2026 They Ate What?! X-ray Contest spotlights foreign-body care
Bottom line
Veterinary Practice News has released the 2026 results of its long-running “They Ate What?!” X-ray Contest, highlighting foreign-body cases that were memorable both for their radiographs and their clinical management. This year’s winner was Obi, a dog treated at The Schwarzman Animal Medical Center after radiographs showed a toy-shaped intestinal foreign body causing obstruction; he underwent enterotomy under general anesthesia and recovered without complications. Runners-up included a dog that swallowed an entire spoon during a mashed-potato feeding attempt and two Siberian cats that twice required surgery after eating phone charging cords. The contest, published October 19, 2026, also featured honorable mentions ranging from an 18-inch stick and a rusty nail to toy bugs, three hand warmers in a ball python, 30 hair ties in a cat, a swallowed tennis ball, and a fishhook retrieved endoscopically. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary teams, the contest is lighthearted on the surface, but it underscores a familiar clinical reality: foreign-body ingestion remains a steady source of emergency imaging, endoscopy, and surgery across species. Veterinary Practice News framed the bigger story as what happens after the surprising radiograph, pointing to the diagnostic judgment, teamwork, pain management, and procedural decision-making behind positive outcomes. Cases in this year’s roundup also illustrate the range of pathways available, from endoscopic retrieval for gastric objects such as a fishhook or spoon to exploratory surgery, enterotomy, or gastrotomy when obstruction or object type makes intervention more invasive. The contest itself dates to 2006 and was created to showcase both unusual ingestion cases and advances in digital radiography. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
What to watch: Expect the case images to keep circulating as informal teaching examples, and watch for whether practices use the contest’s visibility to reinforce pet parent education around preventable household foreign bodies. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
Key facts
- Contest
- Veterinary Practice News 2026 “They Ate What?!” X-ray Contest
- Published
- October 19, 2026
- Winner
- Obi, a dog
- Winner finding
- Toy-shaped intestinal foreign body causing obstruction
- Winner treatment
- Enterotomy under general anesthesia
- Winner outcome
- Recovered without complications
- Contest history
- Running since 2006
- Runner-up example
- A dog swallowed an entire spoon during a mashed-potato feeding attempt
- Other notable case
- Two Siberian cats each required surgery twice after eating phone charging cords
Veterinary Practice News has published the results of its 2026 “They Ate What?!” X-ray Contest, an annual showcase of the odd, sometimes alarming foreign bodies veterinary teams find on radiographs. The 2026 winner was Obi, a dog whose abdominal films revealed a distinctly toy-shaped object lodged in the small intestine. According to the contest write-up, the obstruction was treated with enterotomy under general anesthesia, and Obi recovered uneventfully. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
The contest has been running since 2006, when Veterinary Practice News launched it to spotlight both the strange things animals ingest and the expanding role of digital radiography in practice. That framing still shows through in the 2026 package. The publication explicitly noted that, after 20 years, the real story is not just the surprising image, but the veterinary team’s diagnostic, procedural, and supportive care work that follows. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
This year’s field reflected the breadth of foreign-body presentations seen in everyday practice. One runner-up featured a dog that swallowed an entire spoon while being fed mashed potatoes, with the object removed endoscopically. Another runner-up recognized two Siberian cats that each underwent foreign-body surgery twice after eating mobile phone charging cords. Honorable mentions included an 18-inch stick removed surgically from a dog, a Basset Hound that swallowed a large rusty nail, a Yorkie that ate toy bugs, a ball python that ingested three hand warmers, a cat with 30 hair ties, a Greater Swiss Mountain dog that swallowed a tennis ball whole, and a Labrador retriever whose gastric fishhook was retrieved endoscopically using a protective sleeve. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
The judges also signal the contest’s educational bent. This year’s panel included pain management specialist Robin Downing, veterinary technician educator Jennifer Serling, surgeon Kendra Freeman, emergency veterinarian and public health consultant Erica Tramuta-Drobnis, and small animal veterinarian Greg Bishop. Their involvement suggests the feature is meant to land as more than entertainment, especially for teams that rely on radiography to triage urgent GI cases and decide between monitoring, endoscopy, or surgery. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
Outside the contest itself, the broader literature supports that clinical takeaway. Recent veterinary guidance and published research continue to show that management of GI foreign bodies depends heavily on object type, location, clinical signs, and resources, with radiographs often serving as the first decision point. A 2026 comparative study on skewer ingestion in dogs, for example, examined outcomes after emesis, endoscopic retrieval, or surgical removal, underscoring how treatment pathways can vary substantially even within one foreign-body category. Educational guidance from the AAVMC’s spectrum-of-care materials likewise notes that radiographic findings help determine whether patients can be observed, scoped, or moved directly to surgery. (experts.illinois.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, these contest cases are useful reminders of two parallel realities. First, foreign-body ingestion remains common, unpredictable, and often preventable. Second, the radiograph is only the start of the case. Teams still have to interpret whether an object is obstructive, sharp, linear, toxic, or likely retrievable by less invasive means, while also counseling pet parents on urgency, cost, risk, and prognosis. The 2026 lineup is especially notable because it spans dogs, cats, and exotics, and it includes both surgical and endoscopic resolutions, making it a compact snapshot of the case mix many emergency and general practices face. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
There’s also a communication lesson here. Cases involving spoons, cords, hair ties, hooks, and hand warmers are memorable because they’re unusual, but they map directly to common household risks. That gives practices an opening to turn a viral-style image into practical prevention messaging for pet parents, especially around young animals, enrichment toys, laundry items, fishing gear, children’s toys, and electrical cords. The recurring nature of the contest over two decades suggests the underlying problem has not gone away, even as imaging and retrieval options have improved. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
What to watch: The next step is less about regulation than reach: whether these cases stay as a trade-media curiosity or get reused by clinics, educators, and imaging vendors as case-based teaching tools and pet parent education content in the months ahead. (veterinarypracticenews.com)