Murdoch University vets save young pup after heart pierced in ‘one in a million’ sewing needle accident

Quick-thinking vets at a local university have saved a young pup after a “one in a million” freak accident left a large sewing needle piercing his heart.

Vicki Hooper said she returned from work to find her pet Kelpie, Yoshi, had raided her sewing room and pulled a pin cushion from the shelf.

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

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

An X-ray revealed a 4cm-long needle had been lodged into Yoshi’s chest cavity.

Yoshi was rushed to The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University where a CT scan revealed the needle was penetrating his heart

Vets suspected the needle became lodged after Yoshi rolled around over the pin cushion.

“The most dangerous moment of the surgery was the removal of the needle itself, as there was a risk of a fatal haemorrhage,” veterinary surgeon Dr Tesheena Nashi said.

“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 described the incident as a “freak accident” and said she had never heard of a similar case.

“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 gastrointestinal 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.”

Radiology registrar Doris Ma said if the needle had gone undetected, there was a risk it would have migrated through the heart.

Ms Hooper said Yoshi had come home “comical, happy and feisty”, and said she had installed a baby gate on the sewing room door.

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

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