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Hayley Warner has banned bones from her household after her six-month-old German Shepherd was left yelping in distress
A family have vowed never again to ‘give the dog a bone’ after their playful puppy got her jaw stuck on one.
Six-month-old Skye’s ordeal began when the bone became firmly wedged on the jaw behind her canine teeth like a doughnut, leaving her yelping in distress.
Owner Hayley Warner made a late-night dash to the Vets Now clinic in Colchester and German Shepherd Skye was soon free of the bone and back at the family home.
Now Hayley says the cheap beef bones, commonly bought by owners but which have previously caused problems, have been banned from the household.
“We’ve got two Golden Doodles as well as Skye and we’ve also had dogs in the past and hadn’t had anything happen with bones before,” said Hayley, from Harwich in Essex.
“Skye was in the teething stage, so we let her chew on one rather than the furniture. She was playing with the bone in my daughter’s bedroom and instead of gnawing the outside of it, she started trying to hollow it out.
“She somehow managed to get her bottom jaw totally wedged on it. We only knew something was wrong when she panicked and started making her puppy screaming noises.
“When we ran in, we could see it stuck there, a bit like a doughnut. We thought it’d just be a case of twisting it off again and three of us tried holding her and pulling.
“But it wasn’t budging at all, and Skye was getting more distressed, so we knew we needed help.”
As it was late at night and her vets was closed, Hayley was referred to the Colchester Vets Now clinic. It’s one of more than 60 clinics and hospitals across the UK that are open seven days a week for out-of-hours pet emergencies.
Hayley sat comforting her pup in the back of the car on the 20-plus-mile trip and Skye was then quickly taken inside for assessment.
“The indents within the beef bone had got caught on Skye’s teeth,” said vet Caitlin Donovan. “It couldn’t just be pulled off and Skye was becoming too nervous with the dental burr to keep using that.
“We were just about to go through the procedure of putting her under a general anaesthetic to cut it off surgically when Skye had one last try and got it free.”
A relieved Hayley and her partner, who had been anxiously waiting outside, got a call with the good news and were soon reunited with their pup.
“It was amazing that she somehow got her paw in and loosened it at just the right moment,” said Hayley. “Her teeth were fine, and she just had a couple of cuts and swelling around her jaw that went down in a couple of days.
“She was pretty much back to normal straight away and it was just great that there was somewhere like Vets Now at that time of night. They were really caring and helpful.
“Bones are banned now. I’ve warned friends at work, and they are now keeping these cheap bones away from their dogs, too.”
All of Vets Now’s premises always have a vet and vet nurse on site.
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While the service is not suitable for life-threatening emergencies, our experienced vets are available to discuss any worries or concerns you might have.