Peach stone or pancreatitis?

Dr. Marie replied:

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog.

I have seen cases where a peach pit did not turn up well on xrays. Situations like this are difficult. If there was a stone then sometimes we can see a pattern of gas that tells us there is some type of obstruction, but not always.

Sometimes, if we think there is a stone obstructing the intestines we can do something called a barium series where we give a dog a liquid called barium that turns up well on radiographs. However, a barium series is relatively expensive, so it is not something that would be done in every case.

With this being said, a peach pit in the intestines would not cause pancreatitis so most likely this was a separate problem. Sometimes we can blame pancreatitis on the dog eating something fatty, but often we don't know what the cause was. Many dogs with pancreatitis recover with the proper treatment but I have had some cases where it was severe enough that the dog died even with the best of treatment.

So sorry for your loss.

Dr. Marie.

---This question was asked in our Ask A Vet For Free section.---


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