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Owners of Bagheera left bemused by puppy's mischievous ways
Being left alone in the kitchen spelt trouble for a greedy puppy – after he ate almost a complete alphabet of fridge magnet letters.
Black Labrador Bagheera wolfed down 20 of the letters and his bizarre actions resulted in a worrying dash to our Salisbury clinic.
Thankfully, speedy treatment meant the mischievous pup was left just looking sheepish and none the worse for his letter lunacy.
Owner Juliette Hart had left six-month-old Bagheera with a friend, never suspecting the chaos that would ensue.
“He was in his basket in the kitchen and the door to the other room was shut,” said Juliette, 39. “I thought I’d lifted everything that was Labrador-height out of the way. I didn’t even consider the magnets that were stuck to the fridge door for my friend’s children.
“They were mostly letters, with a few dinosaurs, and were painted-carboard at the front, with the magnet behind.
“I think my mistake was not leaving him a toy and he’d obviously got bored and noticed the magnets.”
Juliette later texted her friend jokingly saying she hoped the pup hadn’t destroyed the kitchen, only to get a call straight back.
“She said Bagheera had eaten all the magnets,” said Juliette. “I said he couldn’t possibly have done, but she said the lower half of the fridge was covered in about 20 of them and they were all gone.
“He had done it carefully, lifting them off without leaving a scratch. I was used to him getting at things, like a typical Labrador, but I just couldn’t believe it.”
Although Bagheera seemed perfectly happy and untroubled when she collected him, Juliette was worried about the internal damage they might do, especially if they were to be pulled together into a larger mass.
She immediately started thinking about the prospect of her much-loved puppy having to undergo major surgery to try to remove them and put in a call to our clinic in Salisbury.
“I think it all sank in as I was driving in,” said Juliette. “I was worried about him having to be put under a general anaesthetic as he was so young.
“But as soon as I got to the clinic, I was told the first option was getting an injection to make him sick and that gave me hope. I was told it took several hours before they really digested things, so they might all come back up and I felt a lot better.”
Like all our clinics and hospitals, the Salisbury clinic is open through the night seven days a week, and at weekends, and staff have seen pets eat just about anything.
But fridge magnet letters were a new one for all of the vets and vet nurses on call.
“Once we’d examined him, we gave him the injection and he vomited up almost the entire alphabet,” said vet nurse Gaby Oakes.
“He was absolutely fine after that and we were able to allow him home with the advice to withhold food and water for a few hours and then reintroduce them slowly.”
Juliette was just delighted to have him safe and well.
“I had every faith in our Labrador’s strong stomach and your vets’ skill,” laughed Juliette. “Even now I still can’t work out why he chewed and swallowed them and just kept going.
“I’m definitely going to make sure he’s never left alone without a toy in future.”