Jack Thornton

Over the years, I've averaged five-10 canine surgeries per week. My general procedure is to give a shot under the skin to sedate the patient and 15-30 minutes later an intravenous injection for short-term anesthesia.

Placing a mouth speculum to hold the dog's jaws wide open, a rubberized or plastic tube (endotracheal tube) is inserted into the wind pipe or trachea. A gas anesthesia machine then can be connected to the endotracheal tube, which is a safer anesthetic choice, and pure oxygen can be delivered in the case of an emergency.

One day as I was inserting the endotracheal tube into a large dog to be neutered, I encountered an elongated black object just beneath the V-shaped epiglottis, which is an important structure covering the opening into the wind pipe when the animal swallows food or water.

Humans also have an epiglottis, and we may appreciate the sensitivity of this area when we swallow "wrong" and hack or cough to the point of tears. The epiglottis momentarily malfunctions, allowing food or liquids to irritate the sensitive opening into the trachea.

Back to the black object: Attached just under the epiglottis was a very large ant - approximately 1 inch long. Although dead and limp, its mandibles were so firmly embedded into tissue that I applied considerable traction before the ant released with an audible click.

It impressed me first that the dog previously had shown no sign of throat irritation. Then I couldn't help imagining the likely scenario:

Dog sees ant; dog bites ant; dog tries to swallow ant while ant bites dog. It seems at least an impressive example of nothing going down without a ... bite.



Jack Thornon is a semi-retired veterinarian practicing in eastern Clallam County.