Associations of abdominal discomfort and length of clinical signs with surgical procedure in 181 cases of canine small intestinal foreign body obstruction

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal foreign bodies are a common indication for abdominal exploratory surgery. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of pre‐operative abdominal discomfort and duration of clinical signs with surgical resolution of canine small intestinal foreign body obstructions (SIFBO). METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 181 canine abdominal exploratory surgeries for confirmed SIFBO at two referral hospitals. Animals were categorized into five surgical groups (gastrotomy after manipulation into the stomach, enterotomy, resection‐and‐anastomosis [R&A], manipulated into colon, already in colon) and further grouped by whether entry into the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) was required. RESULTS: Abdominal discomfort was noted in 107/181 cases (59.1%), but no significant differences in abdominal discomfort rates were present among the surgical groups or between GIT entry and no entry groups. Clinical sign duration was associated with surgical procedure; median durations were R&A = 3 days (range, 1–9), enterotomy = 2 days (range, 1–14), gastrotomy = 2 days (range, 1–6), already in colon = 1.5 days (range, 1–2), and manipulated into colon = 1 day (range, 1–7). In a pairwise comparison, differences in the duration of clinical signs were found for obstructions manipulated into the colon versus R&A, gastrotomy versus R&A, and in colon versus R&A. When patients were grouped according to GIT entry, cases with entry had a longer duration of clinical signs (median = 2 days [range, 1–14] versus 1 day [range, 1–7], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal discomfort was not associated with surgical complexity; however, the duration of clinical signs was associated with surgical complexity, with longer duration being associated with entry into the GIT and R&A. Despite statistical significance, the maximum difference of 2 days between surgical groups is unlikely to be clinically relevant.