UP veterinarians’ emergency surgery saves Nero, an adorable Yorkie almost fatally felled by a bone

Abstract

University of Pretoria (UP) veterinarians recently saved the life of Nero, a Yorkshire terrier, after he swallowed a bone that ended up stuck at the base of his oesophagus, just above his heart. Nero was presented at UP’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH), where Dr Varaidzo Mukorera, specialist in veterinary internal medicine in the Companion Animal Clinical Studies Department at UP’s Faculty of Veterinary Science, diagnosed the bone lodged in the oesophagus. Opting for surgery rather than endoscopic retrieval of the bone, Dr Mukorera then referred the case to Dr Ross Elliott, specialist veterinary surgeon in the same department.