Shane Morrison, lead orthopaedic veterinary surgeon at Christchurch Vets, encourages dog owners to be mindful of throwing sticks.

Question: I used to throw sticks for my labrador Sam to retrieve, but two years ago he jumped on a stick in the process of catching it and impaled himself. It was horrendous, he screamed, and blood came from his mouth.

I took him to my vet who anaesthetised him and removed a large piece of the stick that had broken off. The stick had penetrated the back of his mouth and had entered his neck very near his jugular vein, according to my vet.

Thankfully, Sam recovered well from this, and I have learnt my lesson in never throwing sticks for him again. But over the past six months he has developed abscesses in his neck that occasionally burst. A course of antibiotics clears them up, but they have come back on a few occasions now.

My vet says that it might be related to his stick injury. What should I do?

hane Morrison, lead orthopaedic veterinary surgeon at Christchurch Vetshane Morrison, lead orthopaedic veterinary surgeon at Christchurch Vets (Image: Simply C Photography)
Answer: I am sorry to hear that you have had this trouble with Sam. You have rightly learnt your lesson about stick throwing for dogs, we regularly see the results of injuries associated with this and treatment can be very problematic.

The issue with sticks is that they often break on impact, not necessarily once but maybe several times, usually giving rise to a large fragment but also to a number of smaller fragments.

The large fragment was successfully removed by your vet when the original injury happened. However, it is likely that smaller, unseen fragments remained in his neck. Even with a very thorough investigation at the time of this injury, these small fragments of stick can be exceedingly difficult to see and remove.

The cause of Sam’s repeated neck abscesses is almost certainly the presence of one or more stick fragments in his neck. The body is not able to break down cellulose, the primary component of wood, so the fragments remain and harbour infectious bacteria, occasionally causing abscesses as a result.

These fragments will not show up on X-rays. MRI is the gold standard for evaluating these cases, although CT scans may also be of some use.

In Sam’s case, I would recommend MRI scans of his neck, ideally when a new abscess forms. Your vet can arrange referral to a practice such as ours for this. The MRI will connect the abscess to a source deeper in his neck tissues.

The location of the stick fragments can then be ascertained using MRI and surgery can then be specifically directed to remove them. Please let me know how you get on.