Another great fix!

A 9 week old German Shorthair puppy presented to me last weekend after ingesting a fish hook.  A fish was attached to the large fish hook, and the dog had eaten it quickly before the clients could stop him.

When they arrived, fishing line was hanging from his mouth.  We recommended anesthesia in order to remove the fish hook with endoscopy, and if we could not remove it in this manner, surgery would be necessary.

A radiograph was performed and revealed that the fish hook was in the proximal esophagus. 

Anesthesia was performed and an endoscope (a long, flexible camera utilized for visualizing the gastrointestinal system without the need for surgery) was passed into his esophagus.  The fish hook was embedded into the lining of the esophagus.

Utilizing the camera, a large stomach tube and some additional string, we were able to manipulate the fish hook into the tube, and thereby remove it from the dog's esophagus without the need for surgery, and also without causing any damage to the dog's throat. Although easy in theory, this task was a challenging one and a big cheer erupted as I removed the tube, with the hook insde, from the dog's esophagus.

He discharged later that day and is completely recovered.  Yipee!