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Astonished vet operates and finds M&S underwear
CHEEKY Oscar the King Charles Spaniel needed emergency surgery – after he decided to munch on a pair of knickers.
The black M&S pants were stuck inside the four-year-old’s stomach for eight days – and if they’d stayed there much longer, it could have been fatal.
Oscar’s owner Stephanie Breadon could tell straight away something was wrong. Normally full of life and mischief, Oscar just wasn’t his usual self.
And he’d suffered a bout of nausea and sickness, which left Stephanie thinking he’d probably eaten something he shouldn’t have.
But it was only when his condition took a turn for the worse a week later, and Oscar became restless and lethargic, that the full scale of the problem emerged.
Office worker Stephanie took Oscar to the Vets Now pet emergency clinic in Macclesfield, close to her home in Congleton, Cheshire.
Vet Rokas Proscevicius conducted a series of tests – and could feel an irregular swelling in Oscar’s tummy.
But what could it be? Rokas carried out an x-ray and then an ultrasound, which picked up a long, dark ‘foreign object’ stretching for about 8cm along the length of Oscar’s stomach.
No wonder he’d been so poorly. With time of the essence, Rokas performed surgery.
Assuming it was a sock, he began to prise out the foreign object – only to realise it was a pair of black knickers.
At last, the mystery was solved and, after an overnight stay with Vets Now, a rather drowsy Oscar was ready to go home.
After a few days rest and with a long line of stitches in his belly, Oscar soon had his old zest for life back and was off scavenging again.
Rokas said: “I’ve heard of all sorts of foreign objects getting lodged in a dog’s stomach, including golf balls, babies’ dummies, rubber ducks and even fridge magnets.
“But underwear? That’s a new one on me!
“The pants were causing a very large blockage and obstruction in his intestine.
“Oscar was actually very fortunate that we got to him when we did. A foreign object like this can be fatal sometimes.”
Want to know more? Read our in-depth advice article
Mother-of-two Stephanie, 57, said: “Oscar’s eaten all sorts of things before, including slug pellets.
“And he’s always been very keen on chewing clothes. He loves the smell of anything human.
“But he’s never eaten anything like this before – certainly not a pair of knickers.
“The knickers belonged to my daughter Kim – she’d left her clothes on the bathroom floor, and Oscar must have been in there scavenging.”
Midwife Kim, 27, was working nights and had come to stay with Stephanie to get a sleep during the day while she had builders in at her own home.
Stephanie joked: “We’ve got a dog-proof lid on our laundry basket now and the next time Kim comes to stay I’m sure she’ll be picking up her clothes.
“We can laugh about it now – but it was pretty serious at the time.
“It’s important for other dog owners to know what can go wrong just from having a few clothes on the floor.
“We could have lost Oscar.”
Stephanie added: “We could tell he wasn’t right and we’d taken him to our local vets first to get checked out and to get anti-sickness pills.
“But he deteriorated over the weekend. We’re very grateful to the team at Vets Now for looking after him so well.
“You can’t keep a good dog down, though – or in Oscar’s case, a bad dog! He was back to normal quite quickly.
“And I think he quite enjoyed all the attention he got. When we went back to Vets Now for a check-up, his tail was wagging like mad!”
Another must-read story from Vets Now
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Earlier this year, 12-week-old Staffie, Macie, was saved after shocked owner Irene Paisley rushed her to the Vets Now pet emergency hospital in Glasgow for emergency surgery.
Our astonishing x-rays (below) showed just how lucky she was to survive her ordeal.
Owners who suspect their dog has eaten a ‘foreign object’ are urged not to wait for signs or symptoms to appear before they contact a vet.
Instead, they should telephone their vet immediately or, out of hours, their nearest Vets Now pet emergency clinic.
Vets Now is open through the night, seven-days-a-week, and day and night on weekends and bank holidays, to treat any pet emergencies that may occur.
