Quick thinking saves puppy after freak accident left a sewing needle in his heart

A puppy has had life-saving surgery after a freak accident resulted in a sewing needle becoming embedded in his heart.

His owner Vicki Hooper knew something was wrong when Yoshi the kelpie wasn’t where he usually is when she gets home from work.

“Normally, he’s at the door with his tail wagging but he was very subdued,” she said.

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Hooper, who lives in Hamersley in Western Australia, soon realised Yoshi had raided her sewing room and had taken a pin cushion down from the shelf.

“When I picked him up, he cried and I thought maybe he’d swallowed a pin, so I took him to our local vet,” Hooper said.

The puppy was then transferred to The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University (TAHMU) where he had a CT scan that showed the needle was actually embedded in his heart.

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Scans revealed Yoshi hadn’t swallowed the 4cm needle but instead he’d likely accidently rolled or pressed on the needle when it was in the pin cushion, resulting in it penetrating his chest.

“Once we saw where the needle was located, he was rushed into surgery, led by our head of soft tissue surgery Professor Giselle Hosgood,” Dr Tesheena Nash, veterinary surgeon, said.

“The most dangerous moment of the surgery was the removal of the needle itself, as there was a risk of a fatal haemorrhage.

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“As the needle was removed, we needed to place mesh over the hole to plug it and stop any bleeding. It was a tense moment, but it went beautifully.”

Dr Nash praised Hooper’s quick thinking, which she said saved the pup’s life. Radiology registrar Doris Ma said the needle injury could’ve has a much worse outcome if it went undetected.

This is the first case of its kind the vets at TAHMU have treated with the way the needle injured Yoshi considered highly unusual.

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“We’ve seen a few cases where dogs have swallowed needles or a fishhook, where it’s got stuck in their oesophagus or further down in their gastro-intestinal tract, but nothing as unlucky as this,” she said.

“It’s just a freak accident where he lay on the needle in the exact wrong way.”

Yoshi is now happy, healthy and back at home with Hooper and her husband Craig. He’s currently six months old and proving to be a funny, joyful and feisty dog.

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“From what we’ve been told by the veterinary staff, there was a one in a million chance of this happening,” Vicki said.

“There is now a baby gate on the sewing room door, and he has a few new squeaky toys to keep him occupied!”

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