Julius Caesar of Staffhaven
Black, White and Brindle
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Born April 3 1999
This is Caesar’s story. December 2003 was the end of what we thought would be a mystery to us forever. On December 15th 2003, a 10 cm long and 5 – 10 mm wide flat piece of wood was extracted from his left nasal passage. This was the end of a long year and a half of what no doubt was an incredibly painful ordeal for my boy.
It all started one bright beautiful day. I took Caesar and Darla (8 months younger than Caesar) for a walk in the woods. We have 700 acres of unused farmland in our backyard. While in the woods, the dogs are off lead which gives them opportunity to run free and play. On this particular day, Caesar ran off ahead of us, Darla following. Within a few minutes I could hear Caesar sneezing, over and over again. By the time I caught up to him, I found him in the tall grasses, surrounded by a pool of blood. Panic kicked in, I attached Darla’s lead, and carried Caesar home. We immediately drove to the Vet’s office but I was refused service as I didn’t have an appointment. (That’s another story for another day). I promptly booked an appointment for the am. An x-ray the next morning was inconclusive. There was no apparent inflammation or damage that could be visualized. It was concluded the sneeze caused him to hit something in the grasses resulting in bleeding. A course of antibiotics was given to take care of any trauma and the case was closed.
It didn’t happen right away, so linking the two incidents didn’t cross my mind. Caesar started sneezing on a regular basis. It usually occurred when visitors came to the house. He would become so excited to see people, he’d start his heavy sneezing and finally it would stop. I thought it was allergies so went about the regular things one does when we suspect this. We changed his bedding, changed his food, and changed the soap we used to wash his bedding, put him on all sorts of supplements including bee pollen. Nothing worked. The sneezing would come and go, leaving us baffled as to what he was allergic to.
In the fall of 2003, his sneezing became worst. It was so violent, that he would start bleeding. Because of his height (16 inches), we assumed he was giving himself bloody noses. His breath was horrible. Dog breath is never great … but this was unbearable. I sometime thought he was eating feces, it smelled so bad. I would have to scrub his teeth with baking soda to alleviate the awful order. It was at this point that I truly doubted that this was due to an allergy.
At the beginning of December, my son called me in a panic. Caesar had started sneezing once again, and this time it would not stop. Joshua had never seen so much blood and was begging me to come home. By the time we got home, the bleeding had stopped. The next morning, an x-ray was taken once again. This time, revealing a **mass on the right side of his face. None of this made any sense, as we had come to realize that the bleeding came from the left side. She offered us antibiotics once again. We decided this time to get a second opinion. Caesar was seen the very next day by Dr. Keith Johnson, DVM at the Carling Animal Hospital. His recommendation was a Rhinoscopy/Biopsy. We agreed. The procedure was scheduled for immediately to be performed within a few days.
It was predetermined that Caesar would be anesthetized for 30 minutes, which should be sufficient for the procedure. Due to the build of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, it was difficult for the specialists to see anything. They did indeed determine that the scope moved more freely in the left passage. Biopsies were taken to rule out cancer. On the third and last removal of sample, the clamp came down on the foreign piece. Not knowing what to expect, they gave Caesar another 15 minutes worth of anesthetic and procedure to remove the “stick”. The vet’s report indicates a 65 mm piece (one piece) was removed. If you combine the length of the two pieces, it measures almost 10 cm.
Here are his findings:
Caesar was in hospital today for Rhinoscopy in order to assess his nasal passages for possible foreign object.
As you know a long, flat piece of wood 65 mm long and 5-10 mm wide was extracted from his left nasal passage. During the procedure significant recession in the thickness of the turbinates (large plates of bones that form the nasal passages) was detected. This is likely related to the chronic inflammation associates with the presence of this foreign body. Tissue biopsies were collected and sent for histopathological analysis. The flushing of his left nasal cavity with sterile saline solution showed that there was communication between the left and right nasal cavity. This communication may also be related to chronic inflammation.
**Note: Because of these findings, we can now understand the x-ray. It was not a mass that appeared on the right side but deterioration on the left side.
The biopsy results came back fine, which we expected. After all, it was obvious that his problem was the foreign object.
I’m sharing this story with everyone because I truly believe it’s important for owners of Staffordshire Bull Terriers to understand just how much your dog can and will endure without showing signs. I question my judgement often and ask myself why I didn’t do something earlier. I believed the first x-rays that indicated no problems, and I was so sure he suffered from allergies. Be aware that wood does not show up on x-rays. Query everything and never take anything for granted.
Elaine Tessier
Canada
22 February 2004
P.S. After posting a message to our SBT group regarding my concerns, I thank Cassy for suggesting an endoscope be performed.
