you could miss this; however, if you go back and look at that first picture you would also agree the dog looks pretty normal. It is for this reason that it is vitally important to check these dogs over at the end of every field. It is very possible that this could have been removed in the field depending on how it started. With our athletic dogs an once of prevention certainly can be worth a pound of cure.